Nijar
- Designer: David Bernal
- Publisher: Perro Loko / Devir
- Players: 1-4
- Age: 14+
- Time: 25 min/player
- Played with review copy provided by publisher
Bathed by the crystal-clear waters of Cabo de Gata and under the white light of Andalusia stands Níjar, a small town in the province of Almería, Spain, with a pottery tradition dating back to the Bronze Age and which gained great significance during the Muslim period (10th–15th centuries). In Níjar, we travel back to the 1920s, long before the tourism boom of the 1950s. The local economy revolved around ceramics, esparto weaving, and the making of jarapas, colorful textiles that remain a symbol of the region today.
Experience the charm of rural Andalusia: its narrow whitewashed streets, the rhythmic hum of pottery wheels at work, and skilled hands weaving esparto and jarapas, bringing color and life to the traditions of Níjar. Transform clay into art, fire into tradition, and your workshop into the soul of Níjar. Only those who master the rhythm of the wheel and the alchemy of color will be remembered as true master potters.
Yes, we’re (thankfully) nearing the end of my Gen Con G(J)ournal, probably just a few posts left. While I find myself in the main hall more often than not, I enjoy it when I get to hop out to smaller events. One of which was Greater Than Games evening showing off some of their new titles. Crime Scene Tamperer is a tongue-in-cheek take-that card game of setting up your opponents to take the fall when Strong Bad/Dangeresque is on the scene. Digital Detox is a go-fish game of forcing other players to doomscroll on their phones. Defenders of the Realm: Definitive Edition refines the cooperative game and will add a ton of new content. Project Gold is an as-yet unnamed worker-placement game where one can expect to get their engine rolling as early as turn one. Even further out is Center Chair where you and your friends command a starship in a story-driven thematic cooperative spaceship game. Stonemeier Games held their traditional location in the demo hall just barely outside the main hall. Wingspan Pocket looks to be a great card game version of the original where cards are resources and birds. Think streamlined and faster playing with all your birds in a single row. Props to Stonemeier for pulling off Duel of Meloch which pits a Scythe player against an Expeditions player in one of the more impressive you got chocolate in my peanut butter boardgames I’ve seen. Dire wolf has several expansions in the mix, Invincible: The Hero-Building Game: Season 2 expands on the first bag-building game taking the game into season 2 of the cartoon along with four new heroes with a diverse power set. Finally, there’s Blue Orange Games with a new version of King of Tokyo. King of Tokyo: Godzilla has all new, spiffy Japanese-style art along with an entirely new, powered up set of ability cards. New to me, we’ll finish off by looking a A_Way, a card based take-that racing game.
