Just Desserts

Just Desserts is a set collection and hand management card game from Looney Labs. 2 - 5 players can serve up Desserts and feel their stomachs grumble as they read the names of the cards. Similarly to other games from Looney Labs, Just Desserts has quick and easy to understand rules that let you jump right into actually playing the game. That also means that Just Desserts is a light card game that works best as a filler, intro or warmup game although there are some advanced rules that mix things up and make them more challenging.


Objective:

Your goal in Just Desserts is to satisfy the dessert cravings of various customers. To win you will need to serve:
3 customers of 1 suit
1 customer of 5 different suit.

How to Play:

At the start of every player's turn flip over the top card from the customer deck. If the customer is the same suit as one already in lineup, select which one you want to keep and discard the other. NOTE: The top customer card in the discard pile is still fair game, they are considered in the lobby and you can feed them desserts still.

Each turn you have the choice between feeding 1 or 2 customers, going back to the kitchen to get more dessert or dumping your tray.

Lets start with feeding customers.

Each customer has symbols on the top of their card. These represent their cravings. You can use any number of cards to satisfy a customer's cravings.You can even have extra icons as long as the customer is not allergic.

Select which customer you want to feed and play dessert cards until you have satisfied all of the customer's cravings, collect the customer card and add it to your personal score pile.

Each customer also has a favourite dessert written in small text below the symbols on their card. If you manage to serve a customer their favourite dessert then you get to collect the customer card and a  tip! (bonus dessert card from the dessert deck)


Going back to the Kitchen simply means you get to draw a card from the dessert deck.

Dumping your Tray lets you choose how many cards from your hand to discard and then draw that many cards from the dessert deck.


My Thoughts:

Just Desserts fits nicely in my collection. The main draw for me is the accessibility. Desserts bridge the generation, race and age gaps, I mean who doesn't love Pineapple Upsidedown Cake? With 5 players you can finish a game in 30-40 minutes and turns go around the table fast. Combine these with easy to learn rules and that means you can show Just Desserts to pretty much anybody. That is exactly what I have been doing, playing Just Desserts with my non gamer friends, family and whatever other creatures I can convince to play. The 2 player game is great because it can be played in 10-15 minutes and you get some take that action if you use the advance rule: Poaching and Blocking.

My only real criticism lies in the customer card design. In a game centered around Desserts it seems only right that the customer's favourite dessert would be in big easy to read letters and their name would be in the small text. Especially when their names do nothing mechanically but their faovurite dessert does, sadly this is not the case and the favourite desserts appear in the smallest text on the card. Just Desserts can also overstay its welcome, not as long or often as Munchkin or Fluxx but it can drag occasionally at higher player counts (4,5).

The advanced rules really add to the basic rules to make a pretty ruthless set collection game. I will explain them each below so you can read for yourself.

Poaching and Blocking: Allows you to steal a guest from another player by serving them just like you would a guest in the center but only 1 per turn, You can still serve a second customers from the middle after. Blocking comes into play when someone tries to steal one of your customers, you can play dessert cards to match their craving symbols the same way you collected the customer in the first place to stop the theft from taking place. If blocked, you get to keep your dessert cards and you can still take 2 guests from the center but may not poach again until next turn.

Opening a Buffet: This extra rule adds another action you can choose to perform on your turn. If you have 4 single flavor desserts you can discard them all to force every other player to put one of their customers back in the middle, draw 3 more dessert cards and then serve 1 guest.

Surprise Party: When someone serves a customer either from the middle or when stealing from another player you can intercept the customer by throwing them a surprise party. You have to shout surprise, and you have to have the customer's favourite dessert. If the customer has 2 favourites you cannot surprise party a favourite and you can only block a favourite with another favourite. Lastly you do not get a tip for throwing a surprise party.

Family Gamers: You can easily take Just Desserts to family get togethers or vacations because it is essentially 2 decks of cards. There is also the Family friendly theme, rules that are easy to learn for younger and older players and practically no setup or cleanup time. Oh and when you master the game or get bored you can throw in the advanced rules 1 at a time.

Casual Gamers: This is a great game for playing with non gamers or trying to introduce people to the hobby with. You learn key mechanics (hand management, set collection, icons?) that will help learn other games. The theme might be a plus or a con depending on who you are playing with but I have had no problem getting friends and family to try. Being able to add additional rules is a big plus and at only 15$ Just Desserts is a great buy.

Gamer Gamers: The advanced rules bring different take that mechanics into the game that let you steal your opponents customers. Because you only need 3 of a customer suit this means the game can change much quicker and in my experience eliminated the problem of Just Desserts overstaying its welcome. Adding the advanced rules make it so you have to pay attention to what you opponents are doing, the number of cards in their hand, etc. There is more going on with the advanced rules, so there is more to keep you engaged. Its not a brain buster but there is a pretty intense card game hidden beneath the cheery dessert theme that makes it a great option if you are looking for a short, fast, easy to learn game.