2021 BGG rank #13600

Jinja

2–5 players 45–60 min Ages 14+ 2.0/5 complexity 5.5/10 rating

About this game

Jinja is colorful worker placement game about building shrines across Japan. You must place workers at key locations around Japan to activate one of thirteen different actions or build at one of seven different territories. To earn the highest honor, you must plan your strategy, time your construction, and be a little bit lucky. Jinja features evocative illustrations and high-quality components, with custom plastic miniatures representing the shrines, painted meeples to represent the workers, screenprinted score trackers, and a custom multi-color Mask die. The game board is an illustrated map of Japan divided into territories with a limited number of temple sites. Over five seasons, players place workers on one of the thirteen actions or seven territories as they work towards their different goals. Building a Shrine earns honor and special abilities Jinja adds replayability with variable goals and events. Omikuji, or "fortunes," are secret goals that score you bonus points if your shrines are on key locations. Kitsune cards are randomly chosen for each game, providing different discounts, bonuses, and abilities that change with the seasons. Throughout the game you can exchange deed cards for territory, leave it up to luck by rolling the mask die for bonuses, and revisit your territories to build up your resource supply. At the end of the game, players also get bonuses for having the most shrines in each region. —description from the publisher

What it feels like

Closed Drafting Worker Placement Dice Rolling Automatic Resource Growth Area Majority / Influence Turn Order: Progressive Territory Building

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Setup

1. Place the Board in the middle of the table and put all Structure tokens into the drawstring bag. 2. Shuffle the Kitsune cards, place five of them facedown in a row next to the Board. Return the remaining Kitsune cards to the box — they will not be used. 3. Randomly place the Lanterns on the corresponding Territory spaces on the Board, blue Lantern side faceup. Players may look at the bottom of any Lantern at any time during the game. 4. The player who has most recently visited Japan receives the First Player Marker (or use a preferred method). Play proceeds clockwise. 5. Each player takes a set of Workers, Shrines, and an Honor Tracker in their preferred color, along with starting Resources and any Fox tokens as indicated by the player-count chart. Place your Honor Tracker on "0" at the top left corner of the Board. 6. Shuffle the Omikuji cards, deal five to each player. Each player keeps three and shuffles the remaining two back into the Omikuji deck, placed facedown next to the Board. Keep Omikuji cards secret until end-game scoring. 7. Shuffle the Deed cards, deal six to each player (five in a 5-player game). Place remaining Deed cards facedown next to the Board. Players then simultaneously draft their Deed cards: (a) Look at your cards and choose one, (b) place it facedown into your draft pile, (c) pass remaining cards to the left. Repeat until all Deed cards are drafted. Keep Deed cards secret. 8. Flip the remaining Deed cards faceup next to the Board to create the Deed discard pile. There is no Deed deck — only a Deed discard pile.

Turn flow

The game is played over five Seasons. Each Season has three phases: PHASE 1 — BEGINNING A SEASON: (1) Draw Structure tokens from the bag, placing one on each Territory and adding to any leftover from previous Seasons. (2) Reveal the next Kitsune Card; its ability is active for the entire Season and affects all players. If it instructs players to use activities, do so immediately. (3) (3–5 players only) Place two Gold on the Supplement Gold activity if no Gold is present there; otherwise add one Gold. PHASE 2 — WORKER PLACEMENT: Starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, players take turns placing one Worker at a time on an available activity on the Board, then immediately performing that activity. Only one Worker is allowed per activity (unless a Fox Token is used). Some activities have a minimum player-count requirement shown inside the activity circle. When placing a Worker on a Territory activity, the player must choose either: (a) take the available Resources from that Territory, or (b) build a Shrine using a Deed Card. The phase ends when all players have no Workers left to place. PHASE 3 — ENDING A SEASON: (1) Flip the active Kitsune card facedown. (2) All players return their Workers to their personal supply. (3) Each player earns Lantern bonuses for each Territory in which they control a Shrine (double bonus for two or more Shrines in a Territory). (4) In player order, players activate the End of Season Bonus on faceup Deed Cards in their play area (in any order they choose). (5) Pass the First Player Marker to the left and begin a new Season — unless this was the fifth Season, in which case proceed to End of Game Scoring.

Scoring and victory

Most Honor at end of five Seasons wins. Tiebreakers: most Shrines built, then most large Shrines, then most medium Shrines; if still tied, players share the victory. Scoring sources: Honor from activities during play (e.g., Minor Offering, Major Offering), 2 Honor per set of 5 Resources (Gold + Structures) at end of game, 3 Honor per unused Fox Token at end of game, Honor equal to Shrine size value (from Deed card top-right) per built Shrine, Honor value of each completed Omikuji card (top-left of card), 8 Honor for most Shrines in each of the three regions (Northeast, Central, Southwest) — split on tie, rounded up, Lantern bonuses at end of each Season (double for 2+ Shrines in a Territory), Deed End of Season Bonuses each Season

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

General

The player with the most Honor at the end of five Seasons wins.

The goal of the game is to accumulate the most Honor by the end of five Seasons. Honor is gained primarily through building Shrines, completing Omikuji cards, and other in-game activities. After the fifth Season's end-of-season bonuses are distributed, end-game scoring is performed, and the player with the highest Honor total wins.

Turn structure

The game is played over five Seasons, each with three phases: Beginning a Season, Worker Placement, and Ending a Season.

The game consists of exactly five Seasons. Each Season proceeds through three phases in order: (1) Beginning a Season — draw Structures, reveal Kitsune card, and replenish the Supplement Gold activity. (2) Worker Placement — players take turns placing one Worker at a time clockwise, performing activities immediately. (3) Ending a Season — flip Kitsune card, retrieve Workers, collect Lantern bonuses, activate Deed End-of-Season bonuses, and pass the First Player Marker left.

Setup

At the start of each Season, draw Structure tokens from the bag, placing one on each Territory; leftover tokens from previous Seasons remain.

At the beginning of each Season, randomly draw Structure tokens from the drawstring bag and place one on each Territory space on the Board. Any Structure tokens remaining on Territories from previous Seasons are not removed; newly drawn tokens are added to them.

Special

At the start of each Season, reveal the next Kitsune card; its ability affects all players for the entire Season.

At the beginning of each Season, reveal the next Kitsune card from the five placed facedown during setup. The Kitsune ability is active for the entire Season and applies to all players. If the Kitsune card instructs players to use activities, those activities are performed immediately upon reveal.

Resource production

At the start of each Season (3–5 players only), place two Gold on the Supplement Gold activity if empty, or one Gold if Gold is already present.

This action applies only in 3–5 player games. During the Beginning of each Season, check the Supplement Gold activity: if there is no Gold present on that activity, place two Gold there; if Gold is already present, add only one Gold. This is not performed in 2-player games.

Turn structure

Players take turns placing one Worker at a time on an available activity, then immediately perform that activity.

During the Worker Placement phase, starting with the First Player and going clockwise, each player places exactly one Worker on an available (unoccupied) activity space on the Board and immediately performs that activity. This continues in rounds until all players have placed all of their Workers. Only one Worker is allowed per activity, with the exception that a Fox Token can be used to place on an occupied activity.

Restriction

Only one Worker may occupy each activity at a time, unless a Fox Token is used.

Each activity on the Board can hold only one Worker at a time. A player cannot place a Worker on an activity that is already occupied by another player's Worker. The sole exception is the Fox Token: a player may discard their Fox Token to place a Worker on an activity already occupied by an opponent.

Restriction

Some activities require a minimum player count to be used, shown as a number inside the activity circle.

Certain activities on the Board have a minimum player-count requirement indicated by a number (or number range) inside the activity circle. These activities can only be used if the current game's player count meets or exceeds that threshold. For example, a second worker circle marked '5' can only be used in a 5-player game.