As a game about owning an artisanal tea shop, it didn’t take much for everyone here at The Cardboard Cantina to fall in love with Prosperitea by Mentha Designs. With a pleasant blend of easy-to-learn mechanics fused with just enough strategy, this game appeased and delighted our senses and minds with each play. Its humble, deceptively simple mechanics impart themselves to an experience not often found at the game table as the players vie to come out on top while being rewarded for helping others at the same time. The core philosophies behind this 3-6 player card game are a beautiful yet subtle reminder that winning doesn’t have to be about crushing the opposition. The path to becoming the most prestigious tea shop will be lined with stones of both competitiveness and kindness.

Prosperitea originally launched on Kickstarter in October of 2020 but fell shy of its funding goal. After a bit of regrouping, designer/artist Aven Gonzales III and co-artist Jose Pimienta are back for a relaunch on March 15, 2021! One of the main focuses of their design is to be as eco-friendly as possible. This includes utilizing fully recyclable components (sorry Spot UV fans!), zero plastics, and using sustainable shipping products. All of the intended stretch goals, such as metal coins, are also eco-friendly. In addition to Prosperitea, Gonzales designed Cantankerous Cats, which was released in 2014. Pimienta was also part of the team of artists for Cantankerous Cats.

There are six different decks used for a game of Prosperitea and each of them needs to be shuffled separately before playing. The four Ingredient decks (Flavor, Green, Black, and Tisane) are all placed face up in a row at the top of the play area. Next, the Standard Order deck is placed beneath the row of Ingredient decks. Two rows of Standard Orders are revealed with three cards in each row. The remaining deck of Premium Orders is placed beneath those with a row of its own three cards. Favor Tokens and coins should then be separated into their respective stacks and placed within easy reach of all players. Each pair of players will also receive a reference card to share. These cards have additional, simple tea recipes known as “Evergreen Orders” on them that are available to all players to fulfill in order to earn coins, but not Prestige. Based on player order, players will also receive a starting bank and can choose their starting ingredients. This is explained in the rulebook. It is important to note that for this Kickstarter preview, we are using a prototype so components may not reflect the final product.

Each player’s turn consists of two phases: sourcing ingredients and blending them together for order fulfillment. To begin their turn, players must first declare a budget for the round of either zero, three, or five coins. Depending on their declared amount, they will buy either one, three, or four ingredients. They may also pass on sourcing new ingredients and choose to “advertise” instead, which will gain them two coins and the choice to discard one of the visible orders. Order cards will show the blend of ingredients needed to fulfill them. By completing these requirements, players may claim that Order for either the coin value or the number of Prestige points shown on the card. Players can fulfill these orders on their own, with the help of the other players, or by using Favor Tokens. Any assisting player will gain a Favor Token for their aid, which can be used as a wild card or to score points at the end of the game. Play continues as such until either of the Order decks is empty. At that point, the current round will be finished and points will be tallied as per the rulebook. The player with the most Prestige wins.

As a fun side note, backers will receive an exclusive set of cards that add new mechanics and twists! Nikki M. Dimas, a new cross-over character compatible with Cantankerous Cats, joins the game along with some new tea blends featuring a very seasonal ingredient. If playing with Nikki, players will now be able to steal ingredients from one another. However, these actions come with a price and can cost you in the end unless you’re able to tame Nikki and bring them to your side!

Originally coming across this game as it was mentioned in a goth Facebook group of all places, we were drawn to both the theme and the vintage appearance of the art. After doing a little research about the project, our interests were further piqued as we read about the eco-friendly aspects of the design and the goals for the upcoming campaign. Though made entirely of paper, the game has held up well through several plays with the prototype, which gives us hope for the final product as well. Though Prosperitea is not overly complex, there are still enough levels of strategy to give the game some depth and keep it interesting for all levels of players. The game is easy to set up and can be taught to new players relatively quickly. Though recommended for ages 12+, we feel that Prosperitea could easily be taught to younger gamers as well as long as they understand the concepts of set collection and have a high enough reading level to match up the names of the tea ingredients. It is also appreciated that steps have been taken to use different shapes, symbols, and colors for those with visual impairments. While Prosperitea may appear to be purely competitive, it is nice to see some co-op elements not only encouraged in the game but available as an actual strategic option. Prosperitea will be making its return to Kickstarter on March 15th and we will be among the first in line to back it!

All images of Mentha Designs‘ product were taken and edited by Krista.