Yesterday I got a chance to play A Nice Cuppa. This is a new solo game from Scott Almes and published by Button Shy Games. That means that it’s a 18 card game (plus expansion) but it’s really 17 card game and a player aid in this case. Join with me as I play A nice Cuppa on Malts and Meeples, and then let’s dive into my review and thoughts on this little solo experience.

How To Play A Nice Cuppa

A Nice Cuppa is a solo only game about getting the steps of brewing tea in the right order. From picking your tea and mug, steeping it, and eventually sipping on it. The game has seven steps for brewing your tea. Of course, brewing tea, there might be some distractions, these are worry cards in the game. So you need to try and not let the worries get the best of you.

For each round you flip up a worry card. Each worry is going to give you a direction on how to move your steps of brewing tea. So while you want them to end up in order, you need to work with the movement rules that you are given. Each spot with a worry face up, you do that movement, and you must do them in order of left to right. Then you flip your tea brewing cards over to their their other side above worries. If that side that is up is a focused side, that worry goes away.

At the end of the game, you count the cards that you have in order. You find where you have your one card and count from there. You get two points per card that is focused and one per card that is unfocused. Then you lose a point for any worry that remains.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, I don’t have much for this section. This is a nice compact solo game in terms of what is does. I think that there is a level of luck in the game. But that’s kind of the point of the game. So for someone who wants maybe a puzzle that is always going to have an optimal solution, this is not going to be an ideal game for them. It is a puzzle, but it’s a very adaptive puzzle as you need to figure out how to order and position the cards.

What Works

First off, I like how compact the game is. I have had a problem with some Button Shy Games, well one in particular, Sprawlopolis, where it is a small game with only a few cards, but it takes up space. While A Nice Cuppa isn’t the smallest in terms of footprint, games that Button Shy makes, it is one that is easy to fit onto a table. I think I could even fit it onto a TV tray if I wanted as well.

I also like the adaptability it makes you play with. You need to think about how the cards are going to interact with each other. You see me puzzle through some of that and start to think about deeper strategies on yesterdays stream. Like how do I set-up cards for next turn maybe by swapping cards versus always just putting stuff in order. Because, depending on what rules are out there, being in order might not be helpful to you.

It is nice that A Nice Cuppa has more worries than just seven as well. That means that there is less predictability but more replayability. I don’t know what is going to show up when I flip a card. And it might be a swap or movement that I need. Or it might mess everything up. That means that I need to adaptable as I play, which is something I enjoy in a game. I don’t want to always play with the same strategy.

Who Is A Nice Cuppa For?

I think that a lot of Button Shy fans are going to enjoy the game. I compared it to both Numbsters and Fishing Lesson in terms of some of what it does. How do you create rules that are going to work to get stuff in order. If you or someone you know enjoys that type of game, A Nice Cuppa is going to be another one of those games. And I think I like it better than Fishing Lessons. But as I think about it with Numbsters, they do enough different that there is likely room for both in a collection.

Is A Nice Cuppa My Cup of Tea?

I like A Nice Cuppa quite well. I like how small it is, and I appreciate how quick it is to get to the table and how quick it is to play the game. It’s a great puzzle that makes you think on your feet. And I feel like the more I play it, the more strategies that I’ll have with it. Will they work out always, certainly not. And sometimes, like my last game, you’ll just get something that ruins it for you. But I enjoy coming up with a good way to handle the puzzle of the game.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: C+

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule.

• Monday night, time varies, I plan on starting up a campaign game again soon. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my shorter games like A Nice Cuppa. And I plan on playing through a number of the Button Shy Games that I own. Plus I’ll sprinkle in Top 10’s as well, which might include one coming up soon with Top 10 Crowdfunding Games I backed in 2024.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here