Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Now With New Flavors
The boba battle brews on. With Sabobatage: Legends of Matcha, MOCO Games doubles down on the delicious dysfunction of its base game, Sabobatage: The Boba Tea Card Game. The new matcha cards bring mythical flair and fresh sabotage mechanics, but the soul of the game remains intact: be fast, be ruthless, and don’t get too attached to your toppings. The business of boba tea is expanding, and customers are hungry for some food items that are new to the game. This expansion also increases the player count to a whopping seven. The box includes 55 new cards along with new tokens to help track actions, cancellations, and even cuddly character tokens to remind players of bonus card draws.
More is Better
The gameplay remains unchanged from the base game, with players jockeying to be the first to complete five tea sets. The biggest addition is matcha, which acts as another universal tea type but includes a bonus action when played. The second major change is the introduction of the prep table and food items. As an action, up to three cards can be placed face down into a player’s prep table area, which can then be played as a free action on a later turn. These can cause dramatic reveals for unexpected wins or offer protection from actions that steal from a player’s hand. The food sets (which count as +1 toward the required tea sets) must be played from the prep table, but can quickly shift the tide.
Other new cards add new actions, including one more “sabobatage”-style card into the deck, aptly named Bobabuster, which has the menacing power to wipe out five ingredients on the table. The cards can simply be mixed into the normal deck, and updated menu cards are provided.
Well-Mixed
While I thought the base game was fine, I found the expansion to be a major improvement. I’m a big fan of “just mix it in”-style expansions that enhance gameplay without dramatically altering the mechanics. The matcha tea adds more opportunities to chain actions, and the new action cards add more flexibility beyond just stabbing people. One card in particular, Revive, grabs another card from the discard, which led to chances to hit a player back with the same punch they had just delivered. The prep table is a neat addition because it adds a layer of strategy—hiding cards until the opportunity arises. These cards are also subject to the detrimental effects of others, so a bit of caution is necessary. Add in the knowledge that food cards can only be played from the prep table, and it signals to other players that face-down cards are as dangerous as they are mysterious.
I wouldn’t play without this expansion, as it vastly improves the base game in every way. Even the added tokens are a nice touch for keeping track of actions, especially when card chaining can sometimes double the number of actions in a turn. The cute character tokens, while absolutely unnecessary, add a layer of fun and personality to the experience. There are a generous number of cards in the expansion, and my one qualm is that it doesn’t all fit in the same box. But that’s a price worth paying to add the legendary (and necessary) matcha upgrade for a more enjoyable boba tea knife fight.
Sabobatage: Legends Of Matcha details
- Designer: Eric Chen (I)
- Artists: Jesus de Ubaidis
- Publishers: (Self-Published), MOCO Games
- Release Date: 2021, 2022
- Player count : 2 - 7
- Age range : 7+
- Time range : 10 - 40 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.2303 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
- More articles about Sabobatage: Legends Of Matcha.
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