In Kawaii by Helvetiq, players compete to earn points by collecting the most ice cream cards of their favorite type and color before the end of each round in this family-friendly card game. To set up, deal everyone a random favorite flavor and favorite ice cream shape card; shuffle the ice cream cards, including 2 cherry and 3 “closed shop cards”; and deal the entire ice cream deck out to everyone to put in a facedown stack in front of them. Each player also receives two “capture” tokens.
The first player turns over a card from their deck and places it in front of them, making sure the flavor and shape of the card is visible to everyone. Play continues in turn order with one card at a time being displayed until someone sees a pile with enough cards that match their favorite ice cream type or flavor (including their own card pile) to make it worth claiming. This player says “Kawaii!” and places one of their capture tokens on that stack. If the stack belongs to another player, its owner takes the claim token. If it belongs to the player that claimed the stack, the claim token is taken out of the round. Play continues until all cards are played and no player wants to claim more cards or no player has any claim tokens remaining.
Players score their claimed cards as follows: 1 point for each card that matches their chosen color or ice cream shape, 2 points for each card that matches both the chosen color and shape, 1 point for each cherry card, 1 point for any remaining capture tokens, and -1 for each closed shop card, unless they have all three of these cards, in which case they score three points instead. If this was the end of the 1st or 2nd round, set up the game for another round. After three rounds are scored, the player with the most points wins! For 3-5 players with a 15-minute game time per round. ~ Marsha