Foodtown Throwdown Review

Designer: Ben Pierro

Publisher: Argyle Games

Number of Players: 2-4

Duration: 30 mins

In Foodtown Throwdown each player takes the role of a food-truck owner, creating recipe, publicising your food-truck, and sabotaging your competition. The game itself revolves around a simple deck building mechanic with players aiming to complete recipes in order to score the most points.

At the start of the game, 3 recipe cards (depending on the number of players) are laid on the table, each player takes a hand of ingredients cards. Each player is quite simply looking to get the appropriate food items that correspond to the food contained on the recipe cards. The foods are grouped into 6 categories, within each category there is an ingredient (mostly bizarre ones), once you complete a recipe you get the card and you get Victory points dependent on the number of stars on the card. First player to 10 points wins the game.

The gameplay is simple too. Each round players draw a card from the ingredients deck, and then can either player an action card or complete a recipe and get some points. The action cards are all about getting publicity and sabotaging your opponent. Publicity cards are quick way to get some victory points, but beware because some of the sabotage cards allow players to steal these as well as cards in your hand.

Everything this game tries to do is to get you to feel like you are in the cut-throat world of the food truck business (which I didn’t realise was so cut-throat). Whether that is trying to get the latest new recipe into your menu, or taking down your opponent in the most ruthless way possible. And to be fair, with this being such a light game it does that incredibly well.

Based on my conversations with designer Ben Pierro, this started as a serious Euro game with a light hearted element, the game devolved into this simple light hearted deck builder and I for one am glad for it. However much I prefer a more serious game this game fits perfectly in that filler zone, that every gamer is looking for.

With that being said the argument can also be made that this has gone one step too far in the humour side and has become a kids game. It also seems far too easy to collect the required sets in order to grab victory points. I can imagine this being the perfect game that parents will crack out with the kids as a gateway into deck building. One of the real fun part of the game is the reciepe combos that you can make, for instance ever wanted a Gourmet Burger made with Roast Duck, Spray Cheese, Olive Salad served on two slices of Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Now I mildly giggle while writing that, but I can imagine kids having a bit more fun with it than me (but I might just be a grumpy old man).

Be sure to check out the game on Kickstarter