Ginza Retro Café is a new game from the Japanese design team of Nanatsumu. It was released recently in a Japanese only edition at TGM Spring 24 and sold out in 10 minutes. Nanatsumu will be bringing it to Kickstarter later this month with an English version that will only be available via the campaign.

I had the opportunity to play online and thought I’d share a bit more about the game. The game is set in 1920’s Japan. Ginza has always been Tokyo’s most upscale entertainment and shopping district.  Players will serve customers in the café earning money and victory points during the game.

Each player has a character/server card with a special ability.  The character card also tracks the number of dice you have available to your dice pool and the dishwashing area.  They also take 3 action tokens (4 in a 2 player game). Players are also dealt 3 bonus cards and will draft 2.

Players start with 5 dice in their active dice pool and can increase their dice pool later in the game.  The dice are rolled to start the game. Players can pay to increase their dice pool as a free action.  If players gain dice later during the game, they are rolled at that time and added you your active pool

Players also have 3 Arrange cards which help to manage your dice rolls (they help arrange your food, dessert and drink orders}. One card bumps the dice value up or down by 1, the second allows players to reroll dice and the third allows players add 3 dice back to your active dice pool up to your dice pool max. Players may pay to upgrade these abilities if they have earned enough VP in that category and have enough money.

At the beginning of the round each player rolls their dice. The start player is the player with the lowest sum on their dice. In subsequent rounds the player with the most dice left over will start. The round ends when players have used all their action tokens.

3 customers are revealed, and their favorite drink, desert and food cards are placed in a column under them under them. Drink and meal cards have different sets to collect as well as different color suits. Bonus cards are based on the types of drinks and dishes collected during the game. To collect a drink, dessert or food card, players assign an action token to claim them, meeting the card condition with their dice. There is also a community die that a player may purchase for the round to use. Once all the orders of the customer have been served, collect the card and coins as indicated on the card. When a column of these cards is completely collected (no matter who collects them) a new customer with drinks and dishes cards are placed. If a customer has gone 2 rounds without being completed, they leave with any dishes in their column.

Players may choose other actions with their action cubes such as using their Arrange cards. As a free action, players can pay to add dice to their action pool or upgrade their arrangement cards. Lastly, players may choose “dishwashing” with an action cube using dice to gain some coins.

The game ends when the customers have all been served. Points are calculated from customers, served, bonus cards and leftover money. The player with the most points wins.

I have only had the opportunity to try this game online and photos of the prototype have been provided to me by the publisher.  My initial impression of Ginza Retro Café is that it’s a fun light weight game.  I like managing the dice and trying to find advantages with the upgrades and adding to your dice pool. It’s also a little interesting in that there is a semi cooperative aspect to it, in that if you finish the last order a customer has you may end up helping another player by freeing up an action cube and collecting payment. The rules are straight forward, as are the winning conditions. making this a nice entry type game.

Thoughts of Opinionated Gamers

Love it: Mandy

Like: Lorna

Neutral:

Not for me