Rebel Princess: Deluxe Edition

The kingdom’s princesses have come together for a spectacular five-day celebration. But not everyone made the guest list—every needy prince in the land, feeling snubbed, plans to crash the ball. As a strong, free, independent princess, you’re determined to dodge their unsolicited marriage proposals. You’re not just any royal, you’re a Rebel Princess!

Rebel Princess is a trick-taking game that reimagines the classic card game Hearts with a creative twist. Daniel Byrne, José Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Peláez, and Tirso Virgós designed the game, with art by Alfredo Cáceres. Bezier Games publishes it for 3-6 players, ages 15 and up.

Setup

Shuffle the Princess cards and deal two to each player. Each player selects one to keep face down; return the rest to the box. Then, all players reveal their Princesses simultaneously and read their powers aloud.

Build the deck using the four suits—Fairies, Pets, Princes, and Queens—as shown in the rulebook, removing cards based on player count. Choose a start player to shuffle and deal out the deck evenly to all players. Then select five Round cards (randomly or by choice), place them face down in a row, and set the scorepad and pencil nearby.

Gameplay

In Rebel Princess: Deluxe Edition, your goal is to end the five-round game with the lowest score, dodging unwanted marriage proposals. At the start of each round, reveal a Round card and read its effect aloud. This modifies gameplay for that round (rule hierarchy: Princess ability > Round card > basic rules). Then pass the number of cards shown on the Round card to the player on your left or right.

Now the round begins. The start player leads the trick, playing a card from their hand. The suit of the first card played is the lead suit; the other players must play that kind of card (if they have one).  A player who cannot follow may play off suit. Once all players have played into the trick, the player with the highest card in the led suit wins the trick. They collect the cards and create a face down pile in front of themself. The player who won the trick leads the next trick.

A note on Prince cards: Since Princes aren’t invited to the party, you can’t lead the first trick of the round with one. However, when you can’t follow the lead suit, you may play a Prince. Once any Prince has been played, the Prince suit becomes legal to lead for the rest of the round. (If the starting player has only Princes in hand, they may lead with one.)

Once all cards have been played, the round ends and it’s time to score marriage proposals.

Scoring

To score, players reveal all the face-down cards in front of them. Each card with a heart symbol below its number adds to a player’s marriage proposals. Each Prince is worth a single proposal, and the player with the Frog card gains five additional proposals.

If a player captures all Prince cards and the Frog in a single round, they become the “Rebel of the Ball”. They ignore the usual points from those cards, and instead subtract 10 proposal points from their score. However, any special scoring effects from the Round card still apply to the other players. 

Preparing for the Next Round

Shuffle all the suited cards to form a new deck and deal them evenly to all players. Refresh any exhausted Princesses by turning them face up. Flip the current Round card face down, reveal the next one, and read its effect aloud. The player with the lowest score leads the first trick of the new round.

After five rounds, the ball ends, and the player with the fewest proposals wins—successfully rebelling against all those unwanted marriage offers.

Power of Princesses and Round Cards

Each player has a Princess card that can be used once per round (then turn it face down to show it’s been used). Powers can usually be played at any time—even during another player’s turn. But timing matters! For example, Pocahontas can’t use her ability if The Little Mermaid or Rapunzel have already used theirs during the current trick.

Round cards change the rules for each round. They show how many cards to pass and in which direction at the start, along with some special condition that changes the rules for one round. Cards with a black hourglass icon are spicier and better suited for later rounds.

Impressions

Over the past few years, trick-taking games have really caught on with my game group—especially those with a strong theme or clever twist. Rebel Princess nailed both. Its empowering, female-forward theme hooked us immediately. The idea of princesses fending off needy suitors? Brilliant.

Rebel Princess: Deluxe Edition delivers surprises in all the right places. Round cards shake things up with new rules and often force tough choices when passing cards to your neighbors. Sure, it’s tempting to offload a high-value card or an unwanted prince—but there’s no telling what you’ll get back. Princess powers give players clever tools to bend the rules in their favor.

And when it came time to score proposals? It was especially dreadful. Everyone at the table audibly groaned as they tallied their totals, cursing the princes for crashing an otherwise perfect party.

Despite the playful theme, there’s plenty of tactical depth and room to mess with your neighbors. No one said princesses can’t have rivalries!

Fun For Families

Rebel Princess is a great pick for trick-taking fans, but this one leans more gamer-friendly than casual: definitely know your audience before suggesting it. The Round cards and Princess powers add a layer of strategy and variability that’s a step up from what traditional card players are used to.

Of course, you could ease new players in by picking simpler Round cards and more approachable Princess abilities.

This game also skews a little older. For kids, the mechanics and interactions may take a few plays to fully understand. That said, the theme is definitely family-friendly and likely to draw in teens with its vibe and aesthetic.

Ready to wave off those needy princes and join the ultimate princess-only party? Grab your dancing shoes and pick up a copy of Rebel Princess from Bezier Games, your local game store, or Amazon. 

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Rebel Princess, Deluxe Edition from Bezier Games for this review.

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