It’s time for the royal ball, and as one of the best Princesses in the land you want a chance to hang out with all of your friends to dance, eat, drink and be merry. But there’s one problem: the Princes. Pronce Charmings, who were not invited want to get in and propose to you and your friends. It’s time to find a way to have a good time at the ball and avoid those Princes at all costs!
Rebel Princess is published by Bezier Games and designed by the team at Zombi Paella including Daniel Byrne, Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Pelaez and Tirso Virgos. Art by Alfredo Caceres. It plays 3-6 players in 45 mins.
Overview:
Rebel Princess is a trick-taking card game that lasts for five rounds. Each round there is a card that reveals an effect and at the end of the round players score marriage proposals, which are bad. After five rounds the player with the lowest number of proposals wins!
Gameplay:
Rebel Princess is set up with 5 round cards and at the beginning of each round a new effect is revealed. These will have a static change but also ask you to pass a certain number of cards from your hand in a certain direction.
Play begins with the lead player starting the trick and the winner of the trick takes the cards. Tricks are played by following the suit of the first card played and then the player with the highest card of the led suit wins the trick. The person who won the trick starts the next hand. All cards from all players hands are played and then the round ends.
If a player wins all of the Princesses and the Frog they are now the Rebel of the Ball and take -10 proposals for the round instead of the ones they would have gained. Otherwise all crowns gained count as a point each. Then the deck of cards is reshuffled and a new round effect card is revealed.
Once each round players have a Princess power they can use if they wish. These have various effects and are all fun to explore and see how they change the game.
At the end of the game all players crowns are added up and the player with the fewest proposals is the winner the top rebel amongst all Princesses!
Impressions:
I absolutely love trick-taking games and this one is a hit for me. The game is familiar for those who already enjoy games of this style but is also different enough to catch the attention of the people around the table.
There is a “play to lose” effect you go for as you really do not want proposals, but also there is a point in rounds where a player may feel differently and want to grab all of the crowns so they can try to get the -10 points for the round. So I enjoyed that push/pull and the changes that players may have felt each round based on their specific progression at that point.
The Princess powers might actually be my favorite part of the game, as they bring unique, asymmetrical abilities for each Princess up as a possible way to really change up how the game is going. I had fun exploring a few different ones but the fun thing about this game is there are so many that you could play a lot of games before you would have to repeat and try the same one. So explore the Princesses and find some different combos and how they all work!
This is a 3-6 player game so keep that in mind when looking for player counts it is a solid entry in that space. Often we are looking for something that works for 2-3 couples together so this one was a hit for game nights at our house.
So if you love a good card game and trick-takers are in your space Rebel Princess is one that you definitely need to check out. It is one of my most-played recent games and one that I cannot wait to get back to the table soon! So go out and get your best dress Princess-it’s time to go party!
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