Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
By my third turn of the grid movement Eurogame Djinn (2023, Pegasus Spiele), I knew where I landed. I finished that first three-player game, then did a solo play, then began setting up the game for a third play before I realized I didn’t need any more evidence to know my truth.
Djinn knows what it wants to be exceptionally well. It’s an above average time at the table thanks to a host of accessibility benefits that make it such an easy onboard. No player aids, because (for once) none are needed—designer Benjamin Schwer (Crown of Emara, Hadara) did a marvelous job of working with his graphic design team to ensure that the game board has 90% of what you need to know printed around the edges.
Players take on the role of mages who must capture evil genies (djinn) who are lurking around a fictional village. Referred to as “Ghostbusters: The Game” by the people at that first play, mages move through one of six different locations (each with a standard and advanced version on the small map) to buy resources, hire other local mages, and boost their magic power to trap djinn in small bottles that must be corked to seal a djinn’s fate for eternity. (This corking action is the best physical element of the game, with small wooden cylinders used to imitate the corks needed to seal a full-blown genie bottle.)
Right from the jump, Djinn is a family-weight strategy game experience. You could teach the game to younger players by simply using the board. Each player gets two powers—one advantageous, one disadvantageous, similar to another game I tried last year—to add a little variety to the proceedings. Turns are snappy, thanks to the game’s movement system. At most, you have three different locations you can move to on a given turn. Combos surface almost immediately, using a player board that tracks resources as well as ongoing and one-time abilities.
For a game that scales up so quickly, including a push for players to capture djinn of a matching color to earn bonuses, Djinn feels like a game where a lot happens in the span of about an hour. A lot does happen, but even across these first two games, things happened almost the same way each time, despite attempting to attack the game in a completely different way during my solo game.
I was surprised how similar my first two games ended up. Sure, you might have a different power in one game versus the next, but ultimately, you’re here to catch djinn, to the tune of 10 points per captured genie. There are “Boss Djinn” scattered around the board, along with your run-of-the-mill djinn, but those are not worth more points at the end of the game. Even with three public milestones available during each play—with a flat eight points for anyone who accomplishes each of these goals, so you can’t block another player from scoring them—I could see games coming down to the player who navigates that milestone scoring just a little better than the competition.
Djinn is a race, a race that works for a play or two because of its incredibly low barrier to entry. Like Schwer’s previous designs, the guy gets it when it comes to building an interesting playspace that can be triggered quickly. I just wish Djinn resonated more, or begged additional plays. Many, many, many games now feature elements of Djinn’s setup: run here, grab coins and scrolls, run there, spend stuff to get more stuff, run here to trigger a combo or two. It works, with a theme I enjoyed more than Schwer’s very dry Crown of Emara approach, but I would be shocked to find hobbyists who experienced Djinn and shouted “that was exceptional!” at the end of a playthrough.
Djinn is going to remain in my collection because I’m building a block of games I can use as “Baby’s First Euro” with my family, games like First Rat, Galileo Project, Station to Station, Tower Up, Looot, and nearly anything published by Red Raven. Games that you can teach and play in about an hour with kids eight and older are valuable resources at my house, and Djinn checks those boxes for me.
Djinn details
- Designer: Benjamin Schwer
- Artists: Dennis Lohausen
- Publishers: Hall Games, Hobby Japan, Matagot, Pegasus Spiele, TLAMA games
- Release Date: 2023
- Player count : 1 - 4
- Age range : 12+
- Time range : 60 - 90 minutes
- Mechanism(s): End Game Bonuses, Grid Movement, Modular Board, Open Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers, Variable Set-up
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.29824 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
- More articles about Djinn.
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