Cafe International Gameplay – Video Game Previews 2021

This version of Cafe International is a faithful translation of the original board game. The premise of the game is very simple, you must seat guests of different nationalities at tables with the goal of filling all four seats. The rules are simple and easy to grasp once you start playing the game.

The rules are pretty simple but hard to master. Each table has a country’s flag on it and only guests from those countries can sit at that table. The tables overlap though so you can seat guests of multiple nationalities as long as they belong to a nearby table with that flag.

You can only seat guests at a table if there is at least one male and one female who can sit at that table. After that, you can only seat up to two males and two females per table. Once a table has all four seats filled, it is cleared and a new table card is drawn.

Sometimes you can’t play a card so you place the guest in the bar, which is simply a discard pile. When playing with others (local multiplayer only), you win by earning the highest score. In the solo mode, you win when either all guest cards or table cards are cleared. You lose the game when the bar is completely filled.

The game is actually pretty fun! The graphics and user interface for the game is definitely dated but the rule set for the board game is very solid. The lack of online multiplayer is a pretty big bummer but you can invite friends to play using Steam remote play. In my personal experience though, remote play does not work well unless you have extremely fast upload speeds.

Overall, Cafe International looks a bit crusty but is actually quite fun. I personally enjoyed playing the solitaire mode the most. It’s something you can take your time playing in the background in between breaks while working.