In Shuriken, players take control of 250 plastic ninja including unarmed, sword, shuriken, and master ninja. During the game the players place, move, and upgrade their ninja forces on the modular board as they attempt to learn new techniques and battle enemy ninja -- often destroying the board in the process.

The winner is the player with the most victory points when the sun rises at the end of the night.

250 plastic ninja miniatures (28mm): 50 each of 5 colors. Each color (one for each player) has 24 Unarmed Ninja, 12 Sword Ninja, 12 Shuriken Ninja, and 2 Master Ninja
12 double-sided modular gameboard tiles
20 Hour of Night cards
80 Mission Cards
5 Clan Cards
10 custom 6-sided dice, black plastic with white icons
42 tracking tokens (for tracking upgrades and noting damage to board tiles)

Chris Johnson wrote:Let me start by saying this review is based on a playtest copy of Shuriken.
When the designer sent out copies of this game for blind playtests, as a player I am always curious as to how far along a project is when I open the box and pick up the rules. With this game, the answer was easy to see - it was ready for playtesters and just needed fresh sets of eyes to find any potential things that may need to be addressed before production.

The rules as presented in the original playtest copy were well written and easy to follow. There were a couple minor issues but they were corrected. As a playtester some of what we were trying to find was anything broken, and any rules questions that may come up during a unique scenario. I am pleased to say that from my communications with the designer, the playtesters comments were heard and the designers thought about the feedback.

As far as the final rule set of the game, I will be curious to see the final rules and what small tweaks were changed between this playtest and final printing.

Obviously since this was a playtest copy, I can not comment on the quality of components. The playtest copy was actually nicer then some games print and play games I have.

Number of players: 2-5. I have played a few 2 player games but most games have been with 4 or 5.
Time: The game with rules explanation was anywhere between 90 and 120 minutes depending on the group and the couple random factors.

The basic premise of the game is that you are a clan of ninja involved in a competition with 4 other clans to become the clan that will lead the other clans for the next 10 years. This is acomplished by completing missions for upgraded abilities and victory points. VPs can also be gained by capturing other clan's ninja.

Each clan has 4 types of ninja available. The designer uploaded an image file that shows them. They are unarmed, sword, shuriken, and master. In combat they fight in different phases and the combat is resolved with dice. The sides of the die determine which ninja hit. There is also an aspect of the dice that can damage and eventually destroy the game tiles.

During set-up there are 2 tiles that are placed in opposite corners. The remaining 10 tiles are placed randomly to fill out a 3x4 grid of tiles. Each tile has an ability that changes an aspect of gameplay. One tile reduces the ninja that can compete in the combat. Be warned that some destroyed tiles have negative abilities.

The game is divided into 10 rounds. At the start of the round a card is drawn that will have an event for the round. These can range from skipping the round, copying the previous event, or giving certain ninja advantages during the round. The game lasts 10 rounds and there were 20 of these cards in the playtest.

Players have a hand of 3 mission cards that they may try to complete. When the objectives of the mission are complete the card is put into play immediately. These cards offer bonuses to the ninja, the ability to discard the card during a future combat to avoid having ninja captured, or pure VPs, and other interesting effects the designers might add. When a mission is complete the player will be able to draw back to 3 cards before their next turn starts. (note: we tested what would happen if drawing a new mission card happened immediately or at the start of the next turn. The exact timing of refilling a hand of cards may change slightly before the final rules)

The mission cards can also grant a player initiative to become the start player until another player completes a mission with initiative.

Between the tile setup and these cards, along with the random mission cards, each game felt different because the cards will somewhat dictate the strategy a player tries during the game.

Each player only has 3 actions per turn over 10 rounds for 30 total. The actions you can take are place unarmed ninja from your supply on the board, upgrade some ninga, initiate combat, move, or discard mission cards and draw new ones. Each clan has a special ability that can change these actions.

Overall I thought the game was easy to teach and simple to play. However, the overall game is not simple, and has a depth that may not be seen during the first play. Players have to make strategic moves and keep an eye on what the other players are doing.

There are some random elements in the game, with the most random being the luck of the dice roll during combat.

I think the game will appeal to groups that enjoy a higher level of interaction.

As of right now I am not going to give an official rating to the game. I am going to wait for the final version to see what changes might be made between now and then.
I will say that I have enjoyed playing the game and the game will have a spot on my gaming shelf when it is printed. I will also say that I think the final game will end up in my game bag often because it can be taught to new players and has a different flavor then other games I have been playing recently.

 Barzam wrote:
I know my brother is interested in this. He mentioned that an eventual expansion/upgrade will include zombies as well.

 Lansirill wrote:
I like that they broke out their estimated costs and explained why they needed $95,000. I'm probably not backing this, but I really liked that bit.

nkelsch wrote:
In a world of 'expected free shipping' it is really interesting to see how shipping from china and to customers is expected to cost more than tooling the game itself.

 Manchu wrote:
For those who just want the ninjas ...

A 25USD pledge gets you 100 plastic ninjas (many unarmed, some sword and shuriken, few masters). Looks like these will be in black plastic.

 Barzam wrote:
I know my brother is interested in this. He mentioned that an eventual expansion/upgrade will include zombies as well.

 Kalamadea wrote:
I saw this a few days ago and meant to pledge, thanks for the reminder! I'm in it for $25, because who DOESN'T need 100 28mm ninjas?!

nkelsch wrote:

 Kalamadea wrote:
I saw this a few days ago and meant to pledge, thanks for the reminder! I'm in it for $25, because who DOESN'T need 100 28mm ninjas?!

They are not 28mm are they? They seemed so much smaller. I agree, 25$ for a bunch of 28mm ninjas aint bad.

Brian_W wrote:
I'm guessing they're referring to a Facebook post where I mentioned the idea of making a scenario that pits the ninja against the 100 zombies from Zombies!: https://www.facebook.com/AwesomeEnterprise/posts/476171652473715. But no, we are not going to make zombie figures for Shuriken : )

Actually, I was working at FFG when Zombies! came out, and one of the designers there spent some time making optional 100 plastic zombie rules for every game he could find -- including Monopoly and pool. I think that's what made me thing of it.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I for one however am certainly intrigued by these 100 zombie game variations you speak of. Any links perchance?

And while we're at it, having a zombie scenario even as a downloadable pdf would be quite cool.

One disturbing comment we've seen in messages and on forums is people saying they'll wait to buy the game retail when it's published -- including some people who think that Shuriken will be published regardless of what happens with the Kickstarter.

This is absolutely untrue. The reason we're doing this Kickstarter -- and with a funding level that covers the entire cost rather than just a portion -- is because we do not have the funds to print the game. If the Kickstarter fails, there will be no Shuriken.

So if you see people talking about waiting for retail, let them know that without the support of everyone who wants to play this game, there won't be a game to play!

We are adding the new tile, Temple of the Oni, and we're making 3 Hour of Night cards exclusive to Kickstarter backers. Any backer level that receives the base game now gets these stretch goal rewards!

The Temple of the Oni scenario allows players to use the Bag o' Ninja from the backer rewards to pit four players against the powerful Oni-corrupted ninja clan of 150 black ninja!

We are now adding a new scenario, with the new tile, Mount Fuji, and we're making 3 more Hour of Night cards exclusive to Kickstarter backers. Any backer level that receives the base game now gets these stretch goal rewards.

The Emperor of the Mountain scenario puts Mount Fuji in the center of the board, an ancient and powerful tile that grants additional victory points each round to the Clan with the most ninja on the tile, creating a game-changing central battleplain in additional to all the other elements of Shuriken.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Ah, one of those $50 to ship outside the US dealies. Looks good (especially the $25 pledge), but I'll have to pass.

 Azazelx wrote:
But... If they're up to stretch goals, then they're funded, right?

We were using the word "unlocked" to mean "revealed", and it has been made clear to us most people expect it to mean "achieved." Since we screwed up our wording, the Awesome Enterprise board has agreed to pay for the first two Scenario Packs out of their pockets if we reach our funding goal (of course, if we go over then it's covered anyway).

 Azazelx wrote:
There's nothing wrong with the choice of waiting for retail rather than paying upfront a year in advance for something that isn't actually guaranteed in any way.

 Azazelx wrote:
I've personally had one simple-on-the-surface gaming crowd funded campaign end up not providing all that was promised and delivering what it did a number of months late.

 Manchu wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:
I've personally had one simple-on-the-surface gaming crowd funded campaign end up not providing all that was promised and delivering what it did a number of months late.

And I personally have had a KS from a year ago still not deliver nor show any signs that delivery is ever forthcoming. It's KS, that's a risk. Not sure why you're bring it up here ...

 BrookM wrote:
With those shipping prices this tiny grasshopper is going to wait for it to hit the local stores first.

 Manchu wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
With those shipping prices this tiny grasshopper is going to wait for it to hit the local stores first.

Yeah, there's no way I would pledge for this if I lived outside of the US ... I'd have to think pretty hard even if I lived in Canada. I hope Awesome Enterprises reaches out to industry contacts on this issue and maybe they can find a way to manage the price. I guess they are ultimately hamstrung by their actual current budget and slow progress on the KS.