How to Play Coffee Rush

Coffee Rush is a game of order fulfillment. The more orders you fulfill, the more points that you get. And points are the determining factor to the game. However, as more orders come in, you might find yourself flooded with them. So if you fail to complete an order, they are negative points for you at the end of the game.

The main board of the game is a grid made up of the ingredients that you need to complete an order. Some of them are special and give you some of the rarer ingredients. You place a worker on the board at the start of the game. On your turn you move that worker three spaces (some rules for more) and you collect the ingredients that you stop on with your three moves. Then you send those ingredients to cups, which you have three of, and fulfill orders if you can.

As you complete more orders you can trade in completed orders for special rules. It might allow you to double up on ingredients on some spots or move your worker in other ways around the board. But when you spend those orders you spend your points for the game.

Once you are done with your turn, all your orders shift down. And when you complete an order, your opponents add an order to the top of their display. So as players, you control how many orders are out there for your opponents to complete.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a fast and low scoring game. I think for some people it is going to feel like it’s over too fast. Or it is going to feel like you can’t fully explore the game. You want to try and unlock things for the benefit, but if you unlock too many things, you just spent all of your points in the game. I’ll talk about why that is something I like, but it means that the scores are very low in the game. And if you don’t track the end of the game, you might have no points at the end.

What Works

Upgrades

Let’s start out with that element that showed up in the negative. I think it is a positive as well. I like the question you need to ask yourself. Do I get an upgrade? The upgrade might let me consistently get two drinks done a turn, so I need two or three turns to make up for what I’ve spent. Is there enough time in the game? And that is a great tension for a game to have.

Tension and Interaction

Coffee Rush is a game with a good pressure to the gameplay. When you complete the turn and orders drop down further into your queue, you feel the pressure. Or if someone completes two orders and now you end up with a big backlog to do, there is good pressure in the game. I like that tension of trying to complete things and seeing if you can make the game more difficult for your opponents.

That interaction with your opponents for getting them more orders is great. Does it make sense, no, but it is very fun to do. Mainly because it’s a positive and a negative interaction. And there aren’t a ton more in the game. On that central ingredient board you move around can’t end your turn on a spot with an opponent, but that is about it for interaction. But the interaction of I give you an order which can be points positively or negatively is great.

Game Speed

Finally, I mentioned it, Coffee Rush is a fast game. I mean both for turns and for the complete game. It is one that is going to go by quickly and some might say too quickly. But I like games with snappy turns where you won’t get too bogged down in it. The turn still matters, the game isn’t playing itself, but it isn’t going to lock you up deciding what to do for a long time.

Who is Coffee Rush For

This is a fun game, I think, for people who want to play a bit more a game but nothing too complex. It works really well in terms of how simple it is to learn and play. But with that, I think that Coffee Rush is likely for a group where there are more casual gamers. That ease of understanding is going to work well there, but for a group of gamers who want something heavier and thinkier, I don’t think that Coffee Rush is going to offer enough.

Final Thoughts on Coffee Rush

I enjoy Coffee Rush. Is it a perfect game, no, but it is a fun one. My biggest complaint is that I’d love the game to last another two rounds or so. Just that little bit of extra time would let you feel like you completed more. And it would give you a chance to unlock more special moves. In a normal game I feel like I get one, but I’d love to have two of them, or maybe even three if I’m really risking it.

That bit of extra game length would likely also make it feel like the scores are a bit more important. If someone makes it to eight that is a great score. Or someone might miss out on some orders and get negative. But that is part of the fun of Coffee Rush too, it is a fast filler almost game where it is more than filler but not going to bog you down in a huge game.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 5
Luck (out of 10): 2

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How to Play Cafe Baras

This game is quite simple in that you are trying to score the most points for the best coffee shop. You gain points for money that you have, but more for scoring on the menu items, returning customers, and special customers you get. Let’s talk about how all of them work in Cafe Baras.

Cafe Baras is a simple game in that you do one of two actions during the game. You either play out a card to add it to your menu. Or you play out a card as a customer’s order. If you play out a card to add it to your menu you pay the cost for the card and you add it to your menu display. This will add coffee, tea, snacks, food, aesthetic, or a few other things to your menu and cafe.

The other thing you can do with a card is use the bottom half as a customer order. You gain on point for symbol that you watch. So if they want a coffee, a snack, and a tea and you have at least one of each symbol you get three coins. If they love something, let’s say coffee, you get a coin per coffee symbol that you have.

That’s the main part of the game. You play a card and then you take a card. That loop continues until someone has three returning customers. Normally if a customer only likes some of what you have, you just get money. But if you match all three symbols and the aesthetic desires, you get to put them as a returning customer. After every other player has a turn, the game ends.

What I Like

This game is simple and I really appreciate that. I don’t need to spend a ton of time explaining how it works because it is easy to teach. The fact that you either play down a card for the menu or for an order and that’s it demonstrates the simplicity.

I also appreciate the special customers in the game. I didn’t talk about them in game play other than that they provide end of game scoring. Each special customer can be scored by the players if they meet the requirements. For example, the Abuela wants Yerba Mate and an Empanada on the menu. You get that, you get six points. Or if you get eight money, you get six points. And there are more than you play with in a game, so there is variety to that scoring.

The scoring is also fun in the game for the cards that you have. Some of the cards you play out give you end game scoring, all of them have points on the cards, or almost all of them do. But some of the cards will score better depending on certain other things. For example, you get one point per different tea that you play. If you play three different teas, each of them score you three points. But no card scoring feels better than the others, really. The game is very well balanced.

What I Want To See More Of

With the simplicity of the game and limited actions, I think the game is not going to always feel that massively different. So if you play it a lot quickly, the game is going to feel like you’ve played it a lot quickly. It won’t offer a consistently or massively different challenge. It reminds me of Diced Veggies in that way. But there is an element of that which is intentional. It makes the game easier to sit down and teach. So it’s not a major negative, just something to be aware of.

Who is Cafe Baras for?

This I think works in two different situations. Firstly, it’s a good game for people who enjoy lighter games or want to introduce people to games. Cafe Baras is a very welcoming experience and a very cute theme. Most people like something from a cafe. And Capaybaras are adorable. So that combination is going to be fun for a lot of people.

But for more serious gamers, I think this a fun filler. I can see it being a good game when you wait for another group to finish up a game. The game play is fast and it says 30 minutes, but I think it could go even faster if people know the game.

Final Thoughts on Cafe Baras

I like this game as a fun filler game. For me, this is a great game to kickoff or wrap-up a board game night. People are either still showing up or some people have left but we want to play a game still. The time frame is fast, the teach is fast, and it’s easy for someone to sit down and chat while it is being played. That’s the niche of Cafe Baras for me and that’s something I won’t say no to in my game collection because it means that it gets played.

Is it going to be one that I pull out when I want to play a heavier and thinkier game, no. But not all games need to be that. In fact, I find in my collection that I need more games that aren’t that because the heavier games get played once in an evening. And then next game night, another heavier game gets played. But Cafe Baras could get played each time.

Is Cafe Baras a game that interests you? Do you like the fun theme on it?

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

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