Coffee Rush Review: complete orders and become the best barista

Coffee Rush was the first project by South Korean designer Euijin Han, making the game a sort of highlight in his career. It's somewhat rare for a debut title to achieve such international visibility as this.

Surprisingly, it was also the debut for illustrator Siwon Hwang, who made his first contribution to the board game world.

The great thing about Coffee Rush is the real-life inspiration in the theme. The central idea was to reproduce the atmosphere of a busy coffee shop, where customers relax while baristas face the pressure of fulfilling orders quickly. This dynamic was translated into mechanics of collecting ingredients and fulfilling orders within short deadlines.

Another great idea was the reputation system based on “likes” and “dislikes”, thus incorporating the logic of social networks: completing orders generates “likes” and increases the coffee shop's reputation, while failing results in “dislikes”. This connects the modern theme of digital culture with the gaming experience.

It's a fact: Euijin Han nailed it by combining this thematic inspiration with modern elements.

Let's check out Coffee Rush!

Coffee Rush is a game for 2-to-4 players, age 8+, by designer Euijin Han. Game Art by Euijin Han and Siwon Hwang.

Coffee Rush was released in 2023 by Korea Boardgames, and in Brazil in 2025 through Asmodee (formerly Galápagos). The main mechanics are: contracts and grid movement.

The year after its release, in 2024, Coffee Rush received two nominations and one award:

- it was nominated for Family Game of the Year by the Geek Media Awards;

- it was nominated for and won Best Board Game by the Hungarian Board Game Award.

Playing the Game

This cafe is on a busy street with other great cafes. It has a cozy vibe, tasty cotfee, and

trends onsocial media. Although customers come here to relax, each work station becomes a battleground to complete orders. It can be troublesome if orders are not completed on time. Business can thrive with likes, but not so much with dislikes.

This is the background for Coffee Rush!

The general idea is simple: collect ingredients, fulfill orders (which, by the way, are always increasing) as quickly as possible to avoid negative reviews, and try to activate improvements for the coffee shop, thus optimizing the service even further.

Initially, for a better understanding of this review, here are some important concepts:

- Ingredient Board: the board where players will collect ingredients;

- Player Board: this will be the player's coffee shop;

- Ingredient Tokens: tokens for the 8 types of ingredients;

- Rush Tokens: allow you to move further when collecting ingredients;

- Order Cards: orders that must be fulfilled;

- Meeple: the piece that represents the player in the game;

- Upgrade Tiles: allow more moves and more ingredients when you collect them;

- Cups: where we put the ingredients according to the orders;

- Starting Player Token: indicates whether the game is still ongoing or if the match has ended.

This is the game's setup:

- Place the Ingredient Board in the center of the table;

- Place all Ingredient Tokens and Rush Tokens next to the Ingredient Board. Shuffle all Order Cards, form a deck, and place it face down next to the Ingredient Board; this will be the Supply Area;

- Each player chooses a color and takes 1 Player Board, 1 Meeple, 4 Upgrade Tokens, and 3 Cups. Place the Upgrade Tokens face down in the indicated spaces on the Player Board. Place the Cups above the Player Board;

- Choose a starting player and place the Starting Player Token with the “OPEN” side face up in front of them;

- The starting player takes Order Cards from the top of the deck and places them face up on their order counters: 2 cards on counter #1 and 1 card on counter #2. The other players must place 1 card on counter #1 and 1 card on counter #2;

- Starting with the player to the right of the starting player, and proceeding counter-clockwise, each player places their own Meeple (one at a time) in a space on the Ingredient Board. Two Meeples cannot occupy the same space. When all players have finished placing their own Meeples, take the respective Ingredient Token from the Reserve and place it in one of your Cups.

In Coffee Rush, turns proceed clockwise starting with the initial player. Complete the following actions in order during your turn:

- Action 1: Activate upgrades;

- Action 2: Move;

- Action 3: Pour ingredients;

- Action 4: Process orders;

- Action 5: End of turn.

Action 1, activating upgrades, is optional. At the start of your turn, if you want to and have 3 or more completed Order Cards in the upper left corner of your Player Board, you can discard 3 of these Cards to activate an upgrade of your choice. Choose an Upgrade Token and flip it over to indicate that it has been activated. You can use the Upgrades immediately after they are activated.

As seen in the previous image, they enhance how you collect ingredients and, at the end of the game, if activated, yield points.

Action 2, Move, is necessary for our Meeple to walk around the Ingredient Board and collect the ingredients we need to complete our orders.

There are some rules to be followed during movement:

- move to an adjacent space horizontally or vertically (diagonally only if you activated an Upgrade Token, “Diagonal Movement”);

- you can move 1 to 3 spaces on your turn (you can move one additional space for each Rush Token you spend);

- you receive Ingredient Tokens according to the spaces you passed;

- you can pass through a space that already has another player's Meeple, but you cannot end your turn there.

In Action 3, pour ingredients, you can freely distribute the Ingredient Tokens you received during Action 2, move, into your Cups. However, you must follow a few rules:

- You can place the Ingredient Tokens freely between all your Cups;

- You can return any Ingredient Tokens you don't want to the Supply Area;

- Once placed, Ingredient Tokens in a Cup cannot be transferred to another Cup;

- You can empty as many Cups as you want during your turn, returning all the Ingredient Tokens from the chosen Cups to the Supply Area.

Now comes the long-awaited moment, Action 4, to process orders. Once you have all the Ingredient Tokens inside your Cup, as indicated on the Order Card, you can complete the order.

After completing your order, simply return the Ingredient Tokens from the Cup to the Supply Area, then place the Order Card face down in the upper left corner of your Player Board.

There are Order Cards from the Specialty Menu. Whenever you complete orders of this type, you collect 1 Rush Token from the Supply Area. Place the Rush Tokens you receive above your Player Board.

Completing orders is good for you, but for other coffee shops, it's a nightmare. Count how many Order Cards you completed on your turn. The two players to your left must draw the same number of Order Cards from the deck, and place them on their tab #1. Yeah, take that!

If, at the moment when opponents are drawing Order Cards, there aren't enough Order Cards in the deck, starting with the player to the left of the current player, the players must draw the available Order Cards. Then, the starting player flips their Starting Player Token to the "CLOSED" side. This triggers the end of the game.

Finally, Action 5, the end of the turn. It's time, then, to move all the Order Cards that are on the right side of your Player Board one tab down. Order Cards that were on tab #1 go to tab #2, Order Cards that were on tab #2 go to tab #3, and so on.

But what about the Order Cards that were on tab #4? The Order Cards on tab #4 leave the Player Board, and become dislikes. Turn these Cards face down and place them in the Penalties area in the lower left corner of your Player Board. These Cards are now Penalty Cards. Then, you take Rush Tokens from the Supply Area equal to the number of Penalty Cards you just received.

If the player whose turn it is has 5 or more Penalty Cards, the starting player flips their Starting Player Token to the "CLOSED" side. This has a significant impact because if, at the end of their turn, the Starting Player Token is "CLOSED", this triggers the end of the game.

If the Starting Player Token is still "OPEN", play resumes to the next player to their left.

That's how a Coffee Rush turn goes!

Ending the Game

The game ends if one of two situations occurs:

- when the Supply Area runs out of Order Cards;

- when the active player has 5 Penalty Cards.

If the Starting Player Token is "CLOSED", and it was the turn of the player to the right of the starting player, the game ends immediately. Otherwise, continue until all players have the same number of turns.

Scoring is done as follows:

- 1 positive evaluation point: for each completed Request Card;

- 2 positive evaluation points: for each activated Upgrade Token;

- 1 negative evaluation point: for each Penalty Card.

The player with the most positive evaluations wins. In case of a tie, among those tied, the player with the most completed Order Cards wins. If the tie persists, among those tied, the player with the most Rush Tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory!

Coffee Rush is all about logistics and management, all while being subject to a tight timeframe, as everything happens very quickly in the game. Orders are constantly vying for ingredients, and time flies by.

To make this work, your strategy has to be perfect. The actions of activating upgrades and moving go hand in hand. The first enhances the second, but with some caveats. Let's analyze the availability of ingredients on the board:

- Coffee Beans: 3

- Steam: 3

- Milk: 3

- Ice: 3

- Chocolate: 1

- Tea Leaves: 1

- Caramel: 1

- Water: 1

Note that to collect ingredients more easily from those that only have one location on the board, you need to have the "Double Meeples" or "Double Specialties" Upgrade Tokens active; otherwise, it will be a fierce competition for these 4 ingredients.

About Upgrade Tokens, they do, when activated, enhance ingredient collection, but there's a problem: Coffee Rush is a low-scoring game. Having to discard 3 completed Order Cards means if you focus on activating the 4 Tokens, you'll have to complete 12 orders and discard them.

My gaming experience tells me that the game ends before or shortly after this time, and either you get a low score or you end up losing to whoever managed to move better around the board, completed orders, and scored more points than you.

So does that mean the Upgrade Tokens aren't worth it? They are very worthwhile, but I strongly recommend completing three very easy orders with few ingredients right at the beginning of the game. This way, you will have two advantages:

- you completed the orders quickly;

- you activate an Upgrade Token at the start of the game.

Otherwise, it's a real "scam" to focus on activating Upgrade Tokens, because let's be even more strategic:

- each completed Request Card gives you 1 positive evaluation point;

- each activated Upgrade Token gives you 2 positive evaluation points.

In other words, by discarding 3 Order Cards and activating an Upgrade Token, you throw away 3 points and gain 2, a balance of -1. You have to use strategy to do this at the beginning of the game and take advantage of the Upgrade Token for as long as possible. At the end of the game, activating Upgrade Tokens is shooting yourself in the foot.

In Action 3, when pouring ingredients, don't be stingy. If you notice you're short of cups to put ingredients in, and you have a cup with unused ingredients that's making it difficult to complete an order, "throw away" those ingredients and "move on." Use that cup for new ingredients that will allow you to complete an order more easily.

I've seen many people get so attached to certain ingredients that they end up throwing away the ones they just picked up, and in the end, they stumble. Don't get attached to ingredients that are difficult to complete an order. Your game might stall because of that.

Now, the focus of the game, Action 4, is completing orders. We're playing for this: complete orders and score points, simple as that. Start by focusing on the orders from the lower tabs, if you can; this avoids negative scoring. It's not always easy, but it's one of the best strategies; but don't focus only on that either. If you can do that, great; otherwise, do the basics well: complete what you can!

Also, try, as much as possible, to complete the Order Cards from the Specialty Menu, after all, this guarantees you the coveted Rush Token, which helps you have more mobility to gather ingredients.

Remember that the same number of orders you manage to fulfill in your shift is the same number of orders that will come into the tabs of your two competitors to the left. In other words, by completing orders, you're causing your direct competitors to have longer lines at their counters.

Action 5, even though it's the end of the turn, involves a significant strategy. At this point, the Order Cards are moved to the lower tabs, which can trigger the end of game. Force this if you notice you have enough points to win the game. It's a good strategy, but again, make sure you have enough points to win, even after deducting penalties.

Not to mention that having unfulfilled orders earns you Rush Tokens, which you already know the usefulness of during the game.

Furthermore, pay attention to the opportunities the game presents, develop your best strategy, try to activate upgrades early in the game, complete more orders, and win at Coffee Rush.

Unboxing:

Rules:

Gameplay:

If you're looking for an easy-to-teach, language-free, totally iconic game with realistically shaped "pieces" that will delight children, Coffee Rush is definitely the game for you.

Coffee Rush is, without a doubt, one of the games with the most realistic and beautiful components I've ever seen. This makes it unique. Kids love picking up and playing with the components, the cups... everything is very beautiful in Coffee Rush.

Not to mention that it addresses a theme and has real-life characteristics of a reality we all experience: the rush of completing orders. This is evident in the game; the kids will feel the time passing and the unfulfilled orders disappearing and becoming negative reviews in our coffee shop.

In fact, they'll experience that famous "good tension" of the game that ends in laughter with a friend, or even you yourself, when an order is lost. Everything becomes a reason to laugh. The best part, besides the fun, is that they learn important concepts and receive stimulation while playing:

- resource management: to manage orders and ingredients;

- workflow: what to do and in what order;

- strategy: analyzing to maximize order completion and time;

- decision-making: what to do and what to use at the right time;

- logical-mathematical reasoning: to calculate game points.

Pedagogically, Coffee Rush addresses resource management, workflow, stimulates strategy, decision-making, logical-mathematical reasoning, and on top of that, it's fun!

I recommend Coffee Rush for your collection!