I went in on Steam Up on a whim for the kids because of what seemed like easy game play and fun components. Turns out it hit on both of these fronts for the kids but would it be a game that appeals to adults as well? That is not as easy a question to answer.

Steam Up Overview

Steam Up is an order fulfillment game for 2-5 players designed by Pauline Kong, Haymen Lee, and Marie Wong and published by Hot Banana Games. In Steam Up, players feast on the the bounty of food that is before them by acquiring food tokens that match the foods in the top steamers then use these tokens to purchase the steamers and fill out their player board with food. When food is added to your board you will gain points and the player with the most points at the end wins the game.

Set Up

I want to address this up front. Set up for this game is kind of cumbersome, especially for the deluxe version. Players will all grab a player board and take the starting food tokens and fortune cards as indicated by their character. Characters are asymmetrical, so starting food tokens and cards may be different for each player. Set out the remaining fortune and fate cards and the food tokens for all to reach. Each player places their character token on the score board and the first player marker is given to a player to begin the game.

Next you have to set up the steamers, this is where set up takes a hard left turn. There are 18 steamers in total, you are to draw food from the bag and place 2 pieces of food in 6 steamers, then 3 pieces in the next 6 steamers, the 4 pieces in the last 6 steamers. Once all the steamers are filled, they are randomized and set up in 6 stacks of 3 and placed on the table board. This part is made more difficult with the deluxe version. The deluxe bits can be just a bit too big depending on how they are sitting in the steamer and will cause the stack to be crooked. I had to reposition many pieces of food in the steamers so that the stacks would sit correctly.

Gameplay

The structure of Steam Up game play is fairly straight forward. Starting with the first player, players will go around the table taking 2 of the following actions:

• Take a food token from the supply
• Draw a fortune card and rotate the table 90 degrees
• Play a fortune card and rotate the table 90 degrees
• Exchange 2 fortune cards for one food token
• Use food tokens to purchase a matching steamer

The use of these actions will culminate in players acquiring food from the steamers and filling out their player board for points. Acquiring food tokens, exchanging cards, and purchasing steamers are all pretty simple actions. The actions that have you drawing and playing fortune cards and rotating the table are still simple, but help mix things up a bit.

Fortunes told . . .

These fortune cards allow players to execute special actions on their turn when played. As an example, I can take over the first player marker and gain a food token. I could roll the fate die and reap the reward of the result. I could place a card in front of me that has a special condition that when met will give me a reward. The cards have lots of different powers and it does help keep things interesting.

The other part of drawing and playing fortune cards is that you also get to rotate the table. This is important because you can only purchase steamers from the your designated section. If that steamer is not in your section, you can rotate the table to get that steamer closer to you so you can purchase it.

Fates decided . . .

Once everyone has had a chance to take their actions, the next round begins and a fate card is drawn. These cards affect all players and will see them adding points to the score track, taking food tokens or food itself, or drawing fortune cards. It seems to most often be used as a catch up mechanism. Once every one has performed the action on the fate card the next round begins.

I’m full

As mentioned before, acquiring food from the steamers is how you will ultimately win Steam Up. When you purchase a steamer with food or take a food from a steamer or the bag, it gets placed on your player board. Typically, as you place more of the same type of food on the board the value of the food increases in points. I say typically because characters are asymmetrical and their scoring mechanisms are all varied. Some characters score additional points for columns completed, others have special powers that make it easier to get food but may have lower scores for food on their board.

Purchasing steamers will work towards triggering the end of the game. When that set amount of steamers are purchased, the game ends and players will tally up their score, add points for fortune cards they still have, subtract points for food tokens they still have and the winner will be declared.

Steam Up Impressions

I am of 2 minds when it comes to Steam Up. First, my kids absolutely love this game and it is all because of the components and simple game play. They were able to dive right in and completely understood the turns after 2 rounds. They loved the components and the food in the steamers have this hard squishy feel that anyone who has ever handled the Everdell berries will completely relate to. In my several games with them the game ended fast because they were so focused on buying steamers at all costs and playing with the bits on their player board. They though the animals on the boards were super cute and they each had their favorite animal to play with and don’t get me started on the squishy bao bun first player marker that they so desperately wanted to get their hands on.

Being able to take out a game that my kids want to play has value to me but, for a gamer this game is really simple. Playing fortune cards helps to keep it somewhat fresh, as does rotating the table and randomness to the steamers. When playing with the kids I was not rotating the table as much because the kids did not want me to be ‘mean’ and take away the steamer they were going for. But when playing with adults, table rotation and card play were much more common. The game is solid and I could see it as a game that could be used for introducing people to the start of hobby games if it was not for the set up. I have set up this game several times it does not get any faster and it is almost not worth the game play itself for the adults. Again this is the deluxe edition with those extra bits and I really do think it makes the game more fun to play with and certainly give it a huge table presence, it is just very tedious to set up.

It is strange, the game is good but it is simple. For me, were it not for these extra components I think a handful of plays would have been enough for me. But because my kids love it so much, it has most likely earned a place in my collection long term. I am probably over 20 plays now and my kids can’t get enough of handling those components and jockeying for the first player squishy. And you know what, if it keeps us playing together, it is worth holding on to.

Steam Up Final Verdict

For me, look past the deluxe tokens and you have a decent game here. It would not get much playing time from me due to the set up as I would probably look for games of similar complexity that set up faster. However my kids rate this game a 100 out of 5 and seeing the smiles on their faces each time we play is enough for me to keep setting this up and playing whenever they ask.