Sbam! is a competitive game in real time. The game is played over several rounds and ends once all but one player has been eliminated.

Each round, players draw and play cards (in 3 suits with a strength of 1 to 3) as fast as they can and fight against the players sitting to their left and right. The round ends when a player plays one or more Sbam cards, but beware of the special cards!

When the round ends, players check the outcome of each battle separately: each pair of identical cards (same color and same strength) played by a single player is discarded. Then only the color for which the most cards have been played by both fighting players is considered. Each player lists the strength of all cards of that color. The player with the lowest strength loses the battle and must take 1 damage token. When a player receives a 5th damage token, they are eliminated.

The player who remains the only one with fewer than 5 damage tokens at the end of a round is the winner!