It was so long ago that I forgot I’d backed this but earlier this week Crumbs! The Sandwich Filler Game arrived in the post. Described by the publisher as a “cute and compact (but challenging) solo/co-op microgame”, being a sandwich themed game it seems rather apt for lunch. Thematically, Crumbs! Is an 18-card game which requires you to make sandwiches to fulfil the desire of eating customers.
How it plays
As an 18-card game, set up is quick. There are two types of cards- bread and 6 fillings types. The latter being double sided to also provide you with the customers and their sandwich wants. You begin by randomly choosing the cards to be customers, then put the sandwich elements out, and then you’re ready to go.
Customer cards vary in difficulty, the higher the number the more complex the demands. You can only see the first two customers and must meet the needs of the left most customer first (well they are first in the queue after all). On a turn you have 5 actions, and by the end of that you must have made at least one sandwich or it’s game over.
To do that you have a number of actions you can take; assemble, which allows you to put an ingredient type in a sandwich, restock, allowing you to get more of an ingredient from the pantry aka the discard pile, and toast , an action that changes bread into, erm, toast. Taking any action uses up one action. Assuming you make a sandwich then you can reclaim an ingredient from the pantry and move on to the next customer. The moment you don’t finish a sandwich, or If you manage to serve all the customers, the game ends and you add up your score (determined by each cards difficulty). After a few days playing I seem too be stuck firmly in the ‘bread head’ rating with the dizzying heights of Ealr of Sandwiches some way away.
Sound easy enough but Crumbs! Is surprisingly puzzly. Many of the orders can’t be completed in five actions – as my early plays attest, you think you have it then realise you have only one action left, and you need to both toast then assemble! Each turn needs some thoughtful planning so that you can maximise your sandwich making capabilities each go, and not waste actions
Good for lunch?
Like most 18-card games it’s quick to set up and learn. It definitely falls into the efficiency puzzle category where every choice counts. So if you don’t like that then it’s not for you. I also found that the first few plays frustrating as a result of my not taking enough time to plan through things. However, in a sense this also makes it appeal to me, I like a game which imposes tight constraints. A game takes no more than 10-minutes and the artwork definitely makes the theme come through. There are also a set of ‘quirky customer’ rules that can be applied to make the game more challenging, giving it even more replayability and increase the depth of the puzzle. At the end of the day, this game delivers solid ideas pressed between strong gameplay and a satisfying finish that should provide for a satisfying lunch.
Lunch time solo 