Chocolate Factory is the next game to hit Kickstarter from Alley Cat Games (Dice Hospital, Coral Islands and Pocket Pharma).
Chocolate Factory is a 1-4 player mid-weight economic simulation game about running a chocolate factory, designed by Matthew Dunstan and Brett Gilbert.
Chocolate Factory - The Game
Players take on the role of master chocolatiers in the early 20th century, making chocolate and selling them to retailers and local corner shops for victory points. In Chocolate Factory, each player manages their own factory board with a pushable conveyor belt that players use to move chocolates through their factory. Players can also upgrade their factory with new machines and factory parts to perform new actions.
Actions can involve upgrading chocolate to the next stage and converting one type of chocolate to another. Each turn players will draft factory parts and specialists in to their factory. Any factory parts drafted will be placed on the player’s factory board immediately and the specialists give the player one off abilities and access to sell chocolates to one of the retailers for points.
After the draft, players “push” cocoa three times using their conveyor belt. At each “push” the player can use coal to activate their factory parts to convert cocoa in to chocolate pieces, then chocolate pieces in to other chocolate. The chocolate can then be sold to either the retailers (depending on the specialist drafted) or the local corner shop. Play continues this way until the end of the last round with the player with the most points being the winner.
Initial Thoughts
Chocolate Factory is a fantastic game. The draft phase makes for some interesting and tough choices. There can be an element of taking what your opponent needs during the draft to deny them the specialist that they need. But this could result in your opponent getting some very good machine parts, making for some hard choices.
The “push” mechanism is the crux of the game and manipulating your cocoa/chocolate in the most effective way is the key. Making sure you have the right chocolate pieces required for the retailer or the local store is a must to be able to score effectively. The “pushing” of the conveyor belt is a physical act and you can see your chocolate literally moving through your factory. It is such a neat mechanism that really brings the game to life.
Live on Kickstarter
Chocolate Factory is now live on Kickstarter!! Head over to the project page to find out the stretch goals, as well as the pledges for the regular and deluxe editions.