Hey PI-Fans,
If you’re looking to stock up on instant noodles of the edible variety, unfortunately, we can’t help you.
On the other hand, what we do have is Ramen Fury, a fast and furious game of instant noodles, ingredient hoarding and sabotage and you can pick up your own copy from the Games @ PI webstore!
And here to tell you more about it with an in-depth review is Wesley!
– Kenneth, Games @ PI Manager
TL;DR: Ramen Fury is a light 30 minute card game for 2 to 5 players. Players attempt to draft ingredient cards to add to bowls of ramen to score points. However, ingredients can also be used to sabotage other players dishes by mixing in unwanted flavours to their recipes or outright stolen using spoon tokens, lending the game a ‘take-that’ element! Fast and easy to learn, Ramen Fury is a great game for players who enjoy strategy games with an added ‘sabo’ flavour.
No matter how you slice it, it would be strange to see a packet of instant ramen in a store that sells board games and miniature figures. That’s (probably) why Ramen Fury comes in an eye-catching packet that resembles Myojo’s chicken noodles. (Not sponsored) The outer appearance instantly tells you what the game is about: instant Ramen.
Ramen Fury is a set collection game that challenges 2-5 players to craft three bowls of noodles with a myriad of ingredients cards, and score them by “eating” the completed dish (which you flip the bowl card to its empty side). Once all three bowls have been devoured, the game ends and scores are counted based on the finished bowls of ramen.
Scoring, as mentioned, is dependent on the ingredients in the ramen bowls. As a rule, each bowl of Ramen can hold one flavouring card and any combination of ingredients, up to five total (including the flavouring). Ingredients are sorted between meat, vegetables and garnishes, which have their own unique rules.
The flavouring cards have their own unique ways of scoring points for the player: for instance, beef flavouring rewards you for putting consecutive meat ingredients, while the chicken flavouring rewards you for having two or three copies of the same card. However, as with all late night suppers, all this is moot if you don’t get to eat your ramen before the game ends.
Each player takes their turn by spending two actions on six possible choices. Basic stuff includes picking up ingredients laid out on the table to your hand, placing them from your hand to a bowl (your opponent’s bowls count too) or eating your freshly crafted bowls of ramen.
If none of the available ingredients appeal to you, you can spend an action to toss them for a fresh set from the deck. Not only does this give you and the other players new options, revealing a garnish card allows you to place it onto a player’s bowl for free. Those who enjoy ruining friendships will be glad to know revealing another garnish card allows you to do it again, until you stop revealing garnish cards.
Luckily, if you were one of the unfortunate players who ended up with 5 chili pepper garnish cards in a bowl, the game has got you covered. You could spend an action to empty your bowl of chili peppers, or use a spoon token (and an action) to pick out the last placed ingredient from your bowls of soup and place them in your hand.
Designed to take 20 to 30 minutes per game, Ramen Fury is a simple game that is also deceptively strategic. With so many options but a limited amount of turns, the game gives you options to either focus on crafting your ramen masterpiece and savoring it, or mess with the other players by dropping ingredients into their bowls to stall for time.
Setting up the game is simple and quick, making it easy to carry around. Tokens are kept to a minimum, allowing you to store the game easily once play sessions are done for the day. My only gripe would be how sleeving the cards makes it impossible to put it back into its neat packaging.
– By Wesley Tay
