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AT A GLANCE
Café Fatal
P layers are excited and jump to their feet when a delicious blue- berry cake is laying on the table.
If a very big piece – neatly cut as a fifth of it – is being served, everybody throws and places their dice. The player who has the most dice on the applicable table at the end of the battle wins the piece of cake.
But having sweets constantly is not good; therefore, you can also take your chance on a neighboring table. Depend- ing on what morsels have been drawn out of the cloth bag, a slice of pizza or a piece of cheese might be available there. Two tables, determined by dice roll, con- tain even two of these morsels. However, the pizza in this café tastes rather mushy; it is convenience food, defrosted and reheated. It gives you no more than two points, which is not much compared to the five points you would get for a piece of blueberry cake.
If you put together the five fifths so that they form a complete circle, the points are doubled: 50 for a complete cake, 20 for a pizza. You score 10 points (but only one point for a single piece) for a wheel of cheese. Cheese is not grated onto the pizza here; it is probably a friendly wel- come appetizer from the kitchen, just as other restaurants serve pretzel sticks, herb butter with bread, or even olives.
Café Fatal is reminiscent of the alea game Vegas, where players invested dice at the casino. In the café also, you first roll all dice; then you have to choose one number and place all the dice with this result on one of the tables. You would probably put two or even three “6”s on a table where a cake is being formed. In the next round, you roll again and might have another agony of choice: If you have “6”s again, they all have to be put on the
table that already
Friedemann Friese abled ruit
contains “6”s – other numbers need to go to another table.
As for the tactics, you have to decide whether you always want to place sev- eral dice at once – in this case, your own round ends very quickly – or whether you first take the number that you have rolled only once, so that you are still in the running and can act when the others are already out.
There are two essential differences to Vegas: In case of a tie, nobody wins, not even the laughing third party. Cake, pizza, and cheese stay in place for the next round. This makes Café Fatal very straightforward. Aside from this, you may place your dice only on neighboring tables. Consequently, it is crucial where your own starting table is – from there, you are moving through the café. Some- times, you attack an adjacent table that is already occupied by an opponent; other times, you enter an area that hasn’t been taken yet. Or you strengthen your combat power at one table if you roll the number lying there again.
I would find it nicer and more reasonable if players didn’t quarrel over the tables at a café but, instead, over mountains, cas- tles, or regions – in any case, something concrete. The small tables which shift time and again, and the thin cardboard mor- sels: This can degrade a playful struggle into a squabble. And that doesn’t suit Café Fatal, this easy and quick game that is the most fun with five players. This dice-rolling battle would have deserved better equip- ment. Harald Schrapers/sbw
Café Fatal (Zoch) by Brett J. Gilbert and Trevor Benjamin;
for 2–5 players, about 8+
years; duration: about 30 minutes; price: about 20 €.
FF
The 1st Game with Fable Concept!
1
spielbox
2-5 players age 8+
25 min.
59
www.strongholdgames.com
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