Cabanga! is a light, fast card-shedding game.

Mind the gap!

Cabanga! Game Overview

Deal each player a hand of eight numbered cards, and set up four central rows, one per colour each with two ‘start’ cards.

On your turn you play one card from your hand onto the matching-colour row’s discard pile.

If your play creates a numeric gap between your card and the current top card on the opposing pile of that colour, any other player holding cards whose values fall inside that gap can shout “CABANGA!”

They throw those cards into a discard pile, and you must draw one card per thrown card from the deck.

Also, if you play the same colour as the player before you, you automatically draw a card.

How Do You Win?

The round continues until one player has no cards left.

At the end of the round, all players tally up penalty points from cards remaining in hand.

Once someone reaches 18 or more penalty points, the game ends, the player with the fewest penalty points wins.

Main Mechanisms

Card-shedding and hand-management via the ‘gap’ mechanism.

USP

It’s similar to several other games so nothing unique here.

Theme

There’s no thematic flourish beyond colourful numbered cards, it’s purely abstract.

Setup

Shuffle number cards and penalty deck, deal eight cards each, place four central rows with start cards. Ready in under a minute.

Components & Artwork

Bright, clean number cards in four colours. The important things is that the numbers are readable.

Ease of Teaching

It’s very simple. Deal, match the colour, avoid the gaps as much as possible, and watch out for “Cabanga!”.

Similar Games

6 nimmt has a similar feel of number ordering, card dumping, and tension.

Cabanga! – Review

Positives

Quick setup and fast rounds, perfect for filler or warm-up games.

Lots of laughs when “CABANGA!” comes out and cards fly.

Negatives

It’s very chaotic, luck and timing dominate, with limited control.

A bad draw or one wrong play can wipe out your hand and give you a heavy penalty.

There is not much strategy beyond ‘don’t give big gaps and hope to avoid dumps.’

Summary

Cabanga! is a light, loud, chaotic card game that thrives on quick plays, just don’t look for deep tactics or consistent control. (It’s still better than Flip 7)

Jesta ThaRogue