Jinja

About this board game

Jinja is a colorful worker-placement game for 2–5 players with a play time of about 60 minutes. Across five seasons, players place workers around an illustrated map of Japan to activate actions, gather resources, claim territories, and build shrines.

The board is divided into territories, each with a limited number of temple sites. Players can send workers to one of thirteen different actions or to one of seven territories. Building a shrine earns honor and grants special abilities, making the timing and location of construction important as you work toward the highest honor.

• Variable goals: Secret Omikuji fortunes reward shrines built at key locations.
• Changing abilities: Randomly selected Kitsune cards provide discounts, bonuses, and abilities that vary with the seasons.
• Push your luck: Roll the custom multi-color Mask die for bonuses.
• Expand your holdings: Exchange deed cards for territory and revisit territories to build up your resource supply.

Jinja combines strategic planning with a little luck. You must decide when to place workers, when to exchange deeds, and when to commit resources to construction while responding to the goals and events shaping each game.

At the end of the game, players receive additional bonuses for having the most shrines in each region. Evocative illustrations and high-quality components bring the setting to life, including custom plastic shrine miniatures, painted worker meeples, screenprinted score trackers, and the distinctive Mask die.