Outcook the Cauldron!

Chaos is brewing in Caldoria, but luckily you skilled chefs are here to help! Make magic in the kitchen, navigating around the pesky cauldron, and serve as many recipes as you can before your time runs out!

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What Is It?

✨Theme – Magic / Cooking
🎯Goal – Score as many points as you can
⚙️Cooperative – Players work together
⚙️Action Points – Each turn each player gets 4 action points to spend on movement, pickup/sharing ingredients, restocking, cleanup, and serving
⚙️Events – An event will occur in either mode, and will change gameplay slightly. In family, you can get rid of the event by finding the right treasure. In classic, it will last a certain number of rounds
⚙️Variable Set-Up – Furniture will be placed according to set-up cards each game, and there are different settings available for the cauldron as well

Who Is It For?

👥2 to 4 Players – Works fine at any count, but I think a full 4 is best as you have the most total actions each round
👥Ages 8 & Up – Actions are pretty straightforward. Most of the gameplay doesn’t require reading. Plus, working together helps it be more approachable
👥Fans of cooperative games, kitchen/cooking themes, and variable play styles

PROS

🟢Aesthetics – Cute look; looks nice all set up
🟢Components – Really nice production value across the board
🟢Good variety in gameplay options/set-up/events
🟢Turns are pretty snappy
🟢I like that the game makes it easy for players to share (toss) ingredients to really emphasize collaboration and efficiency
🟢The cauldron is a super fun gimmick. I love watching it move around the board and bump into things (I prefer it on Chaos State, personally)

CONS

🔴I thought the rules could have been cleaner. Actions were laid out nicely, but I would have liked more detail in the game modes and scoring (There is an updated rulebook available online)
🔴Speaking of Scoring – I kind of wish there was a scoring chart to compare your score to see how you did (i.e. 10 points is a Kitchen King, 20 points is a Chaos Coordinator…) Something like that would have been fun
🔴Wish there were reference cards for the actions
🔴I’m not huge on events in games in general. On the bright side, there’s only 1 per game

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Final Thoughts

Overall, I would say I did like a lot of elements of the game. I liked the theme and overall gameplay, and especially the awesome cauldron! I wish the rules had a bit more detail in some areas, and I definitely wish scoring was more defined. But it still had fun elements.

I felt like it took a while to build up recipe ingredients, so it seemed hard to avoid failure for the undead hour, but it was balanced enough that it didn’t seem hard to eliminate them to avoid losing points. I also thought, at first, that some of the events were kind of punishing, but then realized you can choose to ignore it, but you’ll lose a point for each round that you do. It’s small, but can be a strategic choice for the team. And other than that, the game itself, and all the things along the way (arcane cards, events, etc) worked pretty smoothly.

If you like co-op and a cooking theme, you might have a good time with this one!

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Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6.5/10

Designers – Lachlan Taylor, Rosie Hayes
Illustrator – Anna Weber
Publisher – Unbelievable Games
MSRP – $99.00 (base game)
Website ; Purchase