Review: Níjar

Introduction & Overview

Bathed by the crystalline waters of Cabo de Gata and beneath Andalusia’s luminous white light stands Níjar, a small town in Almería with a pottery tradition dating back to the Bronze Age, which reached great prominence during the Islamic period (10th–15th centuries). In Níjar, we travel back to the 1920s, well before the tourism boom of the 1950s. The local economy revolved around pottery and the crafting of esparto grass goods and jarapas—colorful woven rugs that remain a local symbol today. The peseta was the currency in circulation, and its tenth part was popularly known as the “perra gorda” (fat dog). This curious nickname came from the wear on the lion engraved on its obverse, which over time blurred into a shape that was barely recognizable. The development team at Perro Loko Games chose this coin for the game due to its quirkiness and historical significance. Experience the charm of rural Andalusia, with its narrow whitewashed streets, the bustling sounds of pottery workshops at full tilt, and expert hands weaving esparto and jarapas that lend vibrant color to Níjar’s heritage.

This is the premise behind Níjar, designed by David Bernal (Salton Sea, Tholos). Published in 2026 by Perro Loko Games in a bilingual English and Spanish edition, it features artwork by Jorge Tabanera Redondo (Cities, Conservas).

The game is completely language-independent (aside from the rulebook). It accommodates 1 to 4 players, with a recommended minimum age of 14 and an approximate playtime of 30 minutes per player. The MSRP is €34.95. For this review, we used a copy of the English and Spanish edition provided courtesy of Perro Loko Games as a review copy.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Go to Personal Opinion

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom) measuring 23 × 18 × 6.5 cm (a medium rectangular box with dimensions similar to Salton Sea, though slightly deeper), we find the following items:

• Main Board (cardboard)
• 4 Workshop Boards (cardboard)
• 4 Workshop Extensions (cardboard)
• 9 Action Tiles (cardboard)
• 9 Demand Tiles (cardboard)
• 7 Bonus Tiles (cardboard)
• 4 +50/+100 Victory Point Tokens (1 in each player color) (cardboard)
• First Player Marker (cardboard)
• 16 Plates (cardboard)
• 16 Pitchers (cardboard)
• 16 Pots (cardboard)
• 32 Broken Ceramic Tokens (cardboard)
• 38 Perra Gorda Coins (cardboard):
  • 34 of Value 1
  • 4 of Value 5
• 26 Glaze Tokens (cardboard):
  • 22 of Value 1
  • 4 of Value 5
• 3 Market Dice (resin)
• 20 Vases (wood)
• 28 Artisans (7 in each player color) (wood)
• 4 Donkeys (1 in each player color) (wood)
• 23 Discs (wood):
  • 20 Player Markers (5 in each player color)
  • 3 Market Markers (black)
• 132 Cards (44 × 67 mm):
  • 80 Game Cards (with three card back types: 16 Potter’s Wheel, 16 Esparto, 12 Cleaning, 12 Glazing Workshop, 12 Bisque Kiln, and 12 Glaze Kiln)
  • 16 Starting Workshop Cards (4 sets of 4 cards per color: Cleaning, Glazing Workshop, Bisque Kiln, and Glaze Kiln)
  • 5 Starting Potter’s Wheel Cards
  • 5 Starting Resource Cards
  • 12 End-Game Scoring Cards
  • 4 Shop Cards (1 in each player color)
  • 4 Player Aid Cards (1 in each player color)
  • 9 Competitor Cards for Solo Mode
  • 1 Special Shop Card for Solo Mode
• Rulebook

How to Play

Níjar is set in the 1920s in the eponymous town in Almería, where each player runs a traditional pottery and craft workshop, aiming to prosper by crafting and selling ceramics and jarapas. The game takes place over three rounds, each consisting of a market update phase, player turns, and an end-of-round phase. At the beginning of each round, the market values of plates, pitchers, and pots are adjusted based on demand tiles and a roll of the market dice. Players then alternate taking turns: as long as their shop remains open, they may place artisans on the main board (placing one more worker than currently present to execute an action in that row and gain the bonus at the foot of that column as many times as the artisans placed, bumping previous workers back to their owners), use a special action space, discard objective cards to trigger any action, sell up to two finished pieces at current market prices, or close their shop to collect a closing bonus. Actions allow players to draw cards by moving a donkey along the common market grid, play cards into their workshop by paying raw materials or taking broken ceramic tokens, gather clay, advance along the technology track, throw pottery to progress vases and shape unbaked pieces in the drying area, fire pieces in kilns, paint them in glazing workshops, clear broken ceramic debris to empty storage and score rubble cards, collect esparto income, or vie for turn order. Players who have already closed their shop will simply gain a bonus on subsequent turns until everyone has closed and completed an equal number of turns. At round end, workers are retrieved (permanently losing one for the next round), players may commit an end-game scoring card facedown, and turn order is updated. After the third round, in-game points are combined with points scored from leftover fired ceramics, fulfilled end-game scoring cards, distinct esparto set collection, holding the first player token, and leftover resource batches, deducting penalties for uncleaned broken pieces. The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.

Key Concepts

Let’s begin with the Main Board. This central board organizes most of the shared mechanics and is divided into several sections: at the top is the display for the round demand tiles; on the left, the ceramic market structured in three columns (plates, pitchers, and pots) alongside their corresponding selling prices for glazed and unglazed ceramics; in the central-right area sits the action grid where artisans are placed, flanked along the bottom by slots for bonus tiles and a dedicated special action space; and at the bottom lies the turn order track. Enclosing the board is the familiar victory point track with numbered spaces to track scores.

Turning to the town’s economy, the Market Markers and Demand Tiles govern product prices. The markers are discs that slide up and down the three market columns to track the current point value of each pottery type. Meanwhile, the square demand tiles are arranged in rows by round and determine two critical aspects: how many spaces the markers jump up at the start of the round, and how many spaces a ceramic’s market value drops every time a player sells that item.

To inject price volatility, the game includes Market Dice. These are three standard six-sided dice rolled by the first player during the market update phase at the start of each round. Their rolled values are assigned in descending order according to the active demand tiles (highest roll to the highest demand, lowest roll to the lowest demand), advancing the market discs an additional number of spaces equal to the rolled values.

Scattered across the central grid are the Action Tiles. These square tiles are placed on the main board to define which specific actions are triggered when occupying each row of the matrix. Available actions include digging clay, throwing pottery, firing kilns, glazing, cleaning broken ceramics, collecting esparto income, playing cards, drawing cards, or contesting turn order.

Underneath each column of the matrix and on the special action space sit the Bonus Tiles. These tiles display immediate perks, such as direct resources, extra steps on the potter’s wheel, card draws, or executing secondary actions. Whenever a player places workers on a main board space, they receive the benefit shown on the bonus tile at the base of that column as many times as the number of workers placed. Some of these tiles are also assigned to the standalone special action space outside the grid.

Looking at ceramic production, Plates, Pitchers, and Pots represent the three types of pottery available. These are double-sided tiles: one side depicts natural fired terracotta (bisque), while the other displays the decorated, finished piece (glazed). Players craft them through their workshops, kilns, and drying areas, eventually selling them in the central market for victory points.

Throughout production, waste and mishaps are represented by Broken Ceramic Tokens. These small cardboard pieces symbolize defects or ceramic shards that players are forced to take into their workshop storage when carrying out demanding actions, such as shaping multiple pieces simultaneously or using specific painting techniques. They occupy limited capacity in the cleaning area and deduct direct victory points if not discarded via cleaning cards before the game ends.

Currency is represented by Perra Gorda Tokens, the historic ten-centimo peseta coin featuring an engraved lion. They serve to pay card draft costs based on grid distance, fund intensive clay excavation, secure prime spots on the turn order track, and pay costs on various cards.

Another essential craft supply comes in the form of Glaze Tokens. These pieces represent the pigments and enamels required to decorate pottery that has already undergone an initial firing. They are primarily spent to pay glazing costs when moving ceramics into dedicated workshops before loading them into glaze kilns for high-value sales.

Each workshop’s workforce consists of Artisans. These meeples operate under a worker-placement-with-bumping mechanic. When sending artisans to an action space, a player must place exactly one worker more than the current occupants, bumping all rival figures back to their owners’ supply to be used again later in the round. At the end of every round, one artisan is permanently removed from the game, gradually thinning the available workforce.

Players oversee their enterprise using individual Workshop Boards, which connect to an extension piece. This modular personal player board houses a clay storage track (numbered 0 to 7), a technology track, a drying area, a cleaning area holding up to eight broken ceramic tokens, a pre-printed esparto card, and designated slots for slotting in the cards that expand the workshop’s facilities.

Representing each player’s operational status are the wooden Player Markers. These discs match each player’s color and are distributed across the score track on the main board, the personal clay track, the technology track, and the turn order track. Over the course of a round, turn order discs can shift into spaces along the right-hand initiative track to claim turn order advantage or collect bonuses heading into the next round.

Regarding workshop expansion, the game features Esparto, Cleaning, Glazing Workshop, Bisque Kiln, and Glaze Kiln Cards. Esparto cards generate recurring income whenever activated. Cleaning cards provide holding slots for broken ceramic tokens accumulated in the workshop, yielding resource rewards or victory points once filled. Glazing workshop and kiln cards (both bisque and glaze) slot into dedicated columns on the player board, unlocking additional processing slots to dry, glaze, and fire ceramics prior to market sale.

Rounding out production are the Potter’s Wheel Cards and Vases. Each wheel card depicts a potter’s station with a linear track along which a wooden vase moves. As the vase advances via the wheel action, it triggers the printed perks on each step (such as digging clay, playing cards, or shaping ceramics). Upon reaching the final step, the vase locks into place, completing that wheel and awarding victory points.

Moving across the card market are the wooden Donkeys. Each player has one donkey pawn placed onto a visible card in the 3×5 market display. The donkey establishes an anchor position for the draw action: the card it stands on is drafted for free, whereas any other card in the display costs additional perras gordas based on orthogonal distance from that donkey.

Providing initial setup asymmetry are the Starting Resource Cards. These cards are paired at the beginning of the game with starting wheel cards and determine each player’s starting inventory, specifying exact quantities of clay on the track, perras gordas, glazes, and broken ceramic tokens that must be placed immediately in the cleaning yard.

Establishing long-term strategy are the End-Game Scoring Cards. Players keep these cards secret in hand, and they can either be discarded during a turn to execute any action on the board as a wild effect, or played facedown at the end of a round. At game end, committed cards score points according to sets of matching card types built into the workshop, or based on the volume of specific pottery sold at market.

Lastly, each participant receives a Shop Card. This card features two sides: open and closed. As long as the shop remains open, the player takes regular turns; once out of artisans, they must flip it to its closed side to collect a consolidation bonus, spending subsequent turns receiving modest bonus perks until everyone finishes the round.

That is enough to get started.

Preparación de la Partida

1. Place the main board in the center of the table on its multiplayer side.
2. Randomly place action tiles onto their board spaces, making sure the turn order and play card action tiles do not share the same row.
3. In a 2- or 3-player game, block designated action spaces by placing unused artisan meeples face down. In a 4-player game, leave all spaces open.
4. Take the bonus tiles, returning unused tiles to the box based on player count. Place two at random on the special action space and distribute the remainder across the board’s designated bonus slots.
5. Randomly place the demand tiles in the market display, matching tile colors to their respective rows.
6. Place market discs, market dice, and the first player token beside the board.
7. Sort the game cards by card back type, shuffle each pile independently, and set them out as three draw decks.
8. Deal five cards face up from each deck to form a 3×5 card market grid.
9. Establish a general supply with perras gordas, glazes, broken ceramic tokens, and wooden vases.
10. Add 4 plates, 4 pitchers, and 4 pots per player to the supply, sorted by type into three separate stacks.
11. Each player chooses a color and receives:
    • A workshop board and a workshop extension, fitted together.
    • 4 starting cards of their color (cleaning, bisque kiln, glaze kiln, and glazing workshop), slotted into their designated workshop spots.
    • A shop card, placed beside their board with its open side up.
    • 7 artisans and 1 donkey.
    • 5 wooden player marker discs.
    • A player aid card.
    • A +50/+100 victory point token.
12. Each player places one disc on space 0 of the victory point track, one on the first space of their technology track, and one on space 0 of their clay track. Set the remaining two discs aside for now.
13. Shuffle the end-game scoring deck and deal 3 cards to each player. Additionally, each player secretly draws 1 game card from each of the three market decks. These 6 cards form their starting hand.
14. Determine the first player: whoever most recently got their hands dirty with clay.
15. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places their two reserved discs into stacks along the turn order track from left to right.
16. Shuffle the starting wheel cards and reveal a number equal to the player count plus one. Pair each revealed card with a random starting resource card.
17. Starting with the last player in turn order and going in reverse order up to the first player, each player selects one paired wheel and resource set.
18. Each player adjusts their personal tracks and reserves to match the chosen resource card, then returns that card to the box.
19. Each player slots their chosen starting wheel card into the central slot of their workshop and places a wooden vase on its starting track space.
20. Finally, each player places their donkey pawn onto an available card in the draft market; no two donkeys may occupy the same card.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A game of Níjar is played over 3 rounds.

Phase I: Market Update

Proceed as follows:

• Place the market discs on the starting row dictated by player count and adjust them according to the current round’s demand tiles: move up 2 spaces in the column marked 2, 1 space in the column marked 1, and remain stationary in the column marked 0.
• The first player rolls the three market dice and assigns the highest roll to demand column 2, the median roll to demand column 1, and the lowest roll to demand column 0, moving each marker up by the rolled value. Starting in round two, the first player may choose to reroll all three dice once before assigning values.

Phase II: Actions

In this phase, following the order on the turn order track (from left to right), players alternate taking turns.

On their turn, if a player’s shop is still open, they must perform one of the following options:

• Place Artisans. The player may deploy artisans to the main board in one of two ways:
  • Board Action Spaces. The player selects an action space that is free of their own meeples and places one more artisan than currently occupies it (1 artisan if empty, 2 if occupied by one, etc.). Any rival artisans already present are bumped and returned to their owners’ supply (becoming available to play again this round). The player then resolves one of the three actions shown in that row and collects the bonus tile at the foot of that column as many times as the artisans placed. The main action cannot be resolved midway through collecting bonuses.
  • Special Action Space. The player places a single artisan on this space (regardless of how many are already there, stacking it on top) and gains, in any order, all three printed benefits (1 esparto income, 1 clay, and 1 card drawn from the market). Meeples placed here are never bumped and remain until the end of the round.
• Discard an End-Game Scoring Card. The player returns one scoring card from their hand to the box to execute any action on the main board as a wild pick (indicated by the Indalo icon).
• Sell Ceramics at Market. The player may sell up to 2 finished ceramics (plates, pitchers, or pots) currently in their bisque or glaze kilns (never from the drying area or glazing workshops). For each piece sold:
  • For unglazed bisque pieces, score the points shown along the left track matching that ceramic’s marker position.
  • For glazed pieces, score the higher value indicated.
  • After collecting points for each item, drop that market marker down the number of spaces indicated on the active demand tile. Sold pieces are set aside for potential end-game scoring requirements.
• Close the Shop. Available only when a player has no artisans remaining in their supply. The player flips their shop card to its closed side and immediately selects any bonus from the main board or special action space (except the esparto income bonus).

If a player begins their turn with a closed shop, their turn consists solely of Receiving a Bonus. They choose any bonus from the main board or special action space (except the esparto income bonus). If at any point while closed another player bumps their artisans from the board, these meeples are placed onto the closed shop card, immediately granting a choice of 2 clay, 3 perras gordas, or 3 glazes per bumped worker.

Turn then passes to the next player. The phase ends once all players have closed their shops and completed an equal number of turns.

The main actions available on the board are:

• Draw Card. The player takes up to 2 cards from the market grid into their hand. The card their donkey sits on is free; any other card costs 1 perra gorda per orthogonal step away from the donkey. Cards beneath rival donkeys cannot be taken. Before drawing, if every card in a row shares the same back, the player may discard the row back to its deck, reshuffle, and redeal once. After drafting (or even if taking no cards), the donkey must be moved to another available card, replenishing empty slots from the corresponding decks.
• Play Card. The player pays the cost in perras gordas, clay, glazes, or broken ceramic tokens shown in the upper-left corner of a card from their hand, slotting it into their workshop:
  • Playing a Bisque Kiln, Glaze Kiln, or Glazing Workshop card immediately and optionally triggers the two actions printed on the card’s outer edges.
  • Playing a Wheel or Esparto card immediately triggers the action printed inside the workshop board slot where it is placed. When playing a wheel, place a wooden vase onto its shaded starting space and score the points shown.
• Dig Clay. Gain clay on the personal storage track: 1 clay for free, 2 clay for 1 perra gorda, or 3 clay for 3 perras gordas (maximum storage capacity of 7 clay).
• Advance Technology. Advance the marker disc one space on the technology track (reaching the third and final space immediately scores 2 victory points).
• Throw Pottery. Distribute movement steps among vases on wheel cards according to current technology level (1, 2, or 3 steps). When advancing, optionally resolve perks printed on spaces moved across. Reaching the end of the track slides the vase into the lower black slot, completing that wheel and scoring the printed victory points.
• Shape Pottery. Exclusive to wheels. Spend 1 clay to take 1 unglazed piece from the supply into the drying area, or spend 2 clay and take 2 broken ceramic tokens into the cleaning yard to place 2 unglazed pieces into the drying area.
• Fire Kiln. Move any number of pieces for free from the drying area into empty bisque kilns, and from glazing workshops into empty glaze kilns (maximum one piece per kiln).
• Glaze Pottery. Move pieces from bisque kilns into empty glazing workshops, paying the glaze or broken ceramic cost printed on the workshop and flipping the piece to its decorated side.
• Clean Debris. The player removes a number of broken ceramic tokens from their storage equal to their number of cleaning cards plus one, arranging them on empty spaces of their cleaning cards (excess tokens return to the supply). Any cleaning card filled completely discards its tokens back to the box and immediately grants printed rewards (points, resources, or track advances).
• Collect Esparto Income. Activate all esparto cards in the workshop (including the pre-printed space), choosing one of two options offered by each card (gain resources, fire 1 piece, glaze 1 piece, or clear 1 broken ceramic token).
• First Player. Move one of the player’s two discs from the turn order track to an open slot on the right-hand initiative track, paying or gaining the printed perras gordas, then execute any action on the main board. This can only be done once per player each round.

Phase III: Round End

Proceed as follows:

1. Open Shop: Each player retrieves their artisans from the board and returns 1 meeple to the box (leaving 7, 6, and 5 artisans in rounds 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Flip shop cards back to the open side.
2. Play End-Game Scoring Card: Optionally, each player may tuck one scoring card from their hand facedown beneath their workshop board to be scored at the end of the game.
3. Flip Demand Tiles: Flip over the demand tiles used during the current round.
4. Update Turn Order: Reorganize the main turn order track, placing players who took slots on the right-hand initiative track in front (from left to right) and sliding remaining players back while preserving their relative order. The leftmost player receives the first player marker, and all players restack their discs.

A new round then begins.

Game End

The game ends following the Phase III cleanup of the third round. To calculate final scores, tally the following:

• Leftover Ceramics: 2 victory points per glazed piece and 1 victory point per unglazed piece still sitting in kilns.
• End-Game Scoring Cards: Players score cards tucked facedown beneath their workshop board during round ends. Cards rewarding card types grant 0, 1, 3, 6, or 10 victory points for having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cards of that type (including starting cards, or 0, 1, 5, or 10 points for esparto for 1, 2, 3, or 4 cards). Cards based on sold ceramics score 1 victory point per sold item of that specific type.
• Esparto Set Collection: 0, 1, 3, or 6 victory points for having 1, 2, 3, or 4 distinct esparto cards in the workshop (including the pre-printed one).
• Broken Ceramics: -1 victory point per broken ceramic token lingering in the cleaning yard.
• First Player Token: 2 victory points for the player holding the first player marker.
• Leftover Resources: 1 victory point per complete set of 5 leftover resources combined among perras gordas, glazes, and clay.

The player with the most victory points is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the tied player positioned furthest to the left on the turn order track wins.

Variants

Solo Mode. The player faces an automated bot known as “the competition,” which ignores resource management and board action triggers, operating instead through a dedicated nine-card deck. While the player takes normal turns, the bot’s turn reveals a card dictating three sequential steps: placing artisans on a specified board space—bumping the human player if present and scoring bonus victory points—moving its donkey or discarding cards from the market, and processing ceramics. Ceramic management follows an automated progression based on the current round: if the bot lacks that item it takes it from the supply, if held unglazed it glazes it, and if already glazed it sells it to the market, claiming points and shifting demand. When the bot depletes its deck or artisans, it closes its shop and collects passive victory points every time its turn arrives, challenging the player for highest total score after three rounds.

Personal Opinion

Perro Loko Games has established itself as one of the most reliable imprints in the Spanish board gaming scene. Without drawing direct comparisons in catalog size or history, the publisher walks a path alongside Ludonova reminiscent of Hans im Glück: an uncompromising commitment to medium-weight eurogames, polished component production, and an ongoing hunt for Spanish designers with rock-solid ideas.

Not every title makes the same splash, but each release demonstrates thoughtful curation, meticulous development, and clear respect for the hobbyist, favoring compact box formats that push robust mechanics without unnecessary fluff. It is a clear case of less is more, refining designs to a high polish rather than flooding retail shelves with half-baked releases.

Because of this track record, their games attract keener attention every year when Essen Spiel rolls around. Today we are looking at Níjar, one of two titles they presented at Essen 2026, launching a series focused on traditions rooted in Spanish towns. Before diving in, I want to thank Perro Loko Games for providing the review copy that made this review possible.

Níjar transports us to the 1920s in the town of the same name in Almería, celebrated for its earthenware pottery and woven jarapas and esparto crafts. Each participant commands a traditional artisan workshop striving to prosper by manufacturing finished goods, immersing players in everyday village life before mass tourism arrived in the mid-20th century.

Matches unfold across three rounds of three phases, two of which are brief upkeep steps. In the main phase, players take turns; as long as a player’s shop remains open, the active player chooses between placing artisans on the central board, selling up to two finished pieces, discarding an objective card to trigger any action, or closing shop.

The worker placement mechanic echoes titles like Keyflower (read its tocho-review here), where claiming an occupied space requires placing one more worker than the figures already there, bumping previous occupants back to their owner’s supply. A player cannot close shop while still holding usable workers.

Through these placements, players manage their workshops, throwing plates, pitchers, or pots on wheels before firing them bisque, glazing them, and running a final glaze firing. Ready ceramics (glazed or unglazed) are sold in a shared market where baseline payouts are determined at the start of each round, fluctuating dynamically by item based on active demand.

Closing the shop prevents a player from taking further primary actions, but that does not mean decision-making ceases. While at least one opponent remains active, a closed player taking a turn still claims an available bonus perk, in addition to collecting extra consolation resources if their remaining board workers are bumped after closing.

After the third round, beyond points scored in-game from market sales and clearing broken ceramic shards, players score reserved end-game scoring cards, unique esparto sets, and leftover personal supplies, balanced against penalties for uncleaned broken ceramics. The player with the highest total wins.

With that, you know enough to tie on your apron, sit before the potter’s wheel, and let the ghost of Patrick Swayze wrap his arms around you. The first standout element is the worker placement system: while reminiscent of familiar designs, the action matrix adds a very compelling twist.

Action tiles assigned to rows and columns are randomized during setup. Consequently, whenever it is time to place a meeple, players hunt for spaces that demand the fewest workers while offering an optimal one-two punch of actions. For instance, if an action tied to a column allows collecting esparto income, the slot in that column intersecting the play-a-card row will become fiercely contested (card play is critical).

This dynamic encourages players to claim open spaces first before spending two or more workers to bump an occupied spot. Even so, there will be plenty of moments where placing two workers to bump an opponent is irresistible, because sooner or later that friction is inevitable, and grabbing the ideal action pairing is well worth the worker investment.

Recognizing a high-value space means you cannot afford to hesitate, as everyone around the table wants it. That said, players have two alternate avenues to fire off key actions. Discarding an objective card triggers any action; while it sounds risky to throw away scoring potential, maxing out all three scoring cards is challenging anyway, and cashing one in for an extra action that yields multiple ceramic sales frequently pays off.

Naturally, nobody wants to bump an opponent’s meeple if they can avoid it, because handing workers back expands that player’s tactical options. While they will not get extra total turns across the round, a full turn placing a worker is vastly superior to a modest bonus perk taken once a shop is closed.

This creates wonderful table talk: players constantly cajole the active player into bumping their workers to get them back into circulation. It mirrors the auction tension in Keyflower, where outbidding someone returns their meeples, putting the ball right back in their court.

Equally compelling is the operational momentum gained through workshop expansion cards. This applies to kilns, glazing studios, esparto crafts, and cleaning cards. There is no capacity cap when triggering core actions: if a player has four open kilns, a single firing action can load four bisque pieces at once. The same holds true for glazing, collecting esparto income, or clearing debris.

Playing cards is therefore the engine of the game. Even so, you have to acquire them first through an unusual spatial drafting market, where your donkey meeple establishes an anchor point on a 3×5 card grid. The card beneath your donkey is effectively reserved since no one else can take it, and drafting costs scale according to orthogonal grid distance, after which your donkey relocates before the market refills.

Paying card costs demands careful inventory management of coins, broken ceramic penalties, or clay. Except for cleaning cards, every card type triggers auxiliary actions upon entry. Wheel and esparto cards trigger the board space they cover, while kiln and glazing workshop cards carry two edge actions that trigger immediately when linked, sparking rewarding combo chains.

This card management is easily the most satisfying dimension of the design. It directly targets the combo-loving eurogamer inside us. Every time you reposition your donkey, you are evaluating card types and assessing incoming synergies alongside open slots in your workshop and connector icons on adjacent cards.

Admittedly, this structure allows for turns where a player chains several cascading actions together. A player might use their main action to play a card, slotting a wheel card that immediately triggers another card play; that card might be a kiln triggering a draw and a clean action, which fills a cleaning card, awarding clay and victory points.

Were this constant, game tempo would grind to a halt. Fortunately, the economy is tight enough that extensive combo turns remain an occasional thrill rather than an everyday slog, keeping downtime manageable. Most turns remain clean and punchy, as only playing cards, throwing pottery, or cleaning debris offer branching chain opportunities.

The market demand mechanism is another clever touch. At round start, baseline values are determined by demand tiles and player count, augmented by three rolled dice assigned in descending order to match demand ranks.

Some may raise an eyebrow seeing the highest-value good receive the biggest dice bump. However, this early boost functions like a boomerang: every sale causes prices to plummet at a rate tied to the demand tile. The most valuable good drops two steps per sale, whereas lower-demand goods drop slowly or not at all.

Consequently, heavily traded goods quickly lose their luster and crash in value. Timing your sales ahead of competitors is paramount to harvest peak victory points. These returns can be elevated further if aligned with secret end-game scoring goals, though committing to those objectives can be restrictive.

As you can see, this is an intricate design packed with constant decision-making and escalating tension typical of fine worker placement games, driven by timing considerations and board evaluation.

Its depth is reflected in the playtime, clocking in around 30 to 45 minutes per player, on par with a classic like Agricola (read its tocho-review here). Do not be misled by the quaint pastoral theme and modest box size: this is a solid medium-heavy eurogame that executes its vision with poise, sitting comfortably alongside Salton Sea (read its tocho-review here), which remains David Bernal’s high-water mark in my book.

In terms of player count, the worker placement core scales very well across configurations thanks to dedicated board adjustments. That said, at four players the game reaches peak tension: action spaces fill rapidly, bumping mechanics become sharper, and cycling meeples back to opponents carries greater tactical weight. Even so, it holds up admirably at lower counts.

Replay value is solid, making it an easy pick for regular play if it clicks with your group. Setup is straightforward, and upkeep between rounds is light. Variable action layouts each game, combined with draft deck shuffling and market dice volatility, provide plenty of texture. Player interaction keeps everyone engaged right up to the final turn.

Production quality is outstanding for its price point. You get varnished wooden workers with one-sided screen printing, sturdy cards with good spring and a smooth finish (sleeving is unnecessary since cards spend little time in hand and shuffle only during setup), and crisp, dense cardboard tokens that punch out cleanly. The rulebook is logically organized and unambiguous.

Visually, the game exudes traditional folk warmth evocative of Andalusian craftsmanship. Earthy yellows, baked ochres, and whitewashed walls contrast nicely with deep blues and floral patterns. The iconography is clean throughout, although a couple of symbols can be counterintuitive at first (such as confusing the wheel action with the technology track), but this fades quickly after a game.

And let’s wrap this up. Níjar is a medium-weight eurogame pairing worker placement and bumping on an action matrix with tableau building and fluctuating market economies. The tension of squeezing value out of every placement without handing free turns to opponents sparks delightful table banter, while card play and engine building cater directly to fans of clever action chains. Even if an occasional extended turn slows the cadence, the tight economy maintains a sharp competitive pulse where every decision counts. Beneath its gentle craft facade lies an exacting, highly rewarding challenge. For all these reasons, I give it a…