SABOBATAGE Card Game Review

Type of Game: Set Collection and Take That

Number of Players: 2-5

Age: 7+

Designer: Eric Y. Chen

Artist: Jesus De Ubaidis

Publisher: Moco Games

Day Three at PAX Unplugged 2023, I was sleepwalking through the Expo Hall aisles. I had just finished a meeting with a publisher and met another content creator, Games with Gabe. He told me to stop by a booth he was helping at for a card game called Sabobatage: The Boba Card Game. Being interested and now honestly thirsty, I decided to stop by as one of my last stops of the con. I stopped by, demoed the game and was kindly given a review copy of it. While the art is adorable, don’t be fooled, the viciousness is real!

CONCEPT

You are a Boba shop owner in a town with too many Boba shops. You are not only trying to be the best Boba shop in town, but the ONLY Boba shop. Complete your drink sets before the other player(s) complete theirs and you are the winner.

HOW IT WORKS

Players start with a hand of five cards and will draw two on their turn. Cards are then played that can either be the ingredients to completing a drink set (Teas, Flavors and Toppings) or action cards that let you do a variety of special abilities. You can have up to seven drinks sets in progress and Ingredients for drinks can be played in any order, meaning you don’t have to start with Tea and then add a Flavor and then add a Topping. You can have a Flavor in one slot, a Tea and Flavor in another, etc.

The Take That element comes into play with the action cards. "P.O.S. Down" lets you skip a player's turn. Cards like "Tea Party" and "Sugar and Ice" let you steal a Tea or Ingredient card from players' sets and play them in your set. But the game-changer is the "Sabobatage" card that lets you DESTROY five Ingredient cards on the table. Better have those "Customer Loyalty" cards (counter cards) so you can prevent your precious "Black Tea Peach with Lychee Jelly" drink on the table.

Two expansion sets have also already been released. Tastea and Legends of Matcha Expansion Packs add more mechanics, cards and increase the player count to seven!

COMPONENTS

The cards are typical playing cards, but the art is very appealing. The big eyes on the ingredients have an AWWW factor and the action cards are cute. At the booth, I noticed playmats, which would be a plus, but not necessary. There were also expansions, which were unfortunately all sold out. However, that gives great motivation to investigate purchasing in the future. A bad expansion isn’t going to sell out, right?

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sabobatage: The Boba Card Game Kickstarted in 2021 and crushed their $10,000 goal by reaching close to $150,000. It’s not surprising as the concept, art, fast play and age range of the game are all appealing. I’ve played with both a mix of adults and kids and while I enjoyed both, I really enjoyed this with kids at a high player count. Seeing them navigate their own drink sets and decide who to disrupt and the payback they think will never come back to them is hilarious. Being able to alter the win conditions is great. If kids are starting to get antsy or you are hoping to squeeze a game in between bigger, longer games at game day, put the drink set to three or four and you will still get your Sabobatage fix.

Myself with Eric Chen at their booth at PAXU 2023

Fellow CBY contributor Jimmy Gaspero played a few rounds. Here’s what he thought…

"This is a fun but strategic tabletop card game where each player is the owner of a boba shop. This is a great one to play with the kids too as the game is good for ages 7 and up.

"If you're looking for some food-based comics, I'd recommend both Yummy and Tasty by Victoria Grace Elliott. They are graphic novels that give the history of desserts and snack foods, respectively. I'll also shout out Comics From the Kitchen, an anthology and recipe book. I worked with artist James Greatorex for one of the stories 'It's Not Just a Meatball.' Directly on point is middle grade book Super Boba Cafe by Nidhi Chanani. Be sure to check out Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess and Cooking with Monsters by Jordan Alsaqa and Vivian Truong. If you're looking for more grown-up food-based comics, there is Get Jiro, Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts, and Chew."

For more info, listen to the podcast episode where Jimmy interviews Kylar Merrell about Comics From The Kitchen.

For more info, listen to the podcast episode where Jimmy interviews Jordan Alsaqa about Cooking with Monsters.