Gachapon Trick Game Review

Ga•cha•pon (ga cha pon) n. capsule toy dispensed from a vending machine, particularly popular in Japan.

1960s; Japanese, onomatopoeic origins.

You’re probably familiar with Gachapon, even if you don’t know you’re familiar. They’re those small plastic toys sold in vending machines, the ones that come in plastic capsules. In Japan, these bringers of joy and delight and the slightest rush of endorphins can be found all over the place. There are entire aisles and stores of them. For just a few Yen, you too can try your hand at bringing home a Doraemon keychain.

It’s the thrill of the chase that drives Gachapon sales, much as it drives the sale of blind boxes here in the U.S. (Japan is no slouch in that regard either). It's fitting then that Gachapon Trick, from designer and publisher Daniel Newman, is centered around both trick-taking and set collection.

The tricks play out about as you’d expect. Everyone has to follow the lead suit if they can, but the winner isn’t the player with the highest card in the suit. Thank god for that. Gachapon Tricks has seven suits with seven cards each, and only 3/4 or so of the deck gets dealt out every hand. The lead player would just about always walk away with it. Instead, the winner is whichever player…

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