Jinja Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
  • Drafting Deed cards
• Playing the Game
  • Beginning a Season
  • Worker Placement
  • Gaining Honor
  • Building a Shrine
  • Fox Tokens
  • Mask Die
  • Ending a Season
• End of Game Scoring
• Activities Appendix
  • Deed Exchange
  • Deed Buyback
  • Omikuji (Fortune)
  • Gain Territory Resources
  • Territory Build
  • Change Lantern Bonus
  • Minor Offering
  • Major Offering
  • Purchase and Sell Structures
  • Roll for Structures
  • Random Structures
  • Supplement Gold
• Icon Reference Chart

Goal of the Game

To have the most Honor at the end of five Seasons.

Honor is gained primarily through building Shrines and completing Omikuji cards.

2-5 players, 60 minutes, ages 12+.

Components

• Cards: 28 Deed cards, 13 Kitsune cards, 34 Omikuji cards.
• Resource tokens: Structures, 20 each: Honden, Kitsune Statue, Torii Gate, Chozuya. Gold: 36 x 1 Gold, 10 x 3 Gold.
• Other tokens: 5 Fox, 7 Lantern, First Player Marker.
• Player pieces: 25 Workers (5 per player), 5 Honor Trackers (1 per player), 35 Shrines (7 per player).
• 1 draw string bag, 1 Mask die, 1 Board, 1 Rule Book.

Setup

1. Place the Board in the middle of the table, and put all Structure tokens into the bag.
2. Shuffle the Kitsune cards, then 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 with the blue Lantern side faceup.
   • NOTE: Players can look at the bottom of any Lantern anytime during the game.
4. The player who has most recently visited Japan gets the First Player Marker (or use your preferred method of selecting First Player) and starts the first Season in clockwise order.
5. Players take a set of Workers, Shrines, and Honor Tracker in their preferred color along with the Resources and any Fox tokens, as indicated in the chart below. Place your Honor Tracker on "0" at top left corner of the Board.

Player count	Workers	1st player	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
2 Players	5	2 random Structures, 2 Gold	2 random Structures, 2 Gold, 1 Fox	-	-	-
3 Players	4	2 random Structures, 2 Gold	2 random Structures, 2 Gold	2 random Structures, 2 Gold, 1 Fox	-	-
4 Players	3	2 random Structures, 2 Gold	2 random Structures, 2 Gold, 1 Fox	2 random Structures, 3 Gold, 1 Fox	2 random Structures, 3 Gold, 1 Fox	-

6. Shuffle the Omikuji cards, then deal five to each player. Each player will choose and keep three of those cards. Shuffle the remaining cards back into the Omikuji deck and place it facedown next to the Board. Keep your Omikuji cards secret until end game scoring.
7. Shuffle the Deed cards, then randomly deal six to each player. (Deal five Deed cards in a 5-player game.) Place the remaining Deed cards facedown next to the Board. Next, each player will draft their hand of Deed cards.

Drafting Deed cards

Each player takes the following steps at the same time.

• (a) Look at your Deed cards and choose one.
• (b) Put it facedown into a "draft pile."
• (c) Pass the remaining Deed cards to the player on your left.

Repeat this process until all of the Deed cards are drafted. Keep your Deed cards secret until otherwise instructed.

When drafting is complete, flip the Deed cards that were next to the Board faceup to create a discard pile.

Note: There is no Deed deck, just a Deed discard pile.

Playing the Game

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

Beginning a Season

At the beginning of each Season perform the following actions:

1. Randomly draw Structure tokens from the bag, placing one on each Territory and adding to any tokens left over from previous Seasons.
2. Reveal a new Kitsune Card for the current Season. Kitsune abilities affect all players and will be active for the entire Season. If it instructs players to use activities, they do so now.
3. 3-5 players only: Place two Gold on this activity (Supplement Gold) if there is no Gold present; otherwise just add 1 Gold.

Worker Placement

Starting with the player with the First Player Marker and proceeding clockwise, players will take turns placing one Worker at a time on an available activity on the Board. Upon placing a worker on an activity, immediately perform that activity.

NOTE: Only one Worker is allowed on each activity (exception, Fox Tokens, see below).

Some activities can only be used if minimum player threshold is met. These activities have a number (or number range) inside the activity circle to indicate the minimum player count. For example, an activity may have a second worker circle that can only be used in a 5 player game.

When a Worker is placed on a Territory activity, you must choose to either take the available Resources at that Territory or build a Shrine from one of your Deed Cards (see Building a Shrine).

Tips/Advice:

• Careful overusing the "Deed Exchange" activity. This could hurt late game with Shrine building.
• You could temporarily and permanently be locked from building a Shrine in a Territory.
• Don't accidentally reveal your Deeds before you're ready to build a Shrine. Opponents could use this information against you.

Gaining Honor

When you gain any amount of honor, move your honor tracker that amount of spaces. (Honor earned from Shrine and Omikuji cards are added during end game scoring.)

Building a Shrine

If you choose to build a Shrine, you must have a Deed that corresponds to the Territory you placed a Worker in, the designated structure tokens pictured on that Deed, and an available space in that Territory to place a Shrine in.

(Deed + the pictured Structure tokens + a Worker on that Territory.)

• Play that Deed faceup in your play area. (This Deed will stay faceup for the remainder of the game.)
• Return the designated Structure tokens to the bag.
• Place a Shrine from your personal supply on the Board in the appropriate Territory.

NOTE: In the rare case a player has no more Shrines of their respective color to play on a Territory, select a different color Shrine from a set of unused Shrines.

Fox Tokens

When placing a worker, you may discard your Fox token to place that worker on an activity occupied by an opponent. Unused Fox tokens are worth three Honor at the end of the game.

Mask Die

When using the Minor Offering, Roll for Structures or Roll for Gold activities, roll the Mask die to see which bonus you will gain.

• Blue mask: Gain blue mask bonus.
• Red mask: Gain red mask bonus.
• Blue mask with star: Gain a blue mask bonus and you may flip a Lantern. (Do not gain that bonus)
• Red mask with star: Gain a red mask bonus and you may flip a Lantern. (Do not gain that bonus)

Ending a Season

When all players have no workers left to place, the Season has ended. Perform the following End of Season actions.

1. Flip the active Kitsune card facedown.
2. Return your Workers to your personal supply.
3. Take Lantern bonuses for each Territory in which you control a Shrine. (Earn double bonus for controlling two or more Shrines in a Territory.)
4. In player order, activate the End of Season Bonus on Deed Cards in your play area (which can be activated in any order).
5. Pass the First Player Marker to the left, and begin a new Season, unless this is the fifth season. In that case, the game has ended. Proceed to the End of Game Scoring.

End of Game Scoring

After the fifth Season has been completed and Season bonuses distributed, additional Honor will be awarded to each player.

• 2 Honor for each set of five Resources (Gold & Structures).
• 3 Honor for an unused Fox token.
• Each Shrine has an Honor value based on its size printed at the top right of its Deed card.
• Score Omikuji Cards. Each has an Honor value at the top left. NOTE: Only one Shrine is needed in a Territory to complete an Omikuji.
• 8 Honor for the most Shrines in a region. There are three regions:
  • Northeast (Hokkaido & Tohoku)
  • Central (Kansai & Kanto*)
  • Southwest (Chugoku, Shikoku & Kyushu)
  • *The Kanto territory also includes the area known as Chubu.

NOTE: If two or more players tie for the most number of Shrines in one region, they split the Honor. If splitting results in an uneven number of Honor, round it up so each player receives the same number. For example, if three players tie, each would receive three Honor.

The player with the most Honor wins the game!

If there is a tie, then the tiebreaker goes as follows:

• Tiebreaker 1 - Most Shrines built.
• Tiebreaker 2 - Most large Shrines built.
• Tiebreaker 3 - Most medium Shrines built.

And if there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Activities Appendix

Deed Exchange

Discard a Deed to gain 3 random structures. Then each opponent gains one random structure.

Deed Buyback

Pay two Gold to choose a Deed from the Deed discard pile. You may build it immediately, if possible.

Omikuji (Fortune)

Draw two Omikuji and add them to your hand. Then take one Omikuji from your hand and put it on the bottom of the Omikuji deck.

Gain Territory Resources

Gain all of the Resources from one Territory and place them in your personal supply.

Territory Build

Pay one Gold to build in any available Territory (still spending the requisite Structures).

Change Lantern Bonus

Flip over two Lantern tokens. Then gain the bonus from one of them.

Minor Offering

Pay two Gold. Then roll the die. Gain 3 Honor or 5 Honor.

Major Offering

Pay four Gold to gain six Honor.

Purchase and Sell Structures

Pay two Gold to gain a Structure of your choice up to five times and/or sell any amount of Structures for one Gold each.

Roll for Structures

Roll the die. Then gain either 2 random Structures or one specific Structure.

Random Structures

Pay one Gold to gain two random Structures.

Supplement Gold

Collect the Gold present and place them in your personal supply.

Roll for Gold

Roll the die. Then gain either 2 Gold or 3 Gold.

Icon Reference Chart

• Structure of your choice
• Random Structure
• Build a Shrine
• Search for a Deed
• Discard a Deed
• Pick a Territory and gain all the Resources
• Draw an Omikuji
• Discard an Omikuji
• Flip a Lantern Token
• Gain the bonus of a Lantern Token you flipped
• Gold
• Honor