Brew Crafters: Travel Card Game

The Game

Brew Crafters is originally a boardgame. I have not played the boardgame version before, but I had the chance to try the card game version - Brew Crafters: Travel Card Game. This is a game about brewing all sorts of beer. There are five different types of beer to brew, and you need different combinations of ingredients. Their point values are different. The game ends when any player reaches 21 points. Whoever has the most points wins. 

On your turn you start with taking two cards. There are five face-up cards on the table you can pick from. You may also draw from the deck. Each card has two uses. You either use it as an ingredient (icon in top left corner) or play it as a tool. You may only perform one of these actions on your turn. To install a tool, you simply play the card face-up before you. It will give you some power for the rest of the game. If you decide to brew beer instead, you discard the required ingredients to score points. 

There are many different tools. Some help you with brewing specific types of beer. These two above allow you to use fewer ingredients when brewing specific types of beer. Some tools let you score more points when brewing beer. Some let you score bonus points at game end based on other tools you own. 

 

The five ingredients in the game have different rarities. Apple and coffee beans are the rarest. The high valued beers require them. You have a hand limit of 7 cards. The most valuable beer needs 7 ingredients too. It is quite difficult to get the exact 7 ingredients to make this beer, without discarding cards you can't use. It feels wasteful but likely it's a sacrifice you have to make. 

The Play

This is a procedurally simple game. The core process is collecting ingredients to brew beer. While doing this, you also decide which tools you want to play to give you an edge over your opponents. The target score is 21pts. The highest valued beer is worth 6pts. You'll reach the target score by brewing 3 to 4 times. The lowest valued beer is worth 3pts. That takes more brewing, but the ingredients are easier to collect and you need fewer ingredients too. The game doesn't take long to play. Within that limited time, you try to work out a good combo of tools to help you brew and to help you score more points. There is luck in terms of what cards you draw and what are available on the table. You try to put together tools which jive with one another. For example if you manage to put together several cards that help you with brewing coffee stout, you'll want to focus on just that beer. 

Sometimes you will be torn between using a card as an ingredient and playing it as a tool. This is an interesting decision you have to make in the game. 

So far I have only done a 2-player game. Coincidentally both of us played the exact same tools in the first third of the game. We both wanted to work on the higher valued beers. Only towards mid game our tool choices diverged. The next time I play I should try different tool combinations and different beers. 

The Thoughts

Brew Crafters: Travel Card Game is a light strategy game. It does not present any particularly new ideas. Multi-use cards are nothing new by now. The beer brewing setting has its attractiveness. The overall package doesn't give me any surprise. However I am curious to play it more to explore other strategies. Maybe I'll find something more.