Safra Ideal Review: Know Your Customer and Bid for the Best Wines

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In this game, you’re a wine sommelier competing in an auction to see who's best at selecting and storing wine. Your challenge is building a cellar that ages wine well and still fits your customer’s tastes. Let’s auction off some great wines!

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About Wine Sommeliers

A wine sommelier does a lot more than just pour glasses: they have to know their history, master techniques, and even keep up with some surprising facts.

In the Middle Ages, the term sommelier referred to those who transported wine barrels to castles and palaces. Beyond logistics, however, these professionals sampled small amounts of what they carried to make sure it had not been poisoned, a common practice because of the political intrigues of the time. In other words, sommeliers also ensured the safety of the kingdom.

In the 18th century, as restaurants became popular in Paris, sommeliers became wine specialists, responsible for serving and advising customers.

Today, sommeliers select the wines that restaurants offer with the menu and target audience in mind, make sure they are stored under ideal conditions, advise customers on which wine pairs best with each dish, and share their expertise with waitstaff and chefs.

Internationally, International Sommelier Day falls on June 3rd, established in 1969 by the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI).

In the game we'll explore today, you will take on the role of a sommelier, so get ready!

Let's take a look at Safra Ideal!

Safra Ideal Game Details

Safra Ideal is a game for 1 to 8 players, ages 10 and up, designed by Andrew Stiles. The artwork was created by Vincent Dutrait.

Game Box
Game Box

Safra Ideal was released in 2025 by 25th Century Games. Its main mechanics are set collection and auctioning.

Game Components
Game Components

It was nominated for Best Party Game by Golden Geek in 2025, the year it was created.

The Game

In this game, you are a renowned sommelier taking part in an auction. The goal is to select the best wines according to the preferences of one of your demanding clients, picking wines by type and country. The catch is that other sommeliers are also competing for the same wines. It will be a lively auction!

But your problems are far from over: storing the wines you acquire at this auction presents another challenge. How you store, or rather, stack, them determines the order in which the wines are consumed. You'll do this according to their "age," and this may give you more points or less points from your client when each wine is opened. Yeah, it won't be easy.

Before we go over the setup, you need to note some information that will make a difference in the game:

- Wine Types.

- Wine Bottle Card.

- Client Card.

There are 4 types of Wine in the game, represented by the following icons:

- White.

- Sparkling.

- Red.

- Rosé.

Wine Types
Wine Types

The Wine Bottle Card contains 5 pieces of information:

- Wine type.

- How much they're worth in the auction.

- Country.

- Age score.

- Varietal notes, or, if you prefer, the wine variety.

Wine Bottle Card
Wine Bottle Card

The Client Card shows the client's preferences for:

- Wine Type: 2 types per client and their respective scores per bottle.

- Country: preferred countries vary according to the number of players.

Client Card
Client Card

Now that you know all this, it's time to go over the setup:

- Separate the Wine Bottle cards (which vary according to the number of players) and shuffle them.

- Deal 8 Wine Bottle cards face down to each player.

- Place the remaining Wine Bottle cards face up in a column at the center of the table. These are the Prize Bottles for Round 1.

- Shuffle the Client cards and deal 2 face down to each player.

- Each player looks at their Client cards, chooses one to keep and places it face up in front of them, then discards the other.

Two-player setup before players discard a Client card
Two-player setup before players discard a Client card

Safra Ideal is played over rounds, with each round consisting of 3 steps:

- Step 1: choose a Wine Bottle card from your hand.

- Step 2: store your Prize Bottle.

- Step 3: bids become Prize Bottles.

At the start of each round, in Step 1, all players simultaneously choose a Wine Bottle card from their hand and place it face down in front of them as their bid. Once every player has done so, everyone reveals their card.

The player with the most expensive card is the first to choose a Prize Bottle to add to their Client's cellar. The player with the second most expensive card chooses second, and so on.

Revealing Wine Bottle cards and determining the order for the auction
Revealing Wine Bottle cards and determining the order for the auction

It is time for Step 2: store your Prize Bottle. Turn it sideways to start building your Client's cellar. After round 1, you must store new bottles in your cellar above or below the bottles you have already collected, never between them.

Storing your Prize Bottle
Storing your Prize Bottle

Finally, Step 3, when bids become Prize Bottles. Move the Wine Bottle cards used as bids this round to the center of the table. These cards become the Prize Bottles for the next round.

Bids become Prize Bottles for the next round
Bids become Prize Bottles for the next round

End of the Game

The game continues until all Wine Bottle cards have been played and each player has 8 bottles stacked in their Client's cellar.

Then it is time to score! You can score points in two ways:

- Cellar Score.

- Client Bonuses.

For the Cellar Score, each bottle features a row of 8 Age Scores that represent the quality of that wine when it is opened. The top card in your Client's cellar is opened first, so you score the points shown by the first Age Score in its row.

For the second bottle, you score the points shown by the second Age Score in its row, and so on for the entire collection.

For the Client Bonus, compare the bottles you collected with the Client card you chose at the start of the game. You score bonus points if the type of Wine or Country fits your Client's preferences. The same bottle can score more than one bonus.

When scoring for the Country, be careful to score only the countries included for your particular number of players.

Scoring
Scoring

Add your Cellar Score to your Client Bonuses. The player with the highest total wins!

In the event of a tie, share the win or play again!

Strategic Tips

In Safra Ideal, your success as a sommelier depends on how carefully you balance hand management during auctions with organizing your cellar.

You should plan around the "age" of the wine, as each bottle has a row of 8 numbers that represent its quality over time. The first bottle at the top of your stack uses the first number, the second bottle uses the second number, and so on. Pay attention to the Prize Bottle cards and get those that score more points where you intend to place them, from 1 to 8.

To do that, you'll have to manage your stack really well. You can only add new bottles to the top or bottom of your cellar, never in the middle. So you'll have to plan ahead: if you get a wine that gives you a lot of points when it's "old" (positions 7 or 8), you need to make sure you pick it early on so it can sit at the bottom of the stack. This is highly strategic.

Also keep track of Client Bonuses: after all, the client is who you are working for, and this is what gives you bonus points at the end of the game. Since bonus points come from the type of Wine and Country, it is often worth investing in a bottle that meets multiple Client requirements. Particularly because the same card can give you multiple bonus points.

Remember that your Wine Bottle card is your bid, so keep an eye on Prize Creation: if you have an excellent card in hand but do not want to make it a Prize for the other players right now, hold onto it. If you want to "plant" a specific wine in hopes of taking it in the next round, use it as your bid now (as long as you have another high-value card to win the auction next round). That can be the difference between victory and defeat!

One thing many people forget to check on Client cards is that Country points change depending on the number of players. It is easy to overlook this and end up collecting bottles from countries that do not give you any points.

Finally, find a balance with your bids, as this game lasts only 8 rounds. If you spend all your high-value cards, such as those worth 12, early on, you will have to rely on your opponents' leftovers at the end of the game. Try to save your strongest bids for bottles that truly give you a lot of points, either because of their "age" or because they meet your Client's demands.

With that in mind, watch for the opportunities the game presents, build your best auction strategy, store wines correctly in your cellar, and win at Safra Ideal!

Unboxing, Rules, and Gameplay Videos

Check out this unboxing:

Learn the rules:

Watch some gameplay:

Educational Tips

If you are looking for a game that is truly easy to teach, simple to play and still strategic, Safra Ideal is the game for you!

The game immediately grabs children's attention because of the wine cards. They are unusual, long cards shaped like wine bottles. Children will love holding them because they are different, not to mention they are beautiful as well.

The Client cards are a category of their own. They are colorful and feature different country flags and wine types. The game is based entirely around icons, so language is not a barrier. Use the country icons to talk a little about their history and show the flags to children. Do not let this learning opportunity go to waste!

As for bidding during the game, there will be plenty of giggles as players place their Wine cards face down on the table and keep their strategy a secret. The most incredible part for children will be revealing the cards and seeing who made the highest bid. The tension will be through the roof!

Then they will "analyze" which Prize Bottle to choose. You will see children fully focused as they try to select the one that gives them more points and pleases their Client. This part is great. Let them "analyze" and decide. It is an important skill both for this game and for their lives, because analyzing something before making an important decision matters in every situation.

They will really enjoy all these stages and, at the end, seeing who has more points. Once again, it will be quite exciting.

Safra Ideal provides all of this, but beyond the fun, it gives children the opportunity to develop important skills, namely:

- resource management: regarding the Wine cards in your hand.

- strategy: to choose which card to use as a bid.

- spatial awareness: to organize your wine cellar.

- decision-making: to see which Prize Bottle to take.

- logical-mathematical reasoning: to calculate points based on how old each wine is, bids, the order in which Prize Bottles are selected, and the final score.

From an educational standpoint, Safra Ideal teaches resource management while encouraging planning ahead, spatial awareness, decision-making, and logical-mathematical reasoning. It is also a lot of fun!

I recommend adding Safra Ideal to your collection!

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