Who doesn’t love tacos? The food trucks in Free Tacos have some, well, free food available if you can guess the right truck and win them!
Was this game sent for review or self-purchased?: Toaster Bytes Gaming Company sent us this game for (p)review
In two sentences, what do you do in the game: You are trying to select a taco truck that no one else has so that you can get the food placed under it (worth positive or negative points at end game). If you select the same truck as someone else, you get a hot sauce special ability to use later instead.
Have we played any other titles by this publisher?: No, this is their premiere game!
What was surprising about this title: The pixel art was a unique choice for a food game.
How likely is this to return to the game table?: Not as likely for us. This is maybe more for those who enjoy the gambling luck element.
Game length: Short. Essentially you are betting simultaneously and then figuring out what/if you’ve won and then you begin anew until there aren’t enough tacos to refill so it can be fast-paced.
Language Barrier Playability: Great. Once the rules are learned, it’s all visuals. Points are listed right on the food tokens also (but not revealed until the end).
Artwork: Very fun! We love the nostalgic pixel art, especially with the trucks. It has an old-school video game feel that works with the fast pace of the game.
Quality: Sturdy. These tacos aren’t going to fall apart! But in all seriousness, the cards and tokens were well made. We can’t comment on the box, though, as it wasn’t the final box.
Strategy: Mostly luck based. I found myself betting a certain color truck based on a “feeling” and being right half the time (as gambling goes). Further into the luck, during point scoring, not all the tokens you gain are friendly. Some are side dishes worth negative points, and others are tacos worth positive points. Sometimes my pile would be large, and I’d find that many of them were negative points, whereas my opponents with smaller piles had more positive points. The one more strategic element is maybe that during the game, you have to organize the food you earn into two piles, and you only get points at the end where the pile is even, any excess food tokens on either side don’t give you points. So during the game you have to make sure you have the piles fairly even. One way to mess this up for an opponent is to use hot sauce special abilities, which can affect other players’ piles.
Instruction Manual: Good. It took us a moment for the end game scoring rules, but once we understood it, we were set. The images in the quick-to-read manual were helpful.
Organization: We can’t comment on organization as this wasn’t the final box.
Final thoughts: This game would potentially be good to bring while waiting for your food at a food truck, a quick game that anyone can learn easily, even strangers at your table. The luck element might also be good for kids learning how to play games with their families. Free Tacos also makes you hungry for tacos while you play it with the flashy pixel food art!
Sushiball Games 