Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 20 min
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time: minimal

Monster Café is a set collection game for kids. You must feed the finicky monsters the meals they enjoy to score points and win.

Monster Café Rules Description:

Monster Café takes place over four rounds. Each round you set out four tables. The tables show what delicacy is being served there. Each meal matches one monster. And the Anything Eater is a monster that matches any meal.

On your turn you either draw a monster and add it to any table or clear a table. When you draw a monster card you add it to one of the tables. When you clear a table you are out for the rest of that round. You gain the table and all monsters around it. Once all players have cleared a table the round is over.

The other type of card in the monster deck is lemon sorbet. If you draw it you must discard all of one type of monster you have collected.

After the four rounds you match your monsters with the meals you collected. For each monster matching one meal you score a point. There are two copies of each meal in the deck and having both scores you two points per matching monster. You also must deal with any monsters that did not get served and lose one point for each monster you collected that doesn’t match your meals. If you have the highest score you win.

Quick Review of Monster Café:

Monster Café is a fun game that has some subtle strategies. Parents and kids can both enjoy this game. And it will help kids learn skills they will use in games for a long time.

The components for Monster Café are great the art evokes the theme and the tin is super portable. The rules are easy to follow and teach.

I like the way you can risk and play for the long game. You can press your luck by taking monsters or meals you don’t need and hope to get their match in a later round. This can payoff especially if you can get both meals to score two points per monster. You also press your luck by waiting to take a table. You can get more monsters this way, but will they be the ones you need?

The lemon sorbet is an interesting card. Early in the game it can hurt you, but later on it may actually be helpful. If you happen to get a bunch of one type of monster you don’t need (possibly from taking the risk I mentioned above). The lemon sorbet allows you to discard those unwanted monsters.

You also must weigh where to place monsters. If you put them at tables that match the meal there, someone else can swoop in and steal the table. So being less obvious is usually the better tactic.

Monster Café is a fun, set collection game that has a theme kids will really enjoy. The monsters have funny names and the meals are gross. If you have kids this is a good game to help introduce them to gaming concepts that are common in many games. You should try this out or pick it up.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6 (for young kids this is a 5)