Sabobatage, The Boba Card Game
Designer: Eric Chen
Artist: Jesus de Ubaidis
Publisher: Self-published
Year Published / Kickstarted: 2021
No. of Players: 2-5
Ages: 7+
Playing Time: 10-30 minutes
Main mechanic / Theme: Hand Management; Take That / Food and Drink: Tea
Run a boba shop while sabotaging your opponents’ shops!
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Disclaimer: Publisher provided a copy or prototype of the game for this review.
Overview:
Sabobatage is a strategic tabletop game inspired by boba, also known as bubble tea or pearl milk tea. Have you or a friend ever said, “I wish I had a boba shop and could drink boba all day?” Make those dreams come true with this card game that’s fun with your friends and perfect for the whole family.
(from the publisher)
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Gameplay and mechanics:
In Sabobatage, 2 to 5 players play as competing owners of boba shops who make drink sets to win.
To make drink sets, you use combinations of 3 compatible Ingredient cards to make the drinks. Ingredient cards are Teas (which serve as bases for the drinks), Flavors (which can be fruit-based or milk-based), and Toppings (which give you benefits when they are played). Whenever a topping is placed or moved to another player, their effect triggered. You can also make a special drink set by combining Milk or Oat Milk with Taro. There are also Wild Ingredient cards that can be played as any regular ingredient.
Each player starts with a hand of 5 cards. On your turn, you draw 2 cards from the deck (Draw Phase), and then you can play up to 3 cards (Action Phase). If you have completed at least 2 drink sets at the start of your turn, you can draw 3 cards from the deck instead of the usual 2 cards. This is called the Special Draw Phase.
You can play the ingredients by stacking cards on the table in front of them with the ingredient names showing. You can play the ingredients in any order, but you cannot switch them to your other drink sets. You do not need to complete a drink set before starting another one. You can only have a maximum of 7 active drink sets in progress on the table. You have a hand limit of 7 cards at the end of your turn. If you have more than 7 cards, you have to trash the other cards down to the hand limit.
Aside from Ingredients, you can also play Action cards that may help you and attack others. Action cards lets you steal ingredients from other players, skip another player’s turn, destroy ingredient cards, protect your completed drink sets from all actions, protect yourself from another player’s action, among others.
In a 2- to 4-player game, the winner is the player who first completes 5 drink sets. In a 5-player game, the player who first completes 4 drink sets wins. There is a short game variant where end game is triggered when a player completes 3 or 4 drink sets.
There are 2 player guides included in the box. The player guide also has a menu of drink ingredients that can be combined in a set, depending on the type of drink – fruit-based or milk-based – that you are making.
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Theme, Artwork and Illustration, Graphic Design and Layout (optional)
The game is very thematic. To get into the them even more, you can play this game while enjoying your favorite boba drink. The cards are beautifully illustrated and each card’s action is printed on the card. There rulebook has a section for Frequently Asked Questions that helps clarify the cards actions.
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Inclusivity and Accessibility:
Sabobatage is a very accessible and compact game that everyone can play and enjoy. There are no complicated mechanics, but there is enough strategy involved in when and how to use the cards.
There are printed instructions in the box, if you like reading rulebooks. The rulebook is a quick read. The Sabobatage website also has a how-to-play video that you can watch instead. Aside from colorful illustrations, the cards have names and actions printed on them, which means playability is not color-reliant.
What worked:
Sabobatage is a simple and fun strategy game. The mechanics are not overwhelming and the rules are easy to understand for new players. There is enough strategy to appeal to more advanced players. The game plays well at 2 players and scales up well to 5 players, too. There are take-that mechanics but the game allows you to mitigate those effects. The game comes in a compact box, so it’s very portable. The game plays quickly, so it’s easy to pull out when you only have a few minutes to play – during breaks, while waiting for food at restaurants, or even as a filler game during game nights.
Final thoughts:
In summary, Sabobatage has delivered on its promise – a card game that is fun to play with friends and for the whole family. It’s quick strategy game that is easy to get to the table, in a compact package. It’s a great addition to your board game library.
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Find more info on BoardGameGeek.com / Publisher’s Website.
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