Game Review: Too Many Cooks

R & R Games, $12.95

Have you ever heard the phrase “Too many cooks spoil the broth?” Well, some creative game designer took that concept and made an entertaining card game of it. The concept is similar to the card game “Hearts,” but with a twist. Everyone has their own goal, and a card that is good for you may be one that spoils another player’s soup.

In “Too Many Cooks,” there are four “suits”, each corresponding to a type of soup – onion, pea, mushroom, and chili. A game consists of five rounds. Each player begins the game with five menu cards – one for each type of soup and one marked “No Soup Today.” Every round, each player is dealt 13 cards. After looking at your cards, you decide what type of soup (or “no soup”) you want to play for that hand and secretly select the menu card corresponding to that soup. After all players have chosen their menu cards, they are revealed, and play begins.

Players take turns playing a card and must follow soup... er, I mean suit... if possible, adding the number on their card to the total in the pile. The person sending the total over 10 takes the cards and leads the next trick. The twist is that, in any given round, each player has their own goal. Cards you want to take may actually “spoil” (result in negative points for) other players, or another player may want the same thing you do. At the end of the round, you get one point for each card you take of your flavor and lose a point for each “spoiling” card you take. If you bid “no soup”, then you get five extra points to start with and then lose a point for each card of any type that you take. At the end of five rounds, the highest score wins.

The cards are funny and colorful, although something about the way the cards are made makes the edges a little rough when you are dealing. Play is quick and easy to learn for anyone that can count and add. Since you can never predict who will be attempting which flavor of soup
each round, strategy varies from game to game as well as from round to round.

Hearts has been my favorite card game since college, and Too Many Cooks has quickly become one of my favorite boxed games since a friend introduced me to it earlier this year. The kids love it, too!