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Story:
the 17th century, Ottoman Turk Empire, one of the most powerful states at that time, marched west to Austria and because of that, Arabs began to bring coffee into Europe. From that moment on, coffee has become one of the most popular drinks in the world. Then hundreds of years have passed, and even though travel between universes has become a daily routine like taking buses, coffee has spread from Earth to different Space Cities, the colonial satellites in outer space. Enjoying a cup of high-quality coffee every day has become the most anticipated thing for residents of Space Cities every day.
After hundreds of years passed, a space expedition led by Dr. Brent Tully discovered an organic material called "Stardust". By adding only a small amount of this magic ingredient, the flavors and aroma of any coffee are greatly enhanced. Moreover, the more freshly picked Stardust, the more it can improve the quality of coffee. This triggered a coffee revolution! In pursuit of the ultimate flavors, many new expeditions have been established on different Space Cities with the goal of "seeking the freshest Stardust and ingredients for the first time and delivering the most delicious coffee". Beside the danger of sailing the spaceship across the galaxy, there is a robber called "Galaxy Pirates", which is more threatening to them...
Game Aim:
In Stardust Coffee, you control a space expedition and sail your spaceships across the Galaxy. You collect different ingredients for coffee making and score by delivering the coffee back to your Starbase. Collecting Stardust and adding them to your coffee is another way to boost your Victory Points (VPs). By upgrading your spaceships, you could also speed up your collection of ingredients or Stardust.
When the game goes on, the Galaxy Pirates will attack your Spaceships and rob your ingredients. By fighting back the Galaxy Pirates, you get Honor points and it will be another source of scoring. Only the player who could manage the Spaceships the best would gain most VPs to win the game.
—description from the designer
- puzzle-like sequencing and planning
- space-coffee theme with pirate tension
- clear goal of scoring the most points
- options for upgrading and upgrading actions
- prototype components and rules not final
- some mechanics may be complex (multitude of actions and dice rules)
- coffee production and delivery with pirate conflict
- galaxy/space
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- attack pirate — Pirate encounters can be attacked; consequences include resource loss and potential points.
- collect stardust / advanced ingredients — Gather special ingredients required for orders and upgrades, used to score points and enhance actions.
- color/dye actions — Dye color actions involve matching dice to spaces via color for special ingredients or effects.
- deliver coffee orders — Fulfill orders to earn points and satisfy customers in the cafe network.
- Dice Drafting — Order fulfillment via drafting dice; dice are rolled at the start of each round and chosen to perform actions.
- honor track / whiskey mechanic — Giving up whiskey advances the honor track, potentially yielding a high points payoff.
- re-roll mechanic — If dice options are not favorable, players can reroll all dice at a cost.
- Rondel — Seven different actions available; players can choose in any order, selecting one ship to perform all its actions.
- rondelle action selection — Seven different actions available; players can choose in any order, selecting one ship to perform all its actions.
- Ship-based actions — Each ship can perform its actions; players start with two ships and use them to execute multiple actions per turn (move, dye, upgrade, collect, etc.).
- upgrade and convert actions — Actions to upgrade one of your number actions or convert basic ingredients into advanced ingredients.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- all in all stardust coffee makes a puzzly fun orderful human game with option to chase up the galaxy parrots for points
- the pirate mechanic is an interesting one
- whoever has the most points clearly can run the company the best and wins
- the components featured in this video are prototype so rules and hours are not final