Niya

This is an interesting game.  It fit my criteria of simple (only a few rules) yet tricky enough to want to keep trying to work it out.  Here, you get 16 tiles, which you layout in a 4x4 grid, and the two players each get a stack of 8 discs representing their family.

Each tile has a combination of two symbols: one plant symbol (pine, cherry, iris or maple leaves) and one foreground item (poem scroll, bird, sun or rain).  Players take turns taking a tile and placing one of their discs there.  The rules are: the first tile can be any one from the edge of the board (not the center four), and after that the tile you take must have match one of the two symbols from the last piece taken.

The goal is to get 4 of your discs in a row, or 4 in a 2x2 square, or block the other player from having any path to succeed.

That's it.  Simple.  But it was a neat puzzle working out the pattern and starting to see which moves are good and which moves are not helpful.  As an example, let's say you already have three discs in a row, and the last space you need has the bird/maple tile.  You want to pick a tile that will force the other player to choose a tile with a bird or maple leaves on it, which will let you win on the following move.  But if you pick an actual bird or maple tile, they can take the spot you need right away.  Near the start of the game, there are enough options that you can't really get what you want, but the options quickly run out and the right move is either available or blocked easily.

We played about 7 sessions.  Each game only take 4 or 5 minutes.  After all, there are only 16 tiles.

The tiles and discs have a nice solid feel to them.  The instruction book could have used a little more "story" to give this thing a setting or purpose.  Why did the box say "a strategy game in the garden of conspiracy?"  A little flavor text would have been fun.

I can see playing a few more times.  We did not think of any variations.  It felt balanced the way it was.