Designer Uwe Rosenberg has a talent for dreaming up new and inventive card games, and Mamma Mia! is a perfect example of this talent, with players placing pizza ingredients into a combined pool, then trying to time their pizza baking in order to make use of what's available in the kitchen.
Each player starts the game with eight different pizza orders to fill, with one of those order cards in hand; each player also starts with a hand of ingredient cards (showing pepperoni, mushroom, pineapple, green pepper or olive). On a turn, a player lays down one or more ingredient cards of a single type into a common stack, then optionally adds a pizza order card to that stack. He then refills his hand by drawing as many cards as he played from either the shared ingredient deck or his own order deck.
After the draw pile is exhausted, the shared pile of cards is flipped over and sorted by ingredients until an order comes up. If enough ingredient cards are available to fill that order, the owner scores it; if not, the player can make up the difference by playing cards from his hand (and thereby scoring the order) or else return the card to the bottom of his order deck.
Once all the orders are scored or returned, shuffle the ingredients used in pizzas and start another round of play. After three complete rounds, the player who's filled the most orders wins!
Images
- I like a lot
- Agricola
- Caverna
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Memory — A little memory game.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I tell you what I think about the games now if I think about them at all.
- It is that fantastic of a game, No Thanks.
- There are some really terrible Princess Bride games out there.
- This is one of the bad ones.
- It's too little too late, honestly, this this thing.
- Mean mean mean mean little game.
- Very mechanical game. Very lack of theme almost as you put these tiles in your pot. But it works.
- Mama Mia is one of those games that I bring out at conventions and play with people, little memory game which I like a lot.
- It's an amazing game.
- What a terrible roll and write style game.
- It's just awful.
- It's not great either. Just misses the mark.
- It's all about logistics.
- Really impressed with this one. Bright, cheerful, fun, fast.
References (from this video)
- Uwe Rosenberg game.
- Has gone over very well when taught to many people.
- Very fun pizza game.
- Some people don't like memory games.
- Making pizzas
- Solo Meal
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- ingredient drafting — We are playing these ingredients in a shared pile. And when you think that pile has enough resources to make your pizza, you throw a pizza on top. And you're constantly throwing these pizzas and ingredients into this pile.
- Memory — Sort of a memory game, a shared memory game.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It took a long time, decades before many food games really came out, which is a weird thing to me because the world kind of revolves around food.
- There are a lot of cute food games that I could put on the list. I mean, this list could I could have probably done a top 100 food games. There's so many.
References (from this video)
- thematic and engaging scoring phase
- strong player interaction during planning and reveal
- ingredient gathering to complete orders
- pizzeria / pizza-making scenario
- shared pile drafting with competitive timing
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- interactive timing / scoring reveal — a scoring phase reveals who completed orders first and who claimed needed ingredients
- set collection / drafting — players add cards to a common pile and try to claim ingredients when ready
- Simultaneous Reveal — a scoring phase reveals who completed orders first and who claimed needed ingredients
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We gamified it.
- This is the board game version of DigDug.
- 90% done. I adore the game.
- It's so silly. It is so fun and I don't think very many people know about it.
- It is love at first sight.
References (from this video)
- Charming, accessible memory-themed game
- Relatively light, may not satisfy heavy euro players
- Memory/drafting pizza ingredients
- Pizza kitchen
- light, family-friendly
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Completing recipes yields points at the end
- Hand Management — Players remember ingredients and recipes to assemble pizzas
- memory/hand management — Players remember ingredients and recipes to assemble pizzas
- memory/selection of ingredients — Players recall ingredients for recipe cards and draft them
- Recipe — Players recall ingredients for recipe cards and draft them
- Recipe-driven scoring — End-game scoring based on completed recipes
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just such a fun game
- the look and aesthetic of this game I love so much
- I am obsessed with this game
- Village Vampire is absolutely fantastic
- Foundations of Metropolis is a nice, easy to travel version
- River of Gold is fantastic
References (from this video)
- Accessible theme, strong player count (5 players)
- Engaging memory component
- Memory element may favor certain players or feel luck-driven
- Food/theme-based ease-of-teaching
- Pizza restaurant with toppings on cards
- Memory-driven card placement
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- memory / set collection — Players remember ingredients and stack pizzas; memory element drives scoring
- Set Collection — Players remember ingredients and stack pizzas; memory element drives scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "The concept of jumping out at the right moment, I think it's amusing"
- "Doom was the precursor. Doom the board game, which was 83 for me in 2005, fell off the list instantly"
- "Waterfall Park has better components. It's brighter"
- "It's a very strategic, very fun game"
References (from this video)
- Fun thematic tie-in with a pizza motif
- Good for light family play
- Transcript notes not deeply detailing depth
- puzzle/card play around pizza actions
- Pizza/Italian-family restaurant vibe
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card play / set collection — A thematic card game with a pizza-making theme
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Canada plays was a amazing experience it was absolutely fantastic
- Altered was one that we learned at Canada plays and I freaking loved altered
- I freaking loved it and I can definitely see myself falling down the altered black hole
- Contra banter is definitely a game that stressed me out but it was very fun