The Rebel Publishing House, which has an interesting offer for enthusiasts of books and games, comes up against such dreams. Tea for two is a hybrid of both, and the opportunity to spend a nice time together is an additional advantage. You can write that this is an ideal position for the time of the coronavirus, when we spend the days mainly in contact with household members.
Let’s face it, Rebel can play games. They have many wonderful offers, and the one I am mentioning does not differ in any way. The beautiful, almost pocket-sized edition really pleases the eye and attracts people to play. A small box has an interesting inside, and you can spend many hours with the title – and that’s how it was for me.
Who is behind it?
The creator of this noble title is Cendrick Chaboussit, a French board game designer who has several interesting items to his credit. You can see that he knows his stuff, and creating entertainment for people is not a first for him. Of his works, I have particularly fond memories of Eyes on the Prize .
Something nice to see
Before I go into the rules, I wanted to focus on the release itself, which is just beautiful! Kept in mild colors, with attention to even the smallest detail. Interesting decorations enhance the aesthetic value even more. After opening the box, you can see the board in pastel shades. On one side we have a drawing on the front of the box and tea and cookies. On the second, twenty-five fields on which we move our pawns – with a hat or a rabbit – a place for cards to be bought and mission tiles. Further, in the box, there is a DIY pocket watch board, fifty character cards, a pink flamingo figurine, five mission tiles (double-sided), two pawns and cup tokens, five hourglasses, nine cakes and an instruction.
Let’s start having fun!
Now that we know what’s inside, it’s time to start playing! We take the board and spread it between the participants. The pieces are allocated and placed on the 0 field, and the cup tokens on 25. The mission tiles must be shuffled and placed with any side in the designated places. The creators gave a hint on what the situation should look like during the first game. Twenty-five character cards are placed in five piles by rank. Now you have to decide who starts with what. For example, the person who last drank tea takes three pieces of cake and a flamingo and the other takes five pieces of cake. We used the included, limited, metal coin. The rest of the items remain in the bank to be distributed during the game. The board with a pocket watch is available to everyone and lies in the middle. Each player lays down a card from his own pile and the higher value wins. The participant can do nothing, use the prize from the cardboard or buy a character from the board. It all depends on whether the point difference allows him to do so. The flamingo is used in a tie, and whoever has it in hand wins. And so the game goes on until both cups on the twenty-fifth field disappear from the board.
Several variants
I love Tea for Two because it is a really interesting game and quite complex. It forces us to think carefully about our movements. The quality of the game is influenced by the mission boards. In the first game it is not bad, because each cake is one move and the hourglass is two, but when a different layout comes out, you can only move with a pocket watch. Then the fun lasts much longer. There is also a chance to destroy your own or your opponent’s card, and then put it in a special place on the board.
We are delighted with my fiancé and dozens of games are behind us. I can’t count the number of times we laughed or fought over the flamingo, which often saves the ass. And by some strange miracle, I always forget that when both cups disappear from the twenty-fifth field, the turn is over. I don’t know why, I think I’m so hooked up that I want to keep playing!
Scratch on the glass
However, it was not without its flaws, which makes me a bit sad. The game itself is polished, but there is a problem with the manual, at times it is misleading or players have to figure out what to do. For example, it is not specified whether the mission boards refer to the entire board or only to the fragment they lie next to. This is important for movement and final scoring. Another downside is the fact that Tea for Two is intended for such a small number of players and you cannot play in a larger group. Maybe the developers would also think about some extended version, which wouldn’t really be difficult to do.
Fight for points
For each completed turn, the points are counted according to the scheme given for a specific game. Everything can be important: the number of destroyed cards, cakes, hourglasses, cards in your hand, what cards you have, what the mission tiles recommend … Really, there are many combinations and you have to check everything very carefully. Sometimes two points are always the winner!
And finally…
I don’t think I need to add it, but I recommend it! You can turn a blind eye to a few flaws and determine the unexplained issues on your own. I think that the title is a really nice combination of a card game with a board game that will make your time pleasant. It is worth taking an interest in this position if you like games for two, which do not follow the usual pattern, but where fate determines some aspects. A great thing for fans of Alice in Wonderland , because the artwork will be an interesting addition to the collection.
