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As an apprentice Ninja, it’s time for you to show all your skills in challenging and exciting tricky trials. Will you be quicker, stronger, smarter…. or simply more concentrated than your opponents? Your training alternates collective trials and duels, in a series of varied tests drawn randomly. But whether you are challenging the whole group and head-to-head with another ninja, there will be only one rule: be the best at your trial! For example, try to be the first player to place a Ninja meeple on each of your fingertips! Try to guess how many ninjas your opponent put in the box just by shaking it! Be the quickest to assemble 5 wood logs vertically! Be strong enough to collect points depending on your score, but be also strategic enough when you bet on the winner of each duel! Ninja Academy is a hilarious, fast-paced and highly replayable new dexterity game!
—description from the publisher
- Fast to learn and play with quick rounds
- Deep mind games and bluffing in a small package
- Travel-friendly two-player filler
- Retheme from Hanamikoji provides familiarity while remaining fresh
- High interaction and player read of the opponent
- Scoring can feel fiddly for new players
- Theme may not appeal to everyone
- Some players may prefer different artwork or flavor from the Hanamikoji base game
- Competitive social dynamic of mentoring and influence among scholars.
- A prestigious academy where scholars vie for favor through card play.
- Mind-game deduction with hidden information and scoring across rounds.
- Hanamikoji
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Competition — Split four cards into two pairs; opponent chooses a pair to score, the other pair goes to you; you reveal secrets and compare.
- Discard — Discard two cards from hand out of the game.
- Gift — Reveal three cards; opponent chooses one to keep; you keep the other two.
- Secret reserve — Reserve a card face-down for scoring later.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of our all-time favorites
- a very quick and very simple to play game
- it's a very mind-crunching experience in such a small box
- it's the best
- i highly recommend you check it out
- it's very meta like you're very much so trying to get into the other person's head