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Quick Look: Seoul Journey

Designer: Jean Curci
Artist: Dasom Yun
Publisher: Play to Z
Year Published: On Backerkit for 6 more days (Link at bottom of review)

No. of Players: 2-5

Ages: 10+

Playing Time: 30-45 minutes.

Find more info HERE.

From the Publisher:

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of Seoul Journey. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:
 

I must admit, I rarely get a chance to enjoy the type of game that tries to imbue a certain sense of cultural richness and pride into its very fabric. It’s not that certain types of games don’t exist in great abundance, but these admittedly are a minority of the games in my collection. 

For example, I still very much appreciate Buru (that I covered a few years ago) and the genius that is Indonesia. But for the most part, I am sadly in short supply of these thematic types in general. (Although I am eagerly waiting for the opportunity to try the Korean Night Life mode for my recently acquired  Food Chain Magnate expansion, that must count too, right?)

Sometimes, (as with Buru) the attempt to utilize a cultural theme resounds gratefully. Other times, even though it accompanies a great game, it can fail to connect, and can feel like a quick theme slapped on as an afterthought—any theme could, in effect, have been utilized (as can be the case with Indonesia). 

I came across Seoul Journey a few weeks ago, and was captivated by its online presence for a few reasons. Firstly, it attempts to encapsulate the essence of Korean site-seeing and night life. This colorful card game caught my attention for a few other reasons (more on this later), but also was paired with a very distinct art style that I haven’t seen before (also more on this later). 

Now keep in mind that I have never been to Seoul, though I have been talking about it with some Korean friends who also double as gaming buds for games like Shadowrun: Crossfire and Uprising : Curse of the Last Emperor that we play together quite regularly. We often enjoy things such as buldak, bolgogi and kimchi for family gatherings on game day, and often talk about the prospect of us joining up with them for a future tour of their hometown in Seoul the next time we are in Asia. 

Having been to Indonesia , Singapore, and Japan, in my mind, I think I might have some primitive concept of what Seoul may be like, but I am prepared to be totally wrong in my preconceptions. So for the most part, I have to depend on what others tell me and use my imagination.

So the first reason Seoul Journey captured my interest was that I wanted to see what my friends thought of it : does it somehow capture the essence and vibe of Seoul? And, as is the case with Buru, there is the other burning question I had on my mind : “Is the art considered to be authentically true to that which one would traditionally find in Seoul?”.

Now with a sadly ironic twist of fate, I will not be able to ask my friends these burning questions prior to publishing this review because they are…(dramatic pause)…in Seoul for vacation at this very moment. So, I promise to update this review with their thoughts as soon as they return, as I really want to test the legitimacy of the whole Seoul Journey experience. But for now, one will simply have to take my impressions as they are, and as limited as they may be. The most I can procure is how the game appeals to my senses and how the game feels in terms of enjoyability metrics with my family. The rest will have to wait!

The Backerkit page for Seoul Journey gives a perfectly succinct video and explanation for rules and gameplay, so I won’t delve into this aspect of the game too much, but in quick synopsis, here is what things consist of :

—Setting up a central city array in the center playing space, and an array of cards whose number depends on play count.

—Distributing 3 cards per player. 

— On each turn, a player may either play a card, or take all of the cards in one of the piles in the city and then play one of those cards.

—The caveat to each turn is that whenever you play a card and its action , you must discard another card face up to one of the city piles.

—At the end of each player’s turn , 2-3 cards from the draw deck are placed anywhere in the city , strategically and face down.

—When a player has played 9 cards, they get a Night Life token (to be used for additional points or the ability to draw 2 cards in a subsequent turn), and each other player gets only one more turn before the day ends, and points are tallied. The game duration can be from 1-3 days.

There are 4 types of cards players may acquire during their games.

1) Highlights. These are the experiences you have or places you visit in the streets of Seoul. In addition to giving you points for conditions you might meet later in the game, they also let you link a food or festival card to the top or bottom of it. However, once you play more than one Highlight in your line of cards, you may (mostly) never link other food or festival cards to previous Highlights —you’ve moved on to another event.

2) Delights. These are either food or festivals, and as mentioned above , are linked to Highlights for more points.

3)Shopping cards are played outside of your area, and give an exponential increase to your end game point based on the number of same colored shopping cards you have.

4). Guardian cards give special powers that may be used once per day. Not using their power during the day can yield extra points. 

So that would be your gameplay summary.

And now for the review:

Now, I realized in preparation for writing this review that a lot of my thoughts are going to be positive. And it may seem that many (but not all) of my reviews can seem overwhelmingly positive. And such will indeed be the case for Seoul Journey. But I want to make it clear that I also do not like being a shill.

The truth of the matter is when it comes to reviewing games, I will most certainly always gravitate towards games that look appealing to me in some fashion. If it doesn’t look like it will have potential for my groups, I will avoid it. Seoul Journey , at a glance, seemed to have a lot going for it :

—A distinct art style 

—Highly thematic, centered around foods, places and experience types that my family adores.

—Portable gameplay, always good for travel.

Consequently, I reached out to Play to Z and they were more than kind enough to rush deliver this prototype to me. (And as a prototype, know that the final product may vary). As of this writing, there are only a few days remaining for the crowdfund for Seoul Journey, and if the game met my expectations, I wanted to do what I could to help the game meet its funding goals.

The end result of the experience of Seoul Journey did not simply pass muster ; it exceeded my expectations.

—The art style does seem a bit “quirky” when viewed on a web page.  And it may be that this style reflects a current or past trend in Korea, so I cannot judge it on its authenticity for this aspect, and will wait to consult my friends when they get back, but at the very least, it is colorful. However one thing that I was not prepared for is that the art and aesthetic looks much, much better and more fitting when viewed in person. It’s just one of those things that needs to be viewed and experienced firsthand to fully enjoy. When pasted directly in front of my eyes, I could hardly believe I had once considered the art to be “quirky” in my preliminary assessment ; in my hands , it just felt right, like it possessed the perfect vibe. Seeing it depicted on your phone or PC simply doesn’t do it justice. 

—It also helps that card sizes are not American standard, but something much larger, similar to tarot. This helps art pop all the more and helps keep things visible from across the table.

—The theme does not feel like it is simply tacked on. It feels like you are taking a legitimate thrill-seeking journey as a tourist.

—Gameplay duration is highly customizable, and feels just right for each “day”. Players rushed for time can elect to do just one day, but even this doesn’t feel like it’s too short, which is nice for school nights…Conversely, you can make a whole game night out of a 3 day game.

—Seoul Journey also incorporates scoring methods similar to some of our other favorite games, which I shan’t name here, but it bears mentioning that we all noticed it. Better again was the fact that it elicited this feel in a much more portable form factor!

-Swift to learn, but not overly simple in feel. Definitely more strategy than something like Sushi Go, and not a ton of randomness. We appreciate how players will eventually get a chance to draft discarded cards, which yields everyone the opportunity to get a card type they desperately need.

—Vibrant and colorful!

Any problems for us?

—The larger card size has its strengths, absolutely! But this can also make it necessary for having a larger table space than if the cards were closer to the American standard in size. This can be especially true in the games’ City area, where cards are configured in multiple lanes. It can get messy without straightening out on occasion! 

—A couple areas in the instruction manual could use some slight clarification or reminders. This could easily be rectified in the final version, though.

—The first player standee / marker could use a bit more of a snug fit to ensure the base doesn’t keep falling out. In this application, it may be better to simply have it horizontally flat on the table.

Final thoughts : At a price of just 25 dollars for a base pledge, Seoul Journey more than delivers. It presents everything I might want in an ideal card game and more.

Card games on the one hand are extremely hard to judge fairly. If I were to pit one up directly against my favorite games of all time (which come in much larger boxes), of course one would find the card game “limited” ; not having miniatures, a giant board, complex gaming mechanisms, etc. It is never a fair comparison.

The bottom line will always amount to whether or not fun derives from the box. No matter the size of the box, it’s the ability to deliver fun that matters, and for us Seoul Journey yielded a spiritually delectable experience of great proportion. This is a keeper! 

Please check out their crowdfund to ensure this game gets out if you think this is something you would enjoy, and keep your eyes peeled for an updated recipe once I test the game out with my Korean friends. Until then, happy gaming!

After reading Jazz’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Seoul Journey will be live on BACKERKIT remember that your card will only be charged if the project is successfully funded and it won’t be charged until Mar 18, 2026 at 3:00pm PDT, and has a funding goal of $8,000. Check it out and back it HERE.

Did you back it based on our review? Please comment below letting us know!