
Are we turning Japanese?
We really think so...
Smash Up is back after a vacation in the Far East, and it brought all new factions like you've never seen before! Unless you, like, watch TV or movies or read comics or something. But who does that?
The Kaiju storm onto the scene and show you why we call the set Big in Japan. Magical Girls use their spells and the power of teamwork to win the base. The mighty Mega Troopers defeat any foe with their martial arts skills... and giant flippin' robot. And finally, because we had to have them all, the Itty Critters will defeat any challengers, if you have the heart of the... wait, sorry, mixing references.
- - Big in Japan box description
Big in Japan is the 12th Smash Up set (The All Stars Event Kit released before that is a promotional set and isn't considered by AEG as a regular set.) It contains 4 new factions, 8 new bases, a rulebook, VP tokens and 4 titans which also serve as dividers for The Big Geeky Box.
Combined with all previous sets, there are 55 factions and 110 bases, which make 1485 possible pairs of factions.
This set introduces factions with titans.
Previous set: All Stars Event Kit (Promotional set) Previous regular set: What Were We Thinking? |
Next set: Smash Up Sheep Promo (Promotional faction) Next regular set: That ’70s Expansion |
Cards[]
Factions[]
Bases[]
Tokens[]

- White 1 with a grinning face and a sweat drop / blue background
- Green 5 with a smiling face, puppy dog eyes and hearts / yellow background
Rules[]
- Main article: Rules
The rulebook for this set can be found here.
This set made a few modifications to the rules relative to the previous rulebook in What Were We Thinking?:
- Added titans to the game.
- Changed the rule to decide who goes first.
- Some actions now add power to a base without needing to have a minion on the same base (unlike Aggromotive and Summon Wolves). A number in the upper-left corner reminds you how much power each of those actions adds.
- Added an alternative condition for getting VPs when a base scores. When a base scores, the VPs are awarded to players who have at least one minion, OR at least 1 power there.
- Added transferred and shuffled to the list of "affect".
This set also introduced the following clarifications:
- "Having" cards at a base means you control them.
- The term "on-play abilities" is officially used for abilities that are not Ongoing, Special, or Talent.
- The free minion and action that you get on your turn are now called "regular" minion or action.
- Only the cards that "others can see" go to the hand/deck/discard pile of their owners. So if you play Field Trip, you can indeed place other players' cards under your deck, not theirs.
Trivia[]
- The name on the box "スマッシュアップ" is simply the name of the Smash Up brand in Japan, although only the Core Set was translated there.
- The name of the set is a multi-reference to AEG's brand "Big in Japan", the fact that the factions are based on big (i.e. popular) Japanese franchises and the introduction of the Titans.
In other languages[]
Language | Name | Translation (if different) | Note |
---|---|---|---|
French | Rois du Japon | Kings of Japan | |
German | Big in Japan | ||
Hebrew | קאמיקזה | Kamikaze | |
Italian | È Colpa Vostra! & Big in Japan | Also contains the It’s Your Fault! set | |
Russian | В Маленьком Токио | In Little Tokyo |
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