English 
Français 
Italiano 
Español 
Deutsch 
Rankings 
Herramientas 
The First Room
On ZFRR, the First Room of Kowakujo is the Outer Ward, the grounds below the castle where every game begins: a village of old wooden houses, half collapsed and burning, crossed by cracks of lava, with a cherry tree in bloom and the volcano behind. Like on every map of Black Ops 7, each player starts with a weapon of their own loadout, so the run does not depend on a wall weapon.
From the first second, the objective on screen reads “Acquire the World Seed” and “Recapture Wards 0/2”. Those two wards stand in the Training Area and the Kitchens, past the doors of the Outer Ward, so the Pack-a-Punch and the rest of the castle stay out of reach for the whole run. The guides name the Gatehouse and the Staging Area as the areas beyond the village, and the wiki places a debris under a torii gate across from Quick Revive. The wooden gate at the end of the red arched bridge, flanked by two komainu statues, opens for 500 Essence; the price of the other doors is not given by any source.
Jäger 45
500 Essence, Uncommon, on the north side of the Outer Ward according to the wall-buy guides. It is the only wall weapon of the village.
Quick Revive
The only perk machine of the First Room, against a wall across from the torii gate debris; its blue light is in sight from the spawn. As a first perk it costs 2,500 Essence.
Ammo Cache
A wooden crate full of glowing ammunition in the middle of the village. It refills the weapon in hand, for a price that rises with its Pack-a-Punch tier.
GobbleGum Machine
In a doorway of the village guarded by a stone komainu. On the No GobbleGums board it is never used.
Rampage Inducer
On a rock mound at the back of the Outer Ward. It makes the zombies spawn faster and run faster; the solo world record turns it on in the first seconds.
A Cherry Blossom Tree
One of the five glowing trees of the map grows in the Outer Ward. When it shines, its light heals and adds up to 50 health over the maximum.
Out of reach
The Pack-a-Punch waits for the World Seed of the Shogun’s Sanctum. The Ghostly Rifleman Traps, started at the pairs of komainu statues by the doorways, work only once the power is on, according to the official blog; no source says whether that can happen doors closed. No source places a Mystery Box in the Outer Ward.
Enemies
Zombies from the first round. In the solo world record, an Oni is already in the village at round 23, throwing its lightning among the horde, and the wards still read 0/2. No source lists the other special enemies that reach the Outer Ward doors closed.
The Kowakujo leaderboard keeps two categories, each with boards for solo and for two, three and four players. No GobbleGums is the reference; With GobbleGums counts in the player ratings with a lower difficulty. How a round of Black Ops 7 compares with a round of the older games is explained in Black Ops 7: Rounds. The rules:
Doors closed
Reach the highest round you can without opening doors, and play every round in full.
No GobbleGums
No gum is used, neither from the pack nor from the machine, and none is broken down for Essence. Keeping the three Whimsical gums in the pack is recommended: one used by mistake does not void the run.
With GobbleGums
On that board gums are allowed, and so is breaking them for points; a gum that has run out of time is not.
No glitch
Glitches and exploits are not allowed, and neither is saving and quitting or crashing the game to void a down, a Dying Wish or a game over.
Latest patch
Every game is played on the most recent patch. The game is still updated, and a patch that changes its balance can lead to a board being reset.
Video
The whole game must be recorded, with every player’s point of view in co-op on the No GobbleGums board. A Twitch video must be saved as a highlight, since past broadcasts are not accepted; a YouTube video must be public or unlisted.
