Ninja Night
Ninja Night Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Village board
- 1 Counter board
- 1 Moon marker
- 2 trees
- 16 buildings
- 1 stickers board to decorate the walls of your buildings
- 4 ninjas and 4 plastic bases
- 4 Backpack boards
- 4 action planners
- 28 Trunk tokens (24 pink - Bonus or Value from 1 to 3, 4 yellow - Value from 4 and 5)
- 12 Injury tokens
- 1 Fighting string (with 1 fist)
- 1 Moving string (with 1 grapnel)
- 1 First Player token and 1 plastic base
Object of the Game
At the end of the night (after 6 rounds), try to be the ninja with the highest value of trunks. Be careful, you will have to plan your actions well.
Set-Up
- Place the Village board in the centre of the table.
- Randomly place 11 biggest buildings in the village, making sure to spread them out evenly. Then place the 5 remaining buildings on 5 buildings already set up to form floors.
- Randomly put the 2 trees in the village on the ground, never on a building.
- On the 11 buildings randomly place the 28 Trunk tokens (pink and yellow) in groups of 2 or 3 tokens, face down so their value is hidden.
- Take 1 ninja each along with their corresponding items: 1 Backpack board and 1 action planner. Place these in front of you.
- Put the Counter board next to the Village board and place the Moon marker on the number 1 of the board.
- Make a pile of Injury tokens and put these next to the Village board along with the 2 strings.
- Choose someone to play first and place the First Player token in front of them.
- In turns, starting with the first player and moving clockwise, take the ninja belonging to the player on your right and place this ninja on one of the buildings in the village.
Note: several players can start on the same building.
How to Play
A game takes place over 6 rounds representing the 6 minutes before sunrise. This is the perfect time for a raid!
A round is made up of 2 phases:
A > Choose your Actions
Take your action planner and using the wheels, secretly choose the 2 actions you will carry out on your turn (see Actions). Put this face down until all players have made their choice then go to phase B.
B > Carry out your Actions
Everyone flips their action planner face up at the same time to reveal their 2 actions.
Starting with the 1st player and moving in a clockwise order, carry out your 1st action (1). Once all the first actions have been carried out, carry out the 2nd actions (2) in the same way.
The actions are not obligatory! If you wish, you can choose not to carry out an action you have chosen.
After this, move the Moon marker forward a notch. The First Player token moves clockwise to the next player. A new round can begin.
Important
- While estimating, you must keep out of the village. Hold the measuring string near you, no cheating!
- You can push another player's ninja out of the way if this ninja is preventing you from checking your distance. Put the ninja back in place after checking!
- It is essential that your ninja stays in place while you are checking and that the measuring string is tight.
- Always move from roof to roof, never on the ground!
- During a movement, the measuring string must never go over an obstacle higher than your starting building such as a tree or another building.
Actions
Move
- Choose the building where you wish to move your ninja.
- With the Moving string, move the indicator on the string so that you can mark the estimated distance between your ninja and the target building.
Note: you can reposition your ninja on the roof of the building where this ninja was moving before. Place the indicator in front of the plastic base of your ninja, then block the string with its help.
- Check that the estimated distance is correct: hold your ninja firmly (lock the string), stretch the string and check that at least one part of the grappling hook touches the roof of the target building and doesn't pass by it.
If the grappling hook touches the roof, place your ninja on the target building.
If the grappling hook does not touch the roof, your ninja stays on the starting roof (see Injuries).
Attack
If you choose this action, you can attack a ninja located on another building. Proceed in exactly the same way as for the action "Move" but using the Fighting string. Check that this fist makes it in its entirety to the target building.
- If your estimate is correct, move your ninja to the target building. Your opponent suffers an injury (see Injuries).
- If your estimate was wrong, your ninja stays on the starting roof and suffers an injury (see Injuries).
Collect
If you choose this action, you can take all or some of the tokens present from the roof where your ninja is. Put each chosen token on one of the free spaces of your Backpack board.
A backpack can hold a maximum of 4 tokens, 1 per space. Trunk tokens are always kept face down.
Careful! Yellow Trunk tokens can only be collected in the 5th and 6th rounds of the game.
It is possible to discard one or several tokens at any time to make space to collect others (see Other possible actions).
Steal
If you choose this action, you can take a token of your choice from another player whose ninja is on the same building as yours.
Heal
If you choose this action, you can heal ONE of your injuries. Take 1 Injury token from your backpack and place it back in the pile.
Other Possible Actions
During your turn, you are free to discard one or more tokens from your backpack board by depositing them on the building your ninja is on. Place them Trunk side up.
During your turn, you can also use one or more Bonus tokens (see Bonuses).
Injuries
You are injured when your movement or attack fails, or when an opponent succeeds in attacking you. Take an Injury token and place this on one of the free spaces on your Backpack board. If you haven't got a free space, choose a token from your backpack and put it on the roof your ninja is on, Trunk side up, and then place the Injury token on your board.
A player can only have 4 injuries maximum, so there's no need to go overboard with your attack!
A ninja with 4 injuries isn't eliminated from the game but they are forced to heal their injuries during their next turns if they wish to gather more tokens.
Bonuses
You can play as many Bonus tokens as you want on your turn. You can use them before / during / after your action. This means that you can play a Bonus token right away without first putting it in your backpack.
Once used, discard the Bonus token by putting it next to your backpack.
In this way, the bonuses can be used in the event of a draw at the end of the game.
Bonus Tokens
- Potion: This allows you to heal all your injuries. Once they are healed, all the Injury tokens from your backpack are returned to the pile.
- Gears: You can reprogram one of your actions before carrying it out.
- Grappling Hook: You can move your ninja onto one of the buildings closest to you without estimating the distance or risking injury.
- Shuriken: You can injure an enemy ninja from afar without moving your ninja or risking injury by following the same steps as for the action "Attack", using the Fighting string. If your estimate is incorrect, no action is taken but you must still discard the Shuriken token.
- Kunai: You can force an opponent to discard a Trunk token without moving your ninja or risking injury by following the same steps as for the action "Attack", using the Fighting string. If your estimate is correct, choose a token from your opponent's backpack and place this token on the roof their ninja is positioned on. Place the Trunk tokens side up. If your estimate is incorrect, no action is taken but you must discard the Kunai token.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the 6th round (6th minute). Each player adds the values of their pink and yellow Trunk tokens together.
The player with the highest total value wins the game. In case of a draw, the player with the most Value tokens wins the game. If there is still a tie, the player who used the least trunks with Bonus tokens wins.
Variation for 2 Player Game
The game is played exactly the same way as for 3 and 4 players except that you always have to place the Trunk tokens Value or Bonus side up, whether they are on your backpack board or on a building.
Variation for Experienced Ninjas
When you check your estimation (attack, move ...), you must have all of your fists / grapnels on the roof, otherwise it is considered a failure.
Source note: transcribed from the official English rulebook published by Blue Orange Games (EU), from the publisher's website copy (blueorangegames.eu). The spelling "Figthing" in the printed Shuriken and Kunai entries is corrected to "Fighting" to match the printed "Fighting string" component name.