Sabobatage is a brightly colored game with some punchy take that included. The game was sent to me by the publisher and designer Eric Y. Chen to review and we played it several times. It was a game that didn't take any convincing for my 11 year old to try out as he likes card games, especially when were the other person can lose because you take something from them.
The game is an easy learn with most of the rules for the game on the cards themselves. Each player starts with 5 cards in hand and then draws 2 more at the start of their turn. In a 2-4 player game, the game ends when any player has 5 drink sets complete; in a 5-7 player this is reduced to 4 sets. Drink sets are completed by playing matching ingredients. For example, a player could put green tea with a fruit like peach, and a topping like aloe to have a completed drink. There are also milk based drinks, and of course boba can be a topping for either type of drink.
Players also use cards to protect their drinks and draw more cards. We had fun just trying to build drinks and didn't do too much of the take that, but the game has just the right amount of sting in comparison to the sticky sweetness.
Protection cards like Customer Loyalty add some fun thematically and with super cute artwork. Who wouldn't want to visit this boba tea shop?
Most of our games lasted about 15 minutes, with the occasional longer game at about 25 minutes. Even with a larger player count, the drawing of cards helps to move the game along nicely so that i doesn't over stay its welcome.
With easy action, simple gameplay, and well-done cute artwork this game will appeal to families and those looking to kill some time without a heavy investment. And, even if you lose you will still have fun looking drinks in front of you when the game is over. We found that everyone got to do something in the game and most games were close.
Probably obviously, this won't appeal to those who don't enjoy take that or a large amount of randomness in their games. This is definitely aimed at the large amount of people who don't want to be over-burdened by rules and want something cute and light to play.
It's great that it plays well at 2 but also plays up to 5 players. We have voluntarily chosen to play this game even after we finished playing it enough to review it sufficiently.
Even the namesake card is low enough in frequency that when it happens it is not too big of a deal. There are far more building and growing of the set collection elements in this game than the things that might leave a poor taste in someone's mouth.
Sabobatage*
Designed by Eric Y. Chen
Artwork by Jesus de Ubaidis
Published by Moco Games
Teaching 10/10
Aesthetics 9/10
Strategy 5/10
Gameplay 8/10
2-5 Players
15-25 Minutes
*My review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a review, but no other compensation was provided. My opinions are my own in this review of the card game Sabobatage.
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