Who doesn’t love a good time in the kitchen? Cooking with your favorite ingredients and your favorite people can make for a great time for everyone involved. Today we are going to take a look at what that would look like in a board game setting with one of the world’s most famous chefs, Kim-Joy in a baking game for the whole family!
Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery is designed by Ben Kepner with art by Linda van den Berg. It is published by Skybound Games and is for 2-5 players.
Overview
In Magic Bakery players are running a bakery in a magical forest in this cooperative baking game. The goal is to work together to bake all the tasty foods as fast and efficently as you can by the end of the day.
Gameplay
The game is setup with three rows in the center forming the pantry row. Setup wise the top is for the customers, middle is the layers and the bottom row is the ingredients. The customers start with three revelaed and each round a new one enters the shop progressively.
To begin one of the scenarios is chosen and the game begins with the first player. On a player’s turn they can use multiple actions but may only take either 2 or 3 actions dependent on the number of players. The actions a player can take are as follows:
1-Take an ingredient from the pantry and put it in your hand
2-Pass a card to another player
3-Bake a layer
4-Fulfill a customer order
5-Refresh the pantry
Each of these actions can be taken numerous times for a player on their turn. There is no hand limit so the amount of cards a player can hold or pass to another player is not limited. Taking and passing ingredient cards will allow players to have the right cards they need to bake a layer and place them in their hand. When you fulfill an order you turn in the ingredients and layers needed including any garnish for the bonus if you would like.
At the end of each round customers slide to the right and a new one is revealed. This may slide all the customers down the row or just slide to the open spot. If a customer reaches the end they leave the bakery and you cannot fulfill their order. The game ends when there are no more customers left in the stack or row. To see how you did, count up the recipe cards you completed and compare it to the goal at the bottom of the scenario.
Impressions
Kim-Joy’s Magical Bakery is at its core a cooperative (co-op) game. For a lot of gamers, that may be a turn-off for you when you see those words. For me personally, co-ops are not my favorite type of game but I will often give them a chance. This game is one where I sat down and played it with my family as we adventured through the story-drive scenarios in the magical forest. And in the end, after each play or two I was pleasantly suprised at how much I enjoyed the game and even looked forward to going through it again! That is a big deal for someone who doesn’t always jump at co-op games like myself.
The scenarios I think are what sets this one apart from other games of a similiar style. Each one builds along this story as you befriend the animals of the forest and they play with just enough of a challenge or bend of the style and rules that you feel a fresh but familiar game. One of my favorites is the second one where cats come and “lounge” on card rows and you have to use turns to literally pick them up and move them to get to the stuff you need. It is spot-on in animal characteristics and funny to see how it all works.
Each play felt tight and challenging to the point where a turn or two of poor decisions could really sink you game and let a few of the customers leave empty-handed. I like that you really have to math it out, and with enough players all trying to figure it out you quickly see that it will be tough to alpha game this one and have one player try to take over the game. Players all felt like they had a say and contributed to the baking process.
One of my favorite aspects is the art and style of the animals in the forest along with the ingredients. The whismical characters are so well drawn and honestly just fun to look at. Even the ingredients are special and fun-these are not cards you mind looking at over and over. The customers are all fun with unique personalities shinning through for each one. Personally I love the penguin the most!
This game is easy for players both experienced and new to gaming to really get into and enjoy. I don’t see fans of Kim-Joy who are new to gaming struggling with this game. The rulebook is so well laid out and easy to follow and the scenerios are simple to understand. This game is made with every intent to help newer games along in enjoying the experience together and I love that.
Overall Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery is everything you would want in a cute, friendly cooperative game. Players who love Kim-Joy will be head over heels for this one and anyone else should give it a chance because you are sure to have a good time. The scenarios are where it stands out and you will love the tight enjoyable gameplay without being too hard for new players while at the same time still a fun challenge for experienced players. Get down to the bakery today, order yourself some Torte and give this one a chance!
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