How to play Neko Syndicate & Review

Neko Syndicate is an action point, pick up and deliver game.

Title: Neko Syndicate

Year Published: 2024

Designer: Dani Garcia

Publisher: Combo Games

Players: 1-4

Game Time: ~40 minutes

Set-up Time: ~5 minutes

Ages: 14+

Theme: Warring cat-themed sushi-delivering clans.

Mechanisms: Action points allowance, Pickup & Deliver.

How to win: Score the most points by creating your clan, delivering sushi and completing missions for the boss.

Game Description

The sushi production and distribution in the city of Mininogata is controlled by several feline clans. Leading those clans is the Kumichō, supreme leader of the syndicate, but he is now an old cat and soon will have to decide who will succeed him.

How to play Neko Syndicate

How to play Neko Syndicate. This is a quick and comprehensive rules overview to use as a rule refresher or as an alternative to a review.

Main mechanisms

Action points and pick-up and deliver. There is also a bit of engine building as you build out actions in a particular order.

Theme

The theme of warring clans of cats trying to deliver sushi to please a boss is a fun theme, but it doesn’t come out in gameplay so much.

Setup & Rulebook

The setup is very straight forward and the rulebook is OK. There are specific instances that the book doesn’t answer.

Components & Artwork

The cards and iconography are nice. The round tracker is 4 cards you lay out in a row and I would have liked to have seen this as a board instead.

I do like the art of the cats, it’s all different and quite funny too.

Ease of Teaching

This is easy to teach with only 7 actions in the entire game. One issue is the simultaneous nature of gameplay means you may have to distract yourself to help people at the table.

Similar Games

Strangely, as you turn is done with no one watching it kinda feels like a roll & write like Welcome to…

There are not too many games similar to this I think.

Neko Syndicate Review

Positives

It’s an interesting theme idea.

The artwork is nice.

It’s a really interesting puzzle to try and figure out. You need to get fish, get it to the right place and make rice where required. All while building out your clan.

The pyramid structure of the action flow gives you plenty to think about.

Negatives

It’s very multiplayer solitaire.

The early rounds with very few actions are quite dull.

Round-Up

An interesting puzzle wrapped in a fun theme.

I give it 6/10