Never has there been a game that is simpler to describe. My tagline for the review of Rebel Princess from Bezier Games is exactly what the game is. And that tagline might be enough for you to know if you’re interested in the game or not. But this is a game that I’ve played a bunch since getting it from Gen Con because of how easy it is to teach and get to the table. Even when the shenanigans try and mess you up.

How To Play Rebel Princess

The simple way is that it is hearts. But if you aren’t familiar with hearts, here’s a rundown of how it works for Rebel Princess. You get dealt a hand of cards. And then you play out one card at a time. The person who leads the trick picks the suit that everyone needs to follow. Winning a trick isn’t bad or good. But you want to avoid a trick with a prince in it, because they propose and proposals are bad. You especially want to avoid the frog prince because he is worth five proposals.

You play this out over several hands of cards, three for a short game and five for a full game. But let’s talk about the shenanigans because they matter as well. There are two elements that twist the basic game. The first is each player gets a princess. They pick between one of two dealt to them, and once per hand, they can use the princesses power to mess with things. It might turn a higher value card into a 0. Or it might let them pick the start of a trick.

The other thing is there is a decree each hand. Normally in hearts you pass a set number of cards a direction each hand. Well, in Rebel Princess that is variable. And how you figure out who wins a trick might change. It might be the greatest difference from the led card that wins the trick. Or it might be that you pass a card. There are a ton of different ways that the game gets changed up each hand.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t have much for this one because it is what it says it is. Rebel Princess is Hearts with shenanigans. If I pick something, it would be that since it plays from 3 to 6 players the game varies a lot. At 6 it is going to be considerably more random. So one thing I didn’t mention is shooting the moon. When you shoot the moon you take all the points. If you do that, you get negative points. This is only really a strategy for 3-4 players. If you get it at 5-6 players it is basically luck. That is something to aware of at different player counts. Not bad, but be aware.

What Works?

The rest of the game works really well. I like how there is a different decree each time. Certain strategy elements, like trying to short suit yourself, they will always work. But How you lead out a trick really varies. If, for example, it is greatest difference from the led number wins, the frog prince isn’t a bad card. As long as there is one other green suit left, you play it from your hand you are guaranteed not to win it. You need to think on your feet each hand to adapt to the changes.

I also like that it changes from classic Hearts to only be five hands. Hearts, with good players, can drag out a while. You try to stick or not stick people with points. Here it is just a race over those five hands. You may know by the end of round four it is not possible for you to win. But some of the final round cards do offer some crazy point scoring. Even then, you always battle for second and third. But it’s nice to have that end.

And let’s talk princess powers. All of the princess powers have good uses. All of the princess powers have restrictions. They are great because they can all be used well, if you use them well. And when you use them well, they all seem game breaking. Being able to set the lead suit of a trick can be great. Or being able to swap cards, or set a 7 to be a value of 0. All of those are fun to play around with. They won’t win you a game, but they might help you avoid taking a trick.

Who Is It For?

I think this game can work for a lot of people. It’s a game I have played it with people who know hearts and those who don’t and people have fun with it. I think the theme makes it appealing because it is silly. Trying to duck proposals from princes is a goofy theme. And the frog prince works well.

But for people who play Hearts, it’s still going to enjoyable. It’s basically taking hearts and putting a challenge mode on top of it. So it will feel different enough from Hearts but also familiar enough that they can sit down and play almost immediately.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Rebel Princess

I find this game a lot of fun. This is one of the games I got to demo at Gen Con and I knew I wanted to pick it up immediately. I love the the familiarity with the twist. Hearts is one of those games that if you grew up from 1992 to the mid 2000’s you knew how to play because it came with Windows. That is how I learned to play the game. If you didn’t have a computer game to play or had a few minutes, Hearts was a good game for that.

This, to me, is just that much more fun. There is an element of nostalgia to it, but I love the new stuff added. The theme, the princesses, the decrees each hand, all of that makes for such a fun time. And I love it as a way to introduce people to a traditional trick taking game. Hearts might not interest them because it’s kind of basic. But give it a theme and it’s way more interesting.

My Grade: A
Casual Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B

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