Café del Gatto

About this board game

Café del Gatto is a coffeehouse strategy game for 2–5 players that takes about 30 minutes. Compete against rival baristas for coffee and milk tiles, complete valuable drinks, and build the highest-scoring collection.

Each player begins with five glass tiles, representing drinks that require between one and four shots to complete. The espresso machine holds coffee and milk tiles, each showing a value from 1 to 4 and a symbol for a cold, hot, or foamy ingredient. Choosing the right tile can be tricky, since the price of a tile is determined by the adjacent tile on the opposite side of the machine.

On your turn, take two coins, buy an ingredient tile, or serve one or more completed drinks. Purchased tiles fill the matching spaces on your glass tiles, while a newly drawn tile keeps the espresso machine supplied. Buying a 1 tile also provides a bonus sugar cube, which can later raise the value of a drink.

• Manage the espresso machine: Pay attention to both available ingredients and their changing costs.
• Complete varied drinks: Fill your glass tiles while avoiding unfavorable combinations of cold and hot symbols.
• Serve for rewards: Gain coins for completed glasses and claim a matching drink tile whose value does not exceed your ingredients.
• Use sugar wisely: Spend sugar cubes to increase a drink’s value by 1 each.

You can also spend two coins at the start of your turn to flush and refill one side of the machine. The round ends when a player has served all five drink types. In Café del Gatto, completed drink values determine the winner, with pairs of sugar cubes adding points and coins breaking ties.