Top 144 · #41 of 52 in Family
Coffee Rush
You play a barista who moves across the ingredient board and fills customers' coffee orders — a Korean-designed game from Korea Boardgames (designer Han Ui-jin, art by Hwang Si-won). Orders slide down one slot each turn along the 4-slot queue on your player board, and an order you never serve becomes a review card (−1 point) that pulls your rating down.
👨👧👦 Played with our kids
Played with children aged 7 and 5.
Rules
Move your barista across the ingredient board, pick up the ingredient on every space you cross, pour them into three cups and match the orders. The path you walk is the shopping list, so choosing where to step is the recipe.
Setup
- 1Put the ingredient board in the middle of the table.
- 2Each player picks a color and takes 1 player board · 1 pawn · 4 upgrade tiles · 3 clear cups.
- 3Place the start player token with the “OPEN” side up.
- 4Starting with the player who is not the start player, each player places their pawn on any space of the ingredient board and takes that space's ingredient.
- 5Each player draws order cards to fill queue slots 1 and 2 of their player board.
Pawns are placed in reverse order so the later placers get the better spots. It offsets the advantage of going first.
Your turn — five steps
- 1Activate an upgrade (optional) — turn a tile on once you meet its condition.
- 2Move (required) — 1 to 3 steps, orthogonally.
- 3Fill your cups (required) — pour the ingredients you picked up into cups, or send them back to the supply.
- 4Complete orders (optional) — if a cup matches an order, serve it.
- 5End your turn — time passes and the queue slides down.
You take an ingredient for every single step
Not just the space you land on — every space you pass through gives you one ingredient. Three steps bring in three ingredients. Each rush token you spend buys one extra step, and there is no limit on how many you spend.
You cannot stop on a space with another pawn
Passing through is fine, but you may not end your movement there. If an opponent blocks the way, your whole planned route falls apart.
Cups and completing orders
- Ingredients go into cups. Once an ingredient is in a cup it cannot be moved to another cup.
- You may, however, empty a whole cup at any time. If you poured wrong, start that cup over.
- A cup must match the order card exactly to complete it. Not one ingredient more, not one fewer.
- Completing a specialty order earns you 1 rush token.
Upgrades — you burn three orders to switch one on
Once you have 3 or more completed order cards, you may discard 3 of them to activate 1 upgrade tile. You are spending scoring cards to buy an ability.
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pawn ×2 | Take 2 ingredients from each space you cross |
| Diagonal movement | You may also move diagonally |
| Corner ×2 | Take 2 ingredients on the corner spaces of the ingredient board |
| Specialty ingredient ×2 | Take specialty ingredients 2 at a time |
An upgrade tile is also worth 2 points on its own. You pay 3 order cards (3 points) for a 2-point tile plus an ability, so the timing decides the game.
Time passing and review cards
- 1At the end of your turn, the order cards in your queue slide down one slot.
- 2A card pushed past slot 4 becomes a review card — the penalty for an order you never served.
- 3New order cards fill the empty slots.
Each review card is −1 point, and the game ends once someone has five. Cling to an order you cannot serve and time will turn it into a penalty for you.
End of the game and scoring
- When the order deck runs out or a player collects 5 review cards, flip the start player token to “CLOSED.”
- The game ends after the player to the right of the start player finishes their turn. That way everyone has had the same number of turns.
| Item | Rating |
|---|---|
| Completed order cards you kept | +1 each |
| Activated upgrade tiles | +2 each |
| Review cards | −1 each |
Ties
① Most order cards, then ② most rush tokens. Still tied? You share the win.
Two players
- Each player uses 2 pawns.
- But only one of them may move per turn. You cannot split your steps between the two pawns.
- The “Pawn ×2” upgrade also applies when you cross a space holding your own other pawn.
Rules people get wrong
Q. Do I only get the ingredient on the space I land on?
No. You get an ingredient for every step you take. Three steps, three ingredients.
Q. I poured an ingredient into the wrong cup.
You cannot move it to another cup, but you can empty the whole cup. Those ingredients go back to the supply.
Q. Can I complete an order with an ingredient left over?
No. The cup has to match the order exactly.
Q. Can I move through a space with an opponent's pawn?
Passing through is allowed. You just cannot stop there.
Q. How many rush tokens can I spend?
There is no limit. Spend everything you have and travel a long way in one turn.
Q. Isn't taking an upgrade a net loss?
You pay 3 order cards (3 points) for a 2-point tile, so it is −1 on the spot. But ingredients come in faster afterwards and you serve more orders. The later you switch one on, the less time you have to earn it back.
History and editions
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Players · time | 2–4 players · about 30 minutes · age 8+ |
| Genre | Grid movement + set collection |
This guide has not been checked against the official rulebook. Where your rulebook differs, follow your rulebook — and please tell us in the comments so we can fix it.
Sources
BoardGameGeek: Coffee RushPublisher page — Asmodee: Coffee RushWiki cross-check — Namuwiki: Coffee Rush (Korean)Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us in the comments below →
Last updated 2026-09-08
💡 Master tip
Trying to save every order is the beginner's trap. Let an order caught in queue slot 4 go and save your walking. Movement gives you an ingredient for every space you step onto, so a route that uses all 3 steps is the baseline, and rush tokens pay off best when you save them for a turn where you can complete two orders at once.
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