Coco Boom

The Game

Coco Boom is a game I am excited to write about, because I had so much fun with it. I played it at the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang. I only bought two games that whole long weekend and this was one of them. It is a party game, and I am not even a party game person. I normally blog about games in the sequence that I play them. I am supposed to write about seven other games before I get to Coco Boom. However, I am going to let it cut queue because hey, life is not fair.

Coco Boom is a push-your-luck party game from Taiwan. it is a card game and there are only four types of cards in the game. There are three types of coconut cards valued at 300, 500 and 1000. There is a bomb card valued at -500. At the start of the game, everyone gets a hand of cards. Every round, everyone adds one card face-down to a central deck. You know what you have added but you don’t know what the others have added. The start player adds two cards instead, so he has a little bit more information. The shared deck is shuffled, and the round starts.

On your turn, you try to guess what the top card is. If you are right, you can choose to claim that card or you can take a risk and guess the next card. If you are right again, you will be able to claim all the cards you have guessed correctly so far. However, if you are wrong, you leave empty handed. If you keep guessing correctly, you can continue guessing, further pushing your luck. Pushing your luck is tempting because if you can win a second or third card, the values of your cards increase.

You play until the deck runs out. Then you start a new round with everyone contributing cards again to form a new deck. 

Let's talk about the bomb. When you take a guess, you can't guess the bomb. When you reveal the top card from the deck, if it is a bomb, everyone slams his hand on the card, and whoever is slowest is forced to take the bomb. So this is partly a reflex / speed game as well. The copy I bought came with a Christmas promo. A new type of bomb card is added which looks very much like the normal bomb. The only difference is a little Santa Claus hat. If a Christmas bomb card shows up, you are not supposed to touch it. Whoever does so first is forced to take the card. 

The game is played until someone scores 3000, or until there are not enough cards left to start a new round. Richest player wins. 

The Play

At the Asian Board Games Festival, Tom's table playing this game was one of the loudest in the hall. The other loudest tables were BGN (Board Game Night) and Wisebox, both from Thailand. When I sat down to play Coco Boom, and this was with a group of people I didn't know, I understood why. 

This is a gambling game. You are guessing what the next card is, but there is some basis for you to guess. There are more 300's than there are 1000's. When more and more cards have been claimed, you can count what are left. The card or cards you have added to the shared deck is also information you use to make a guess. When other people fail to guess the second or further cards, what they have revealed go back to the deck. This is the most useful information because now you know for sure what are in the deck. There is always tension between greed and playing it safe. I love guessing 1000 and getting them. The 300's are a safer guess because there are more of them, but when you guess 300 and draw a 1000, you start questioning your life choices. Why should I not be great?! Why not me?! Why should I not put on the Ring?!

There is plenty of drama in the game. Here's one situation I experienced. There were only three cards left in the deck. One player guessed a 500 and a 300 correctly, and there was only one card left. If he guessed that one correctly too, all three of his cards would be worth 200 extra per card. He guessed 300, but it turned out to be a 500! So he had to surrender the 500 and 300 back to the deck. By now the next player knew all the cards in the deck - two 500's and one 300. But which one was he going to guess first? 500 seemed to be the better bet, with a 66% chance of being correct. If you do get it right, are you going to take the next guess? Or are you going to settle with 500? It's a simple game, but you encounter these juicy decisions all the time. 

The Thoughts

Coco Boom is a simple and happy game. It works better with more players. It's a game you can teach easily and it's great for non-gamers. There is a fair bit of luck, so this is not the kind of game your distrusting aunt will complain about you being the expert gamer always winning. It is a simple game so the playing field is pretty level. For gamers, this is a fun filler. You don't schedule game night around it. I bought a copy despite not generally being a fan of party games because I see there are lots of situations I can bring this out. This is a party game which is not about trivia, not about judging one another, not about doing any performance, and not about persuading people. If these are the things which make you stay away from party games, check out Coco Boom.