In the Inori Valley, villages are built under a giant sacred tree in which spirits live. All year long, village chiefs make offerings to these spirits and assemble altars in the hope of becoming the Great Tree Guardian for the next year.

For each of the four seasons comprising a complete game of Inori, players place their offering markers on the spirit cards or on altars for the Great Tree. This allows them to activate abilities, earn points, or obtain favor tokens. At the end of a season, a spirit card with all spaces occupied gains bonus points and is replaced, creating new opportunities.

At the end of the game, offerings for the Great Tree give points according to their color for players having the most favors of each color.

The Guardian of the Great Tree for the next year is the player with the most points.