The Game
There are three kinds of cards:- Ninja cards (black back, of course) are character cards. Each has a list of skills and special abilities.
- Missions cards (red back) describe the deliveries and list the skill rolls needed to succeed.
- Fortune cards (white back) make up the player's hand. They include instant effects, ninja stuff to buy (yes, it's actually called "ninja stuff") and other game-affecting cards.
To win, you must have more honor than the other players, so that you can be promoted to manager. There are three ways to do this:
- If the total franchise honor reaches an average of four per player or less, the current manager is fired.
- If the total franchise honor reaches an average of ten or more, the current manager is promoted.
- If a player gains five more honor than any other, that ninja is promoted.
(The current manager isn't actually in the game. It's just a nebulous placeholder position until someone wins.)
You start the game with six honor, earning more by successfully completing missions. There are also errands in the Mission deck. They don't usually give honor for success, but can remove it for failure.
Play follows a turn sequence. The player with the most honor goes first. In case of a tie, roll 3d6, with high roller going first.
Each player draws salary and a mission. Then the staff meeting starts. Everyone with a mission must attend the staff meeting, and gets to draw a Fortune card. At the staff meeting missions may be traded, including whatever additional stuff the players want to offer. You can't exchange honor, only cash and cards.
Some of the missions are actually errands, small tasks that must be done around the restaurant. Anyone with an errand does not have to attend the staff meeting. However, you can force errands onto those with less honor. And the staff meeting is the only time everyone gets a Fortune draw.
Once the staff meeting is over, deliveries start. In turn, each player makes the appropriate rolls for his/her mission. Fail one, and you fail the delivery. You must succeed at all rolls to complete the delivery. You then get a reward or pay a penalty. Rewards usually include honor, but may also allow Fortune draws or tips. Penalties act along the same lines.
Most Fortune cards come into play during deliveries. Ninja stuff gives bonuses to skill rolls, including automatic successes. Training courses give skill boosts, and then there are events that make deliveries more difficult, or reduce the rewards. You play these on other players, of course.
The secret to winning is money and card management. Do you play the training course now, or hold it for a later mission? You never have enough money, so which ninja stuff do you buy? Which player gets ambushed by white ninja, and does it happen on this delivery or a subsequent one? It's all about resources.
Good Stuff
Ninja Burger has a nifty form factor. The cards are playing card width, but about an inch longer. Ninja and Mission cards lay crossways in front of you, and Fortune cards lay vertically. It makes for a nice-looking layout, easy to read at a glance.The black-and-white artwork by Greg Hyland is very nice. It's a lot like comic strip art, and the images go very well with the cards. And there's the occasional Easter egg, such as Matt and Igor of Dork Tower playing Munchkin Fu.
Most missions are at least mildly funny, especially when the flavor text is taken into account. You might deliver to a water park, or even Air Force One. In fact, reading the cards can provide a fair amount of entertainment by itself.
There are also some cool rules. Rolling a natural 3 or 4 indicates a superior success, automatically gaining a point of honor. But there are no automatic failures, so if you can get a skill high enough, an 18 is still a success.
You can buy ninja stuff at any time, even after a failed roll. In fact, if you fail a roll, then buy an item that would have made the roll a success, you did succeed. No wasted money here!
Bad Stuff
Despite the above, I didn't like the game. My main complaint is time. There are three ways to reach victory: everyone fails a lot, everyone succeeds even more, or one player mostly succeeds while the rest mostly fail.Failure's pretty likely, actually. Each mission requires two to four rolls on 3d6. It's a roll under system, but typical skill values are 8-12 before ninja stuff. So early on, it's easy to fail.
Assuming the bottom doesn't drop out of the honor total in the first few turns, everyone tends to fail and succeed in about equal measure. So the total never rises to the ten average, nor does one person rack up honor while the rest fail. A full six-player game can drag for hours like this.
As for ninja stuff, combat gear is overpriced. Especially since many missions don't require combat at all. Combat stuff is only more important when the current manager gets promoted or fired. Then if there's a tie for first place, it's decided with a single combat roll. Other than that, combat gear is no more valuable than climbing gear.
And another thing about the ninja stuff. Why are there katana and wakizashi cards? The RPG makes it clear that ninja use the ninja-to. Samurai are mortal enemies running a rival burger chain. So why are samurai weapons in a ninja card game? And why isn't the ninja-to included?
There aren't enough cards that screw with the other players. It's fun to go back and forth with the cards, but at least half the time everyone plays solitaire once the staff meeting is over.
