Waffle Time Review

Aaaaand next from my GenCon AEG haul is Waffle Time! As someone who exclusively ate 2 Eggo waffles for breakfast every day of my entire junior high and high school career, it’s safe to say that I was extremely excited for this game. So I hope you’re hungry, because this game is gonna hit the spot!

Disclaimer: We were provided a copy of Waffle Time for the purpose of this review. What you see pictured below is a finalized production version of the game. -L

Waffle Time is an abstract strategy game in which players are topping their waffles with cream, fruit, and syrup in an attempt to earn the most end-game VP. The game is played over 8 rounds where players will be taking turns drafting toppings and adding them to their waffles, sometimes completing specific patterns or goals. To setup for a game, place the draft board in the center of the table, and randomly place the 9 Draft Tokens on the open spots, and place the Turn Order tile in its starting location. Shuffle the Fruit Pattern cards, and select one at random for each of the 5 fruits, placing them within view of all players. Shuffle the Goal cards and randomly select 3 to be used this game, placing them alongside the Fruit Pattern cards, each with a Butter Token on them. Each player receives a Waffle board and a random Syrup Dispenser card. The backside of the Syrup Dispenser will tell players how to populate their Waffle board with Fruit/Cream for the start of the game. All players receive 6 Syrup beads to place on their Dispensers. Take each player’s pawn and randomly place them on the Turn Order tile. Place all of the Fruit/Cream tokens and Syrup beads into a general supply. The game is now ready to begin! Pictured below is the setup for a 3-player game.

Waffle Time is played over 8 rounds, in which players will be drafting toppings and arranging them on their Waffles in attempts to complete patterns and earn end-game VP. Each player will take 1 turn each round, and the turn order is determined by everyone’s pawn on the Turn Order tile. On your turn, you will complete 4 steps, the first of which being to place your pawn and collecting toppings. You will move your pawn clockwise around the draft board and place it into any open and available slot. You will then collect 2 toppings from the supply that match the 2 Draft Tokens next to your pawn, in a straight line. The next step of your turn is to place toppings on your Waffle. The toppings that you just collected must be placed in orthogonally adjacent spaces, although the specific orientation does not matter. There are a couple of placement restrictions as well: Cream can only be placed in empty spaces of your Waffle, Fruit can be placed on empty spaces or on previously-played Cream, and Syrup can only be placed onto your Dispenser card.

Once your toppings have been placed, you then check the Fruit Pattern cards to see if you completed any patterns. These patterns can be flipped or rotated, can include Cream, must contain at least 1 Fruit played this turn, can overlap/reuse Fruit that already has Syrup, and can be completed multiple times throughout the game. If you have completed any patterns, take Syrup from your Dispenser card and place it on your Waffle according to the Fruit Pattern cards. However, if you don’t have enough Syrup on your Dispenser to cover all the Fruit, you’re out of luck! And finally, check the Goal cards. If you completed a Goal card with a Butter token still on it, take the Butter and add it to your Waffle. If there is no Butter token left, you will still earn those VP at the end of the game, but nothing happens for now. Your turn is now over, and the game continues on to the next player.

When all players have taken a turn this round, perform the Cleanup stage. Pawns are populated onto the Turn Order tile as described in the rules, the Turn Order tile moves ahead one space on the draft board, and the 3 Draft Tokens now in line with the Fork on the Turn Order tile are flipped to show different toppings. The next round is ready to begin. Play continues in this fashion until 8 complete rounds have been played. Players then tally up their points, earning points for having Syrup on Fruit, having Syrup on Fruit on Cream, having Butter, and having no Syrup left over in their Dispenser. The player with the highest score is declared the winner!

The waffle theme aside, I have to say that I thoroughly am enjoying Waffle Time. There is a decent amount of strategy involved, but not so much so that you’ll be paralyzed trying to figure out what to do next. Not only is this a game of drafting and pattern building, but there’s a spatial element too as you only have so many spaces on your Waffle to place toppings. With each turn, you have to maximize your space as much as possible. And with 5 different Fruit Pattern cards in play, along with 3 Goal cards, there are so many ways in which your strategy can be adaptable too. One element I really like about Waffle Time is that you can reuse Fruit that has already been used to complete other patterns – you don’t have to restart each pattern from scratch, you’re able to piggyback on already-played Fruits. That adds a cool twist to the game, as sometimes (depending on the Fruit Pattern cards in play), you’ll be able to chain together patterns over several subsequent turns!

Another thing I really like about Waffle Time is the Syrup mechanic. When you complete Fruit Patterns, you can then place Syrup accordingly. But you have to already have the Syrup to be able to place it. Your turns then become a balance between collecting Fruit and Syrup to ensure that you have Syrup to use. You can’t simply go straight for Fruit Patterns, as they will ultimately mean nothing if you don’t have Syrup. Another way you can get Syrup, besides from the draft board, is from the Turn Order tile. The further down in turn order you are, you get bonus Syrup at the start of each round. And since the Turn Order varies each round, depending on where you placed your pawn in the previous round, there’s a strategic play there as well. Do you always want to go first, to ensure you get your preferred toppings each round but missing out on extra Syrup? Or are you willing to go last, giving you the smallest pick of toppings but also providing you with extra Syrup each round? There is strategy in every element of Waffle Time, and that keeps it engaging and fun for all players.

Components. As with any and all AEG games I have played, the component quality is top-notch. All of the cardboard tokens (Fruit, Cream, Draft Tiles, Butter) are nice and chunky and sturdy to hold up for a long time. I also appreciate that they are cut in their different shapes, and not just all circles with art on them. The draft and Waffle boards are nice and thick as well, and they do look like real Waffles. And the Syrup beads are these neat little transparent plastic beads that really do look like real drops of Syrup! The cards are nice, and the iconography is clear. The rulebook does have clarifications on all of the Fruit Pattern and Goal cards if necessary, though. All in all, great production!

As you’ve probably deduced from not only our rating graphic at the top, but also my thoughts, I am a big fan of Waffle Time. Don’t let the cuteness of the theme and components fool you, as this is ultimately a strategy game. It will certainly get you thinking, but it won’t totally burn your brain, and that is a positive in my book. It is easy to learn, teach, and play, and the overall playtime isn’t going to eat up your entire game night. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a filler game, but I would definitely play this between some longer/chunkier games if I wanted something a bit lighter. If you’re in the market for an abstract strategy game, I would highly recommend Waffle Time. It’s engaging, thematic, and just plain fun as you try to come up with the tastiest waffle. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a satisfying 10 / 12. Open up the box and get ready to cook – you won’t be disappointed!