Yum Yum Trouble Gum

• Designer: Axel Streubel
• Publisher: Loosey Goosey
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20+
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

The troublelicious heist game with just one loser!  YUM YUM Trouble Gum is a card shedding game. When it is your turn, you draw a new card and/or play a card that fits. As soon as everyone and everything is in place, a heist can go down. At that point, be sure to have the right cards left in your hand or, better yet, none at all. Either way, let someone else take the fall!

The deck of 32 cards is shuffled and each player is dealt a starting hand. The two banks are placed on the table, with enough room around each for multiple cards to be played.  The 6 cop badges are also put in the supply, all on the “woop woop” side.

On your turn, you must either play a card from your hand OR draw a card (and then optionally play a card).  If it is impossible for you to do either, you go directly to jail and a new round is started.

If you play a card, it must be played near a bank, but there is a certain order in which things can be played:

• Green or Pink trouble gum – can be played next to either bank, but only if that type of gum is not already next to it
• Cherry – can be played to a bank, but only if a Green Trouble Gum is already there. Only one Cherry per bank.
• Banana – can be played to a bank, but only if a Pink Trouble Gum is already there. Only one Banana per bank.
• Delay – you can always play this next to a bank.  Immediately draw a card and then place any card from your hand back on the top of the draw pile.

Once a bank has a full crew (green gum, cherry, pink gum, banana) – you have a few more options.

• Heist – can only be played when the full crew has been assembled at a bank. No limit to the number of Heists
• Licorice Cop – can be placed on top of a heist or another licorice cop.  When played, the next player will go to jail unless they play another licorice cop or a getaway car.
• Getaway car – discard all the cards at that particular bank (but not the other bank). No one goes to jail and the round continues.

If you manage to play all the cards in your hand, you are out of the current round and cannot go to jail.  You will re-enter the game at the start of the next round.  

If you are the only player to still have cards in their hand, you go straight to jail and the round ends.

Whenever any player goes to jail, the current round ends, all the cards are collected and shuffled and a new starting hand is dealt to all players.  The game ends immediately when someone goes to jail for the second time.  That player is the only loser and everyone else points their finger at them and laughs.

My thoughts on the game

So I’ve played a couple of times – and this game really feels like it’s the sort of thing where you just need to be in the right place at the right time.  Or well, have the right cards in your hand at the right time.   Do you have a lot of time to cultivate your hand to maximize your chances of survival?  Umm, not really – at least not in my estimation.

At any time, there seem to be two or three cards that can be validly played.  Sure, there aren’t many places you can play cards, but each bank has a rigid decision tree of what cards must be played in order.  And then, once someone triggers a heist, you’re passing around the police piece, and you can only play cards that work towards the resolution of that heist.

So, going back to my hand cultivation issue – you’re not really making a lot of decisions here.  It’s not like you’re specifically saving your heist cards or your escape cars at the start.  You’re just keeping them because you have no other option, you have to play the gumballs or their ridiculous weapons first.  Just be really good at drawing cards for the Heist, and you’ll do well when the Heist inevitably starts.

I suppose you do get to decide to draw or not, but our feeling is that you generally should draw.  In all my games of Yum Yum Trouble Gum, I’ve only seen one or two rounds end with just one player left in the round (because everyone else ran out of cards) – though of course that could be just groupthink.

This is one of those games where the table gets to point their finger at the loser and laugh.  For a lot of people (including one in my regular group), this is a big turn-off.  Obviously YMMV – but for some at the table, it was mentioned that this was the most entertaining part of the game.   Each round is quick, and we’ve had games end after just two hands.  (shrug).  Yum Yum Troubly Gum definitely fits on the shelf of mindless quick fillers.

I will note that I was disappointed by the lack of butts in this game. Of course, YMMV on that as well. 

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor