In 2024, I\u2019m hard-pressed to think of another designer who is getting more love than Dani Garcia. Garcia is the designer of Barcelona<\/i><\/a> and that was a big hit for Board & Dice in 2023. Now? I\u2019ve played three Garcia designs in the last four weeks, including Windmill Valley<\/i><\/a>, Daitoshi<\/i><\/a>, and now Neko Syndicate<\/i>, a \u201cthinky filler\u201d published by Combo Games.<\/p>\n If my first two Garcia experiences are any indication, it seems like the designer enjoys \u201cpoint salad\u201d scoring experiences wrapped in whimsical packages packed to the gills with handsome production elements. I still haven\u2019t figured out what Daitoshi<\/i> is about\u2014I\u2019m building a city, but trying my best to not mess with the environment, and I\u2019ve got a steampunk-style blimp floating around town that has access to the best goodies?\u2014but the game is lush, with lots of rules and lots of ways to score and lots of ways to completely tank your ability to win.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the setup for Neko Syndicate<\/i>: as head of a seemingly-nefarious clan of sushi-producing mafia cats, players must lead their clan to build a 10-card pyramid in a game that mixes tableau building, public milestones, simultaneous play, and order fulfillment in what might be the brain burniest 30-minute game of the year. If you love a good strategy game but struggle to find the time (and, frankly, the player network) to get your heavy Euros to the table, you need to run out and buy a copy of Neko Syndicate<\/i> right now.<\/p>\n Neko Syndicate<\/i> is a 1-4 player game that should really max at two players. My advice is to play the game solo, because if you don\u2019t, some players will find that the loud murmurs and angry groans of opponents as they try to math out the best way to activate their pyramid structure will be too intrusive.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry, those groans are a good thing. Players have a series of Minions cards that run the gamut of the roles any good sushi syndicate should feature: a delivery lady, a good accountant, a cook, even a subway operator. Neko Syndicate<\/i> asks players to slowly build out a network of Minion cards that feature the right mix of actions across 15 agonizing turns. Each player has a warehouse of 32 cubes, representing sashimi and nigiri orders for customers in the fictional city of Mininogata.<\/p>\n Each card is split into two halves, then split again. The vertical halves represent two parts of town, a lower half and an upper half, with the upper half serving as a holding area for completed orders on that card. The left and right halves of each card feature what might be the best artwork of the year\u2014especially if you have a passion for mean-looking mafia cats who work in the underground sushi industry\u2014and a single action on either half.<\/p>\n Players start with the top card of their pyramid, then build downwards through their structure onto other cards, triggering actions along the way. The hook: each card action can be triggered a number of times based on the level of the pyramid. So, a delivery lady action on the third level of the pyramid allows the player to take that action three times. Place that same card on the fourth level, and bingo\u2014you get to trigger the action four times.<\/p>\n So, you\u2019ve got a spatial element. You\u2019ve got decisions to make regarding where the cards should go. Each card features two of four subway stations\u2014A, B, C, D\u2014and the subway operator can move sushi to the part of town you want if you can string together the right actions. Each card\u2019s upper half is looking for a sushi delivery of between 2-4 cubes, in four different colors. That means you\u2019ve got to both produce the right sushi, then move it to the right place.<\/p>\n And, you\u2019ll lose points for any sushi that wasn\u2019t delivered. Did I mention that nigiri can only be delivered once it has been added to cooked rice, meaning that you need to both move it to the right neighborhood then remember to cook the rice for your customers? That makes for some thinky planning.<\/p>\n Neko Syndicate<\/i> led to so many agonizing turns that some players might find themselves wondering if the end result could possibly be any fun.<\/p>\n This is fair. The scoring conditions are brutal. Players lose points for a number of mistakes: any cards that are completely unfulfilled, sushi cubes that are just lying around in neighborhoods by the end of play, and any missing cards in the 10-card pyramid structure requirement. Then, scoring is done by the inverse of the powered action mechanic during play, meaning fulfilling orders higher in the pyramid are more powerful than doing things on the bottom level. (This makes sense, since those cards were likely added late in the game.)<\/p>\n But setting up actions in the right order, and getting cubes out of your warehouse and moved to the right locations, is such a great feeling. Turns 13-15 (i.e., the final three rounds) in Neko Syndicate<\/i> were a joy every time, with lots of tension as one tries to figure out the best way to use the tools of their pyramid to get cubes to as many final locations as possible. It was just as important to not bring in too many cubes that might end the game without a delivery location, so finding the right balance also led to many interesting moments late in each play.<\/p>\n All this worked for me, but I could also see where Neko Syndicate<\/i> is not for everyone. The difficulty here is real. It\u2019s also a game that I would be hesitant to whip out with four players, especially if one or two of them is a more deliberate decision maker. That would spike the 30-minute playtime to 45-60 minutes or more, suddenly making Neko Syndicate<\/i> a bigger ask.<\/p>\n For a lover of heavy strategy games, I think Neko Syndicate<\/i> is a delightful way to kick off an evening. The teach, setup and teardown of the game is so simple that you can play it in almost any space\u2014there is no board, so everything sweeps away into a large deck of cards. And there\u2019s a lot of variety in the box, thanks to the 24 included milestone cards, only three of which are used in each game.<\/p>\n Neko Syndicate<\/i> has a very specific audience, but it made that very specific audience\u2014me\u2014very happy. If you can get your hands on a copy, it comes highly recommended!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Designer Dani Garcia is everywhere right now. Find out why Justin thinks that might be OK in his review of Neko Syndicate, published by Combo Games!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":310419,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":true,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"coauthors":[6089],"class_list":["post-310414","reviews","type-reviews","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-board-games","category-mafia-board-games","designers-dani-garcia","mechanisms-action-points","mechanisms-pattern-building","mechanisms-pick-up-and-deliver","publishers-combo-games-ii","artists-jennifer-giner","release_year-8432"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Neko-Syndicate-3-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSorry, You Did Say \u201cSushi-Producing Mafia Cats\u201d, Correct?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Neko-Syndicate-2-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Neko-Syndicate-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSushi is Scary<\/h2>\n