Are you ready for a dino sake party? Then let’s get drinking! You’ll need to drink up sake to collect empty tokkuri for points. Not enough sake on the table? Then you’ll have to supply more tokkuri so there’s more to drink! Think you have what it takes to drink your opponents under the table? Let’s find out!

What Is It?

A card game where each turn players will either play a card face down in front of them as a tokkuri, filled to 10, or play a card face up to drink sake from 1 or more tokkuri (depending on how many numbers are on the card). Face up plays may also give players special abilities.

At the end of a round, players score one point for each tokkuri they emptied, and lose 2 points for each tokkuri still in front of them with 3 or more sake remaining. The highest score wins the round and all other players must pay the winner the difference between their score and the winner’s score from their tokens. The game ends after a number of rounds decided by the players, or simply when one player runs out of tokens. The player with the most tokens wins!

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 4 Players – It’s a little better with 4 because it gives players the biggest chance to use the cards with multiple numbers, which can be much harder with less players
  • Ages 10 & Up / Light Card Game Fans – Pretty small/simple rule set; I’d only say slightly older if you don’t want younger players playing because of the drinking theme
  • Fans of light card games, not much strategy

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Fun cover art, clean graphic design
  • Components – Nice tokens and sticks; cards are fine
  • Turns are quick and snappy
  • The card abilities can be neat when you get a chance to use them

CONS

  • Theme didn’t make sense, nor did it add to the game
  • The negative points for leftover sake felt very punishing for such a light game
  • The troublemaker card is really rough; almost guaranteed negative 2 points (especially with less players)
  • The round scoring with paying tokens the difference of your score to the winner felt clunky

Final Thoughts

I felt that you had very little control turn to turn, especially since anyone can empty your tokkuri; depending on how a round goes, the same player can continue to have to play tokkuri because there aren’t enough to drink out of on their turn, which can be frustrating. I’m also never a big fan of negative points, and this felt like you got hit twice – losing points and then having to pay the winner after you already did poorly. This one just wasn’t for me, unfortunately, but if you generally like light card games, maybe it’ll be for you!

Additional Information:

Designer – Takashi Saito
Artist – Rei Betsuyaku (べつやくれい)
Publisher – Bright Eye Games
MSRP – $14.99
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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