Kabuki Tricks

Kabuki Tricks Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About Kabuki Tricks

Kabuki Tricks is a small-box trick-taking game for two to five players in which the rules of power keep shifting mid-hand. Opinions split more than the art would suggest. Tabletoptiktok calls it a really cool trick taker and is "loving" it, while Board Games With B7 names it one of its hidden gems and recommends it highly. Ryan and Bethany Board Game Reviews enjoyed being surprised by a trick taker that did something new, though they reviewed a copy provided by the publisher. On the cooler side, Kimberly of Tabletop Tolson calls it a middling trick-taking game and prefers Lose, and the table on Board Gaymes James, who were playing games supplied by 25th Century Games, came away finding the scoring math "a little wonky." Grant Lyon's new-release roundup frames it simply: a trick taker looking for its own twist in a crowded field.

Core Mechanics That Define Kabuki Tricks

The Dealer Sets the Stage

Each player receives seven number cards plus a joker, and seven tricks are played, so one card always stays in hand. The deck is four colored suits, trimmed to match the player count; Board Gaymes James describes removing the 8s, 9s and 10s for three players. After dealing, the dealer, whom Board Gaymes James calls the kabuki director, decides whether high or low numbers win and lays out the four suits in a ranked trump order. Tabletoptiktok demonstrates picking that order straight from the hand being held, favoring the color the dealer holds most of. It is a must-follow game, and when players cannot follow, the higher suit in the lineup takes the trick.

The Joker Rewrites the Rules

The joker is the heart of the design. It cannot lead a trick, and only one joker may be played per trick. Playing it forces a bid: the player places a face-down card predicting one, two or three tricks next to one of the suits. According to Tabletop Tolson and Tabletoptiktok, the joker also offers an optional twist: flip the win condition between high and low, or swap two adjacent suits in the trump order. Ryan and Bethany point out that the adjacent-only restriction keeps the dealer from holding all the control while stopping other players from wrecking the order completely. Tabletop Tolson sums up the result: "This game is always in flux."

At the end of a round, each trick scores one point. A correct bid scores two, and when several players land the same bid, the one whose bid card sits on the strongest suit takes the full reward, according to Board Gaymes James. The last card in hand earns a bonus point if it matches the suit chosen for the bid. Hold the joker until the end and take zero tricks, and it pays five points. Ryan and Bethany compare that zero bid to shooting the moon. Tabletop Tolson calls it "go big or go home." The game runs one round per player, so everyone deals once, and Grant Lyon and Tabletop Tolson both list it at 20 to 30 minutes.

The Kabuki Tricks Experience

Familiar, Then Surprising

Ryan and Bethany describe a game that felt familiar as a classic trick taker, easy to grasp right away, but with twists they had never been able to pull off before. They also praise the rules as very clear, even for players who did not grow up with trick-taking games, and call it nice, short and succinct. Grant Lyon highlights the same tension: while the dealer gets to set things initially, everybody else can mess that up.

Not an Intro Trick Taker

Tabletoptiktok warns that this is not an introductory trick-taking game. There is a lot going on, and a suit can drop from second to fourth within a single round when two players use their jokers. That constant churn is the appeal for Tabletoptiktok, who notes that hitting a bid is not the only way to score, or even necessarily the most important one. Board Games With B7 calls the play dynamic and highly engaging, and fast-paced, easy to learn and simple to teach.

What Makes Kabuki Tricks Stand Out

Art and Production

Nearly every channel comments on the look of the game. Board Games With B7 calls the art simply amazing, praises the texture of the cards and the included score sheets, and loves the kabuki theme. Board Gaymes James finds the kabuki art extremely cute. Even Ryan and Bethany, who do not care for the theme, describe it as cool art on an abstract game.

Rounds That Always Pay Something

Tabletop Tolson, despite preferring Lose, credits Kabuki Tricks with a more consistent round structure and notes that players earn points for tricks even when they miss their bid. Board Gaymes James confirms that overshooting a bid carries no penalty beyond losing the bid bonus. Combined with the delayed bid, this makes the game more forgiving than bid-first trick takers.

Potential Drawbacks

A Theme That Stays on the Box

Tabletop Tolson feels the game is trying a bit too hard for its theme when it is really just a trick-taking game. Ryan and Bethany go further, calling the theme meaningless: at no point did they feel they were putting on a show. Board Games With B7 disagrees and finds the theme fantastic, so this criticism depends on taste.

Wonky Math, Luck and Player Count

The harshest verdict comes from the Board Gaymes James table. One player observed that simply holding the joker every round and taking no tricks would have produced the same score as actually trying, and another agreed the math is a little wonky. The group also noted a lot of randomness: a player can build a plan around low cards, only for someone's joker to flip the game to high. One player said it is not as intriguing as some other small Japanese trick takers but not a bad game either.

The two-player game is a variant with a dummy player. Ryan and Bethany say it actually worked, but Board Games With B7 prefers three to five players, and Tabletoptiktok explains the rules as a three-to-five player game with two players simulating a third.

If You Enjoy Kabuki Tricks

Tabletop Tolson reviews Kabuki Tricks side by side with Lose, a trick taker in which players cannot see the values of their own cards, only the suits, while opponents can. Yellow is always trump, and bids come at the start with a safety option. Kimberly calls both middling but prefers Lose. Ryan and Bethany compare the bidding to Spades, so players who enjoy predicting their tricks in that classic should recognize the core of Kabuki Tricks, with the trump order in constant motion on top.