by zinho73
Chris,I get that the resolution structure is quite different, but I fail to see why this makes Ninjato not a worker placement game.
Regardless of resolution order, you still picks up your guy (in that case a shouriken), places it in a spot and executes the action of the spot.
The dojo works a lot like the food space in Stone Age - a place that you can always go to get one of the most useful resources in the game, unimpeded. You have the added function of fighting for first place, but this is also not new in this type of games. Agricola has a spot in which you can be first player and also do other things.
Agricola is also an example of worker placement in which you execute the action imediatelly, not waiting for a resolution phase.
You are right to point out that the mechanism worker placement is not listed on the BGG entry, and I think this is odd.
To me, card drafting is something that happens in games like seven wonders and seasons (and maybe in the dojo action, if you are feeling generous). To me, when you pick up a piece and places it in a area of the board and executes the action allowed by that space, this is worker placement.
It doesn't matter if the action is to buy a card, roll a dice or fight with cards in hand.
What happens when you buy cards and skills in Ninjato is not card drafting. Otherwise, by this logic, the major improvement action in agricola is card drafting. But what do I know... :p
In any case, I imagine that a game of Ninjato with a different resolution order would be something very different.