tabletoppingboardgames 
When I first heard about Sibille, I expected something very thematic and maybe a bit fluffy. Tarot cards, fortune tellers, Enlightenment salons… it sounded like one of those games where the table looks amazing and the gameplay is just kind of there.
But that’s not what it is.
In Sibille you play as a fortune teller trying to build reputation, attract customers, and fulfil divine blessings before anyone else does. That sounds grand, but what you’re really doing is choosing cards, predicting what others will play, and trying to time things better than the people around the table.
And honestly? The predicting part is what makes or breaks it.
Because you’re not just playing your own game. You’re constantly asking yourself: what are they going to reveal?
And yes, sometimes you’ll feel like a genius. Other times you’ll feel like your crystal ball needs new batteries.
👥 2-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 60-90 minutes
📝 Designers: Luca Grippo & Paolo Raciti
🎨 Artwork: Federico Locatelli
🏢 Publisher: Math On Games (review copy provided)
Gameplay Overview
You each have your own tarot deck with 22 major arcana cards. Every round has four phases:
Preparation
Activation
Customers
Cleanup
In preparation, everyone chooses three cards face down. If you have arcana tokens, you can add extra cards, but each extra one costs a token. At the same time you maintain your prophecy line, which must always contain three cards. These don’t do anything on their own. They simply give you crystals if someone reveals the same arcana during the round.
That means you’re doing two things at once. Planning your own turn. And guessing what others are likely to play.
During activation, players take turns. When someone reveals a card, everyone immediately checks their prophecy line. If there’s a match, you get a crystal. This happens every time a card is revealed, even later in the round. So prediction isn’t a one-time check. It keeps happening as cards flip.
Each tarot card has a basic effect and an enhanced effect. If you want the enhanced version, you pay one crystal. You can resolve your cards in any order.
You can also activate artifacts by spending tokens. Those activable effects can’t be used more than twice per turn. Unused tokens are discarded at the end of your turn. Trinkets are simpler. You buy them with coins, they trigger immediately, then they go back to the bottom of the deck.
After everyone has activated, you go to customers. This is a majority check. Fame, power, coins, crystals, artifacts, prophecy tokens, first player token. If you lead in a category, that customer comes to you. Their rewards are resolved simultaneously.
In cleanup, you take your play line back into your deck. You can spend prophecy tokens to retrieve prophecy cards. If no one has fulfilled two divine blessings at the same time, the next round starts.
The game ends instantly when someone fulfils two blessings simultaneously. No final round. No warning. It just stops.
Which can feel great. Or slightly brutal.
Artwork and Components
It’s bold. Strong colours. Lots of gold lines. Big tarot illustrations. The middle of the board is circular, almost like an astrological clock. It definitely stands out on the table.
The tarot cards are the highlight for me. Large character art, clear icon layout, easy to read once you know the symbols. They look serious without feeling cluttered.
The crystals are translucent and nice to handle. Coins are metal. Customer tokens have proper portraits instead of generic markers. It all feels solid.
Is it subtle? Not really.
Is it consistent? Yes.
You won’t forget what it looks like.
Our Experience
The prediction system quickly became the centre of the game for us. Not because it looks impressive, but because it directly fuels your stronger actions. If you guess well, you get crystals. Crystals let you use enhanced effects. That means reading opponents directly improves your turn.
That connection really worked at our table.
The first play though? Slow.
There are quite a few moving parts. Hidden planning. Ongoing prediction checks. Enhanced effects. Artifact timing. Majority evaluation. Different blessing conditions. It’s not chaotic, but it demands attention.
We definitely made small mistakes in our first game. Nothing dramatic, just enough to pause and check the rulebook.
At the start, we treated prophecy like guessing. After a few plays, it shifted. It became more about reading incentives. For example, if someone clearly needs power to secure a blessing, chances are high they’ll reveal certain cards. That changes how you predict.
For us, that’s when the game really started to click.
There’s an interesting dynamic where players who predict well gain more crystals. But once they’re ahead, they become harder to read because they have more options. So success makes you less predictable. I like that.
Customers create constant pressure. We found ourselves timing small resource jumps right before the majority check instead of slowly building over the round. That makes interaction feel direct, even without attacks.
The ending can arrive suddenly. We had one game where someone fulfilled a second blessing and that was it. Done. It felt earned, but also a bit abrupt. I guess that’s part of the design. Fate doesn’t wait politely.
We also noticed that analysis time can grow. Especially with experienced players who want to optimise everything. If someone in your group tends to overthink, this won’t magically fix that.
Our Thoughts
Sibille isn’t easy to categorise.
It’s not light. But it’s also not overwhelming once you understand the structure. It asks you to track open information and hidden intentions at the same time. I actually like that, because you’re never just playing your own little puzzle. You’re constantly watching the table.
For us, the systems connect in a way that makes sense. Crystals come from prediction. Enhanced effects cost crystals. That creates a real decision every round about when to spend and when to hold back.
The marketplace adds flexibility. Artifacts help over multiple rounds. Trinkets give you short-term boosts. Nothing feels random, but you do need to pay attention.
That said, not everyone will love the indirect competition. You’re constantly stepping on each other’s toes over those majority categories. You can lose a customer because someone edges past you by one coin at the last second. That back-and-forth over majorities is baked into the design, and you really feel it at the table.
And the prediction system? I really enjoy it, but it does add mental load. You’re not just playing your own plan. You’re modelling other players’ behaviour. That’s fun for me, but I know some people who would rather focus only on their own engine.
We also tried it with the expansion modules. Honestly, we won’t play it anymore without at least one of them. They add a bit more direction and make early decisions feel less similar from game to game. That’s personal preference, I know, but for us it improved the overall experience.
So where does that leave it?
I think Sibille works best with players who enjoy thinking ahead, who don’t mind indirect competition, and who are okay with an ending that can come without warning.
It’s a thinking game. You have to pay attention. You have to watch people.
And if you’re good at reading your friends, this might finally be your excuse to say, “I told you so.”
If not, well… you can always blame destiny. That’s technically on theme.
About The Clear Cards
There’s also the clear cards box, which is not an expansion in the classic sense.
This small box contains 22 transparent cards, each showing the icons and effects of the 22 major arcana from Sibille. With the included 70×120 mm sleeves, you combine these clear cards with your collectible tarot deck. That way, your tarot cards become fully playable and compatible with the game.
Important to note: the tarot deck itself is not included in the clear cards box. You need both products.
For us, this is mostly about presentation. If you like the idea of playing with the full tarot artwork rather than the standard cards, this lets you do that without losing any functionality. Mechanically, it doesn’t change how the game works. It’s purely about how it looks and feels on the table.
I’ll say this though: playing with the tarot art does make the theme land a bit harder. It feels more personal. More like you’re actually laying out tarot cards rather than just playing a euro-style card game.
Is it necessary? No.
Is it nice if you enjoy the aesthetic side of the game? Definitely.
📝 We received a copy from Math On Games.
