Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run your own boba cafe? Well, now you can! Thanks to Eric Chen and the Sabobatage team, 2 to 5 players can take part in a cutthroat yet delightfully fun competition to rise to the top as the best boba cafe in town. Much like working in a real restaurant, players will encounter all kinds of challenges – competitors, various inspections, and broken equipment just to name a few. However, do not despair, as there are plenty of actions to keep things in your favor including insurance, BOGO sales, and the undying loyalty of your customers.
Since the 2021 Kickstarter, two new expansions have been released: Legends of Matcha and the Tastea Expansion Pack. This review will focus only on the base game of Sabobatage. We were provided with a free copy from designer Eric Chen for this review. However, we did love the game enough to go out and buy the expansions on our own, which says a lot already. Sabobatage is Chen’s first game, yet has been featured on Spectrum News 1, ABC7, and several other news outlets. The game features artwork by Jesus de Ubaidis, whose use of color and style creates an eye-catchingly cute design.
The setup is pretty quick and simple. Each player is dealt 5 cards from the deck that has been shuffled and placed within reach of all players, and that’s it! Play progresses with each player in turn drawing 2 cards and then playing up to 3 from their hand that has a maximum size of 7 cards. Each player is attempting to construct complete recipes provided with a handy player aid and has 7 spaces on their imaginary counter to do so in. Keep in mind that, unless measures are taken to do so, completed drinks are not safe from the mischievous actions of your competitors. The first player to construct the agreed-upon number of libations is the winner.
Sabobatage‘s artwork is so cute that we couldn’t even begin to get mad about the take-that mechanics being used against us. In one particular game, The Health Inspector came in and threw out all of an opponent’s boba. Still, they protected themselves with a little Customer Loyalty only to have a follow-up visit from The Health Inspector with no protections left. Having spent many years in the restaurant industry, ourselves, we can attest to how hilariously parallel this scenario was to some of our real-life experiences. It’s all part of the charm that this game brings to the table for us, and why we fell in love with it so quickly. As stated up above, we’ve already sought out and purchased the expansions on our own after having played Sabobatage numerous times in the few short weeks since its arrival on our doorstep. We’re looking forward to getting them to the table soon and are excited about increasing the player count while also exploring the added mechanics. If you’re like us and love games with great art and portability, Sabobatage is a great small box game to add to your collection!
All photos of Sabobatage used in this review were taken and edited by Krista.