The Ninja Burger Role Playing Game

Overall score:

Publisher: 9th Level Games

Reviewed by Eric J. Ehlers

You're probably asking "Ninja Burger? Is that like, fast food made out of ninjas?" But if you are, you're wrong. Because Ninja Burger is fast food delivered by ninjas.

Just so you know, they do recognize that this is a whacky premise, and they go all out with it.

The Ninja Burger game is of course based on the Ninja Burger website. The Ninja Burger concept came from desiring delivery at ungodly hours in high-security buildings in Silicon Valley. Being techno-geeks, the creators naturally figured out that ninjas would be able to deliver to secure buildings--guard dogs, security officers, and alarm systems notwithstanding. The game is at least as funny as the website, which allows you to order ninja food for your friends (don't worry about payment, they already know your credit card number) and has many other funny, funny things.

The game system uses the "beer engine" and is referred to as "beer and pretzels gaming." This could have several interpretations. Possibly the idea is that the game is vanilla flavored and simplistic. This doesn't seem to be the case; the game is pretty simple, combat and character generation are easy to learn and figure out, but the background and setting are hilarious enough that it's anything but plain.

More likely the meaning is either that beer and pretzels are the appropriate snack food for a good game of Ninja Burger, or (more likely) you're supposed to have already consumed a goodly amount of beer and pretzels (mostly beer) before playing. This is a silly game, and it's a lot of fun.

The product itself is hilarious. The rule book is all of 32 pages long, most of which is jokes and comic strips about how to be a ninja so you can deliver fast food for a Ninja Burger franchise, doing battle with your enemies: Samurai Burger, Oni Oni Parcel Services (OOPS), Otaku Bell, and the dreaded Lo Cal Clan.

Being a role playing game, we should probably talk about the game. Obviously, the concept and world are plenty fun, and similar enough to our own that you don't need a lot of introduction to learn about it. If you have never played at pretending to be a ninja, then you probably need to be good at reading between the lines. Many of the rules of behavior for ninja are subtly placed within the text. If you're a good reader, you'll catch on pretty quick.

The system, as I said before, is simple and easy to learn. Characters have four statistics (Strength, Agility, Ki, and Extraneous: S.A.K.E.). Each of which is the basis for a series of abilities. You use these abilities to sneak into buildings, and kill anyone who sees you (ninja leave no witnesses). Occasionally, you may fight an enemy, although you try to avoid this (except Lo Cal and Samurai, who must be killed). Combat goes quick and works just like any other action (many of which may be taken a turn). One set of die rolls takes care of everything so you can role play it out.

Naturally there are a lot of rules (like random items in your costume or making the motions when using ninja magic -- the PLAYER making the hand motions) that I can't describe here, but they're all fun, and there aren't too many to remember after a reading or two of the book.

There are drawbacks, naturally. Ninja Burger doesn't lend itself to an extended campaign, but rather just one night of dungeon crawling...er... breaking into an office building to have some fun. However, the one shot fun of the game (which can be replayed at a later date, using a new office building) still makes it worth it.

The other drawback is the variety. There really is only one type of character to play: a ninja. Yes, there are different clans you can belong to (and if you get "lucky" you might be an undercover member of the Lo Cal clan), but the characters are still basically similar.

But it's fun just to own the game. The rule book looks like it was made with a laser printer and a photocopier (and is nice enough considering that), but you get lots of extras: Dice with kanji numbering, six miniature ninjas (one of which is wearing pink), a Gummi Ninja Burger (made by Trolli) and a package of soy sauce! It was hilarious just looking at the extras.

So, fun game. Does what it should. That is, it makes you laugh and gives you a fun break from serious role playing for an evening. Also, you get neat toys. I recommend purchasing it.

Written by SaintEhlers on August 23rd, 2002