Jusayo
- Board's Eye View
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Jusayo is Korean for 'please give me' and that's what you're mostly saying to other players in this small-box card game for 3–5 players. It's designed by Woojin Yang and published by Korea Boardgames.
The game is played with a deck of cards numbered 1–8 in four colours but the cards numbered 1 and 5 are dual coloured. Players start off with a hand of 6–10 cards, depending on player count. A small rondel is assembled to indicate the active colour, which is initially determined randomly.
On your turn you can choose to play your highest card in the current indicated colour or you can Jusayo another player, requiring them to play their highest card in that colour on your behalf. If they can't (ie: have no cards of that colour) it's you who are out. The active colour moves on to the next one on the rondel and play continues with the remaining players. Whenever you play a dual colour card, the colour switches to the other colour on the card.
Alternatively, instead of playing a card or asking another player to play a card on your behalf you can call another player out - essentially betting that they cannot play a card in the indicated colour. If you correctly call a player out, they are eliminated. If you call a player out and they are able to play, it's you who is eliminated. You win the hand by being the last player left in after others have been eliminated, and the first player to win two hands wins the game.
Jusayo is a simple, easy-to-play, push-your-luck and deduction game with a party game vibe. Your agency is over which action you choose to take on your turn; you don't really have any choice over which card to play. For us, the game is at its best with four or five players; the three-player game can be over too quickly. Tho' Jusayo has player elimination, it plays so quickly that that really doesn't matter - rounds invariably take less than 5 minutes. There can be a palpable tension as players have to guess what cards the others are holding...
