Waffle Time review — A delightfully light breakfast

Waffle Time is a light drafting game where each player is trying to score the most points by putting toppings on a waffle. I didn’t have a lot of expectations from this box and I’m happy to say I enjoyed the game much more than I initially thought. While there’s nothing groundbreaking being explored within, I found Waffle Time an enjoyable little game perfect when I didn’t want anything too heavy. Let’s take a bite and see what’s on the table.

Overview

Each player begins with a waffle with a few random fruits and five dollops of whipped cream on their waffle. Over eight rounds players will place their token on the outside of an unoccupied space of a 3×3 grid of toppings allowing them to take the two toppings closest to their player pawn in a straight line. The player then adds these two toppings to their waffle as long as these two toppings are adjacent to each other. What toppings do you get from the draft board? You may pick either fruits (cherries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas, or blueberries), cream, or syrup. Cream must go on empty waffle spaces, fruits may be placed on cream or an empty space and lastly syrup is added to your dispenser on the side of your waffle.

The core scoring is also deceptively simple: you earn one point for each space with a syrup bead on a fruit token, and you earn three points for a syrup bead on a fruit on cream. How do I get syrup on my fruit and cream you ask? Each game contains a pattern for each type of fruit and as players complete a pattern for a specific fruit that pattern card will allow them to place syrup beads on those fruit. In addition, each game will have three overall goal cards that will earn players bonus points at the end of the game with the first player to complete each one receiving an extra two points in the form of a butter token. These goals can be patterns or specific combinations of fruits. Lastly if your syrup dispenser is empty at the end of the game a player will receive two points.

Overall, Waffle Time is a simple game of creating patterns and trying to maximize your syrup for points. While it is possible to be blocked from the space you want, there are usually enough options that your turn never feels spoiled. Turns are always quick and the game is easy to learn. The changing fruit patterns and objectives provide enough variation so that the game keeps its freshness. I found Waffle Time a fun little puzzle to solve each time I played it. The artwork for Waffle Time helps reinforce the game’s fun lightweight nature. I found the fruit tokens quite charming and the syrup beads look shockingly tasty atop the other tokens. The lighthearted joy of watching your waffle overflow with toppings was also something I observed with a lot of players. By the end of each game, someone would always want a waffle. Lastly, the rulebook does a good job of explaining the game and even has a card clarification section. While Waffle Time isn’t a complex game, I appreciate any rulebook that takes the time to clarify as many individual components as possible.

I don’t have many criticisms of Waffle Time other than: because it’s a simple game, it may not have the depth some players are looking for. For others, there isn’t much player interaction other than potentially blocking spaces and the turn order shuffling from round to round. Neither of these are glaring problems, just symptoms of the game being a lighter fare.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a lightweight drafting game Waffle Time may satiate that hunger. With its charming artwork and breezy gameplay, I enjoyed this game more than I thought I would. While it may not have the depth I’m always craving, it’s a nice lightweight game. If you’re a family with kids or introducing someone to the world of tabletop games, Waffle Time would be an excellent choice.

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