Game Info
Year
2026
Players
2-4
Age
14+
Playtime
90 min
Collection
Your Tier
Loading…
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
A cooperative poker game in which players build hands together to beat cheating infernal bosses rather than compete with one another
Featured Videos
Review
Hell of a Deal: Discussion
Playthrough
Hell of a Deal Playthru
Ask a Rules Question
Images
GID0458042.jpg
GID0458042_thumb.jpg
All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video BLRtRjCMSxA
Board Games UnLocked Review at 0:16 sentiment: positive
video_pk 111564 · mention_pk 321128
Click to watch at 0:16 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Nails the boss rush, poker theme, Cuphead cheating style.
- Fantastic cooperative play.
- Strategic cheating mechanics.
- Controlled randomness.
- Fog of war element is fascinating here.
- Curses and favors are situational and helpful.
- Good variety of bosses.
- Suspenseful boss encounters.
- Excellent insert for storage.
- Works well at lower player counts, potentially any player count.
Cons
- Unsure how well it plays at high player counts.
- Cannot check in betting rounds (unless a rule was missed).
Thematic elements
- Cheating throughout the entire time
Comparison games
- Bellatro
- Ace of Spades
- Sky Team
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Betting/Folding — You have to bet something or fold. There's multiple chances to fold. There's an order of operations on the way that you're going to cheat.
- Boss Battler / Boss Rush — Doing kind of essentially a boss battler. Probably more of a boss rush than a boss battler.
- Cheating — The concept of cheating throughout the entire time.
- cooperative play — He has made it work extremely well cooperatively.
- Curses and Favors — They have two types of cards: favor cards and curse cards.
- Hand Management — You have to strategize a lot more because you essentially can't talk about anything. You could talk about face up cards and that's it.
- randomness — An element of randomness, but controlled randomness.
- Set Collection — I was able to get a full house out of using all my bets and stuff to get a full house of three kings and two sevens.
- Texas Hold'em — At this game's core, it is Texas Holdem. There's no wonky cards or anything weird that is going to be going on in Texas Holdem. It is a straight deck of cards.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- And Hell of a Deal nails it.
- There's still an element of of randomness, but you have a lot of ways to try and cheat as much as possible, to manage a system like that is very fascinating to me.
- That's that fog of war element that I typically hate in cooperative games, but it is kind of fascinating here.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm going to give Hell of a Deal a nine.
- I think that this is I I mean this is probably the best poker style board game that they that's that's been made.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video L9SeaP7zfiM
TheGameBoyGeek - Hi Quality Hi Energy Board Game Reviews Review at 0:14 sentiment: positive
video_pk 105880 · mention_pk 305093
Click to watch at 0:14 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Amazing production quality with neoprene playmats and heavy poker chips.
- Thematic integration of poker mechanics with the hellish setting works well.
- The 'bet now, pay later' mechanic is smart and engaging.
- Souls as currency add a long-term planning element.
- Variety of betting options provides strategic choices.
- High variability and adjustable difficulty.
- Feels similar in gameplay arc and mechanics to Ace of Spades.
Cons
- Forgetting to burn a card to the discard pile can be an issue for new players unfamiliar with poker.
- Penalties for bets are not clearly indicated on the player boards, requiring reference.
- Limited variety in Nick House cards, with only one normal and one hard difficulty card.
- If you dislike the core of poker, this game is not for you.
- Folding can be the best strategic option but is not fun, leading players to push their luck more than they should.
Thematic elements
- Cooperative poker game against minions and bosses, including the devil.
- Hell
Comparison games
- The Gang
- Ace of Spades
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — Players work together to beat minions and bosses.
- Hand Management — Players manage their hand of cards, deciding which ones to use for their poker hand and when to play special ability cards.
- Poker Hand Building — Players use their cards to form the best possible poker hand, aiming to beat the boss's minimum hand.
- Press Your Luck — Players must weigh the risk of gaining temptation or curses against the immediate benefits of certain bets.
- Push Your Luck — Similar to press your luck, players are encouraged to keep betting and pushing their luck due to the short game length and desire for fun.
- Set Collection — Forming specific poker hands is the goal to beat the bosses.
- variable difficulty — Minions and bosses have normal and hard modes, allowing for adjustable challenge.
- Variable player powers — Favor cards and certain bet types grant players temporary abilities to help them.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Today we're going to be playing poker cooperatively, working together, but not just anywhere. We're actually going to be playing in hell.
- Now, being a cooperative poker game, you might imagine there is a standard 52 card playing deck in here for poker cards.
- You're going to get curses. Favors are going to help you and you're trying to beat these bosses.
- Amazing production. Wow. this. It's a pretty big box, but it has a nice insert and it has six different neoprene playmats.
- The thematic tie of this game because essentially you're like every time you bet you're sort of pressing your luck like in real poker.
- Getting the abilities right when you bet is just smart because it's like hey, you bet now, but you pay later and I love that aspect of it.
- Souls themselves are sort of like it is like sort of the currency in the game and because if for every player that doesn't beat whoever you're going against, usually they lose two souls.
- This game is most likely going to be compared to two other games that came out recently.
- If you liked either of the games, The Gang or Ace of Spades, you're likely going to like this game.
- Sometimes, and I would even say a few times per game, you know, you're going to probably your best option is to fold, but nobody wants to fold because basically if you go through one round each, I mean, you're playing six hands of poker and it's over, right?
- Other than that, the game is actually really fun. It's I enjoy it.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video EDHMNJqMGE4
TheGameBoyGeek - Hi Quality Hi Energy Board Game Reviews Top List at 14:37 sentiment: positive
video_pk 95553 · mention_pk 262724
Click to watch at 14:37 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Cooperative poker game against the devil with unique cheating mechanics
- Diabolical bosses twist the game in unique ways
- Full immersive experience, not just a filler game
- Smirk and Dagger always does interesting and different things
- Appeals to both poker fans and gamers
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Cooperative poker game where players cheat to win, facing diabolical bosses
- Against the devil and minions of hell
Comparison games
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — Players cooperatively play poker against the devil.
- Poker (Texas Hold'em variant) — The game uses a Texas Hold'em style with three cards dealt to players.
- Risk Management — Cheating too much leads to curses or temptation, and losing hands with wagered chips results in harsh penalties.
- Variable player powers — Players earn 'favor cards' that let them cheat and can use 'power chips' for immediate abilities.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- "A lot of these come in airlifted and they're very limited releases. So, it might be hard to get some of these, but they are theoretically for sale, so you should be able to get some of these."
- "The card no one drafts... is the dinosaur that moves up an additional space. So, it's one of those things where it's like, 'Oh, I want this one, but if we leave this one, this will move up.'"
- "I usually don't like legacy games, but this one is on there because of that. You can reset it, you can replay it, you can play them separately. So, in theory, I guess it's not really technically I don't know what the definition of legacy game is."
- "Forbidden Island came out, I believe, in 2010, and it's the game that sort of got me back into the board gaming hobby."
- "I was nicknamed the Game Boy, which is why my channel is called Game Boy Geek, actually."
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video K9B5k6DSa9Y
Tantrum House Playthrough at 1:42 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 82261 · mention_pk 206659
Click to watch at 1:42 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Fun cartoony art style
- Challenging cooperative gameplay
Cons
- Can be difficult to win
- Bosses can be very hard
- Player mistakes can lead to quick losses
Thematic elements
- Playing against the devil and his minions
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Betting — Players place bets, which have benefits if won and penalties if lost.
- cooperative play — All players work together against the game system to achieve victory.
- Hand Management — Players manage cards in their hand, with limits on how many can be used to form a final hand.
- Push Your Luck — Players can take temptations for benefits, but exceeding a certain limit leads to losing.
- Set Collection — Players aim to form specific poker hands to win rounds against the boss.
- Texas Hold'em — Core poker mechanic adapted for the game, with modifications to the standard rules.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Can I sell my soul? No selling. And join the other team?
- You're a traitor. No traitor.
- We do not need to beat each other. We just need to beat the devil.
- The art on these cards are really fun.
- I want to lose in a co-op game so that I feel like it's a challenge.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4