I don’t care who your favorite barista is, nothing is cuter than a capybara that makes a latte. Café Baras is a card game from the team at Kids Table Board Gaming that puts these charming rodents behind the coffee bar, serving customers their favorite drinks. Pull up a chair and let’s see what this game is serving up.
Building a Coffee Empire
Players start the game by choosing their favorite of the 4 capybara baristas. With a hand of 4 cards, players are choosing how to play one of the multi-use cards they’re holding. The goal is to create a menu and space that will attract patrons and ultimately, create loyal regulars. Each player is building their own café, deciding on drinks, food and decor that are shown on the cards in their hand
At the top of each card, you’re given a food or decor type followed by a cost and points. At the bottom of the cards are food and decor symbols that represent a customers wants. You can add the food or decor to your café tableau by paying its cost. This line represents what items you can offer customers when they visit your shop.
You can earn more money by serving customers items they want, shown at the bottom of the card. For each item that you have in your tableau, you’ll earn a dollar from the supply. This revenue will allow you to purchase more cards, adding more value to your café. Players refill to 4 cards to end their turn.
Customer Loyalty
Players are working to gain “regulars” during the game by meeting all the needs at the bottom of the customers card. If you have each item that the customer wants, they become a regular, scoring you a victory point at the end of the game. These cards are tucked under your barista and having 3 regulars (or 4 in a 2-player game) will trigger the end of the game.
Café Baras multi-use cards have fun illustrations from Cindy Monroy and a great layout which is easy to understand. Points are gained off of cards that are in players café tableau and from regulars they gain during the game.
Players can even attract special guests that are looking for something specific in their chosen coffee house. This line of capybaras can be gained by meeting the criteria and each have a point value assigned to them. The special guest cards are first come, first serve, so you want to claim these as soon as you can.
More Than Cleaver Wordplay
Café Baras is an incredibly cute game designed by Roberta Taylor, known for Creature Comforts and Maple Valley. The whimsical style of the game is a little deceiving. Café Baras is a really nice hand management game that feels well balanced. The flow of the game is simple to teach and comprehend for younger gamers while the economy is tight enough to challenge adult gamers.
The game comes with a dozen special guest cards and only 3 to 5 of them are used each game. These capybara patrons have enough points attached to them that you can’t afford to ignore them. Some of these guests are looking for specific dishes or drinks while others need specific decor items. This adds additional value to some of the café cards that pop up during the course of the game.
Some of the café cards include additional scoring criteria based on collecting sets of cards. If a card has an action text associated with it, this will trigger when the card is added to their café tableau. During any given game, you’ll see a variety of cards and have plenty of opportunities to build your unique capybara run coffee shop.
Café Baras is more than a game built on cleaver wordplay. This is a well designed card game that’s going to appeal to families and gamers of all ages. With games lasting around 30 minutes and beautifully illustrated cards, this one is another great addition to your family game shelf from the team at KTBG.
Café Baras releases around Gen Con in August 2024. Stay tuned to the KTBG website for the exact release date.
This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.
Highs
- Great variety of beautifully illustrated cards
- Special guest cards give players goals to work toward
- Icons and card layout is simple and intuitive
Lows
- A player gaining 3 “regulars” quickly can end the game too soon
Complexity
Time Commitment
Replayability
