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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Back in 2010, I had the opportunity to playtest Ninjato while it was still in development. After that first play, I knew that it was a game I would have to get some day. The final game was quite a bit different than what I played initially, but the core mechanics were the same. I finally got Ninjato for Christmas this year, but would my wife like the game as much as I would?
Game Overview
Ninjato is a euro game that has several standard euro game mechanics. However, it is also a game about ninjas and it captures the theme very well. Players collect resources and then use those various resources to acquire different types of cards that score points. This is a very tight game. Throughout the games all players only have a total of 21 actions. This means that every decision that a player makes is important.
There are several actions a player can take. They can collect cards that are used to raid houses. Players can also train with the Sensi to get special abilities. One of the main actions that players can do is use ninjas to raid houses. This is really neat because each house has a guard and players can decide to fight the card (play cards higher than the guard) or sneak (play guards lower than the guard). Players can then keep raiding the house and clear it or sneak out with their treasure. The final actions players can do are buy envoy cards which are used to score points throughout the game, or rumor cards that score points at the end of the game. One of the big parts of the game is how players balance scoring points through these two types of cards.
The Game We Played
Early one I focused on training with a Sensi, and used these abilities to raid effectively. By raiding, I was able to ensure that green would score well during the scoring rounds. I continued to focus on getting points through envoys and scoring points for controlling the majority of envoys for green and red. Throughout the game I scored a lot more points than my wife.
However, she really focused on collecting the rumor cards: especially the rumor cards that gave her points for how many rumor cards she had. She scored a lot of points at the end and it was enough to overtake my lead. She won 144 to 133.
Our Thoughts
My Rating: 4.5
My Thoughts: I really like Ninjato. The way the raiding the houses work with the dojo card really captures the theme and adds a fun "push your luck" mechanic. I also like how the limited amount of actions adds a lot of tension to this game and makes every decision matter.
Her Rating: 4
Her Thoughts: I like it! In a two player game though, the rumor cards seem really powerful.
Verdict
Combined Rating: 8.5
Only playing through the rest of our games will tell, but when this is all said and done I will not be surprised if Ninjato is ranked among combined favorite games. This is a keeper for sure.
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