A Nice Cuppa: Focused Relaxation

What a way to start a game review, right?

I mention this because A Nice Cuppa is a cozy solo game all about soothing away your worries and distractions. If ever I needed a game like that, it’s now.

A Nice Cuppa is designed by Scott Almes and published by Button Shy Games as part of their “simply solo” line. It plays in 15 minutes or less.

Gameplay

A Nice Cuppa has a fairly simple set up: shuffle the seven Tea cards and place them all “focused” side up, in a line. Then select seven of the Worry cards, shuffle them, and place them face down, one beneath each Tea card.

Your goal in the game is to eliminate your Worry (cards) through the calming process of making the perfect cup of tea.

There are only eight turns in the game, following the same pattern:

First, reveal any face-down Worry card.

Then, going from left to right down the line, follow the instructions on each revealed Worry card. This may be swapping single Tea cards, pairs of cards, or moving a Tea card to either end of the line.

Once you’ve done all the available Worry card actions for this turn, flip every Tea card that is above a revealed Worry card. This will turn some Tea cards to their “distracted” side, but may turn others back to their “focused” side.

Finally, remove any Worry cards that are immediately below a focused Tea card.

Before taking your next turn, you may (optionally) swap two adjacent Tea cards.

There are eight turns in the game, and only seven Worry cards. So you get one final turn after the last Worry card has been revealed. Obviously, you won’t reveal a Worry card on this turn, but you still do all the other steps. Now it’s time to score.

Scoring

Once the game is finished, examine your line of cards. Remove each Tea card that is before #1 in the line (to the left). Then count up from #1. Once you’ve reached a number that isn’t exactly in sequence, remove all the remaining Tea cards (to the right).

Score what is left: Each focused Tea card scores 2 points, each distracted Tea card scores 1 point. Subtract a point for each remaining Worry card.

There are two scoring rubrics in the rulebook: Casual and Ceremonial. Ceremonial not only moves the point thresholds higher, it also declares you automatically lose if you fail to put all seven Tea cards in the right order.

Can you successfully ignore your Worries and make a satisfying cuppa?

Impressions

As I mentioned at the beginning, my mother is dying. And I am responsible for all the decisions around her end-of-life care. It has been tough to focus on games lately, especially ones that require a lot of decision-making.

This is the perfect time for a cozy game that lets me feel accomplished without asking too much from me. I was hopeful A Nice Cuppa would fits nicely into that niche.

As with my favorite Button Shy solo games, setup is quick and turns are fairly simple. But the strategy isn’t.

A Cup of Worry or a Soothing Brew?

Every time I play, I need to move all the Tea cards into order while also removing the Worry cards. This means maneuvering the “distracted” Tea cards into spots above revealed Worries. While doing this, I also need to plan for the next turn, without knowing all of the Worry actions I will have to do.

Sometimes, it’s just too hard to maneuver around the Worries, and so I have to commit to getting rid of them (so I can be prepared for even more Worries without getting overwhelmed with too many choices).

On the other hand, removing all my Worries means that I also remove all my options to re-order my Tea cards.

Orderly and Neat

The more I play A Nice Cuppa, the more I appreciate the theme of this game.

In the midst of playing, I tend to look at these cards simply as numbers and movements. But at the end of the game, I’m usually able to look back and appreciate the steps to making tea that I have put in order, and the Worries that I managed to push into the discard pile.

A Nice Cuppa is a puzzle that is about putting things in order. It reminds me a little of Numbsters and a little of ROVE. But unlike those, I feel a pull to slow down, take my time, and marinate in the theme. In real life, I’m the kind of person who can’t even wait for my tea to steep. So playing a game that encourages me to slow down is rewarding even while it’s uncomfortable.

I still struggle to get all seven Tea cards in order, but I’m getting better at it. Since only seven of the ten Worries get used in a game, I can never predict what kinds of movements I’ll reveal to throw off my plans. But that unpredictability feels like real life – in a way that’s not threatening right now.

If I had started playing this game at a different time, I might get bored with the theme. But in one of the most stressful times of my life, A Nice Cuppa is exactly what I need to slow my racing thoughts and spend a few minutes on something that is just for me.

Order A Nice Cuppa on the Button Shy Games website or print your own copy for just a few dollars at PNPArcade.

---

The Family Gamers received a copy of A Nice Cuppa from Button Shy Games for this review.