Thematic trick-taking games are rare, because the maths of following suit rarely matches a story. Gachapon Trick is one of the few that pulls it off, and South Korean publisher Playte is bringing a new multilingual edition to UK Games Expo 2026 (stand 3A-602) this weekend.
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Find events near youDesigned by Daniel Newman and first published by New Mill Industries in 2024, Gachapon Trick is a card game for two to four players set in a Japanese capsule-toy parlour. You play tricks to win rows of toys, then decide which ones to actually take home. The trick-taking has a clever twist. You follow the led suit if you can, as usual, but the trick is won by the highest card of whichever suit ends up most represented, or the highest card outright if no suits repeat. That turns every hand into a puzzle about which colours are worth committing to.
Winning a trick is only half the job. The winner has to spend from a limited supply of coins to buy at least one toy from the trick, and matching toys score more as a set grows, so you are constantly weighing what to grab against what to deny your rivals. Once per trick you can also pay 500 yen to flip the top card of the deck blind, the push-your-luck moment that stands in for cranking the machine and hoping for the figure you want.
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See how it worksPlayte is known for tiny boxes with clever ideas, and here the packaging itself is styled like a gachapon machine. Meeple Mountain called it a rare trick-taker that genuinely captures its theme.
If you like trick-takers but want something off the beaten path, it is worth hunting down at the show.
Sources: Playte | UK Games Expo | Meeple Mountain
