Cafe Chaos Card Game Review

Cafe Chaos is best enjoyed with 3 to 8 players ages 9 and up. The object of this game is to accrue the least damage (or splat points) by cleverly playing cards in the correct sequence in a series of “rock-paper-scissors-like” rounds.

First select a character. Then acquire their special action card, as well as three basic action cards. These cards will stay with you for the entire round. Next grab a target card and a player mat. Shuffle the green event cards and the purple main deck separately. From the main deck: deal 5 cards face up in the middle, 2 cards to each player face down, and 3 cards face up in the trash, also known as the discard pile. Take all these cards from the main deck. Take a target card and point it at the opponent of your choice. Lastly, everyone chooses three actions to take from the ones available:

Grabbing lets you pick up cards from the middle. Be sure to replace the missing floor cards with new cards from the deck.

Ducking allows you to dodge all damage for this set of actions.

Throwing is how you deal damage. You can either throw a single food item, food with a condition, food with a topping, or all three together! Two toppings and a condition is also a viable throw. Bigger combos deal more damage, and three card combos even heal your damage by two points, so get ambitious and creative with your throws.

Everyone flips their first card and gives or deducts damage points, accordingly. After everyone has completed their first action, then flip action 2 and repeat the process. Same with action three. If no one has accrued 10 splat points of damage yet, reselect your actions, and start round 2. Starting with rounds 2 and later, you can incorporate event cards after selecting actions, but before the first flip. Event cards mix up the game with extra rules like drawing extra cards, switching targets, or replacing all floor cards.

The game ends when a player reaches 10 splat points. Whoever has the least points at the end of the round is the winner.