Top 107 · #22 of 60 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 Penalty Card (−1 point) that pulls your rating down.
👨👧👦 Played with our kids
Played with children aged 7 and 5.
Rules
Move your barista Meeple across the Ingredient Board, take the ingredient from each cell you move onto, distribute the tokens among three Cups, and match Orders exactly. Your route is your ingredient list, so every step shapes the recipe.
Before choosing — can the table manage the order flow together?
| Question | What to expect |
|---|---|
| A good fit | You enjoy planning a route across the ingredient board and deciding which descending order to finish first |
| Rules load | Each turn has five phases, while cups, order movement, and penalties all need tracking |
| How to help | For the first few turns, have one player read the five phases in order and check order movement and time tokens at the end |
| Choose something else when | The group wants a lighter game where one choice gives an immediate result without maintaining several states |
Setup — 3–4 players
- 1Place the Ingredient Board in the middle. Put the Ingredient Tokens, Rush Tokens, and shuffled Order Card deck beside it as the Supply Area.
- 2Each player chooses a color and takes 1 Player Board · 1 Meeple · 4 Upgrade Tiles · 3 Cups.
- 3Choose the starting player and place the Starting Player Token with its “OPEN” side up.
- 4The starting player puts 2 Order Cards on tab 1 and 1 on tab 2. Every other player puts 1 card on each of tabs 1 and 2.
- 5Starting with the player to the starting player's right, proceed anticlockwise and place one Meeple at a time on an empty Ingredient Board cell.
- 6Only after every Meeple has been placed does each player take the Ingredient Token shown under their Meeple and put it into a Cup.
Two Meeples cannot be placed on the same cell. Do not take the starting-cell ingredient immediately: everyone takes theirs after all Meeples have been placed.
Your turn — five phases
- 1Activate Upgrades (optional) — discard 3 completed Order Cards and turn 1 Upgrade Tile face up.
- 2Move — you may move to orthogonally adjacent cells 1–3 times and may stop after only 1 or 2 moves.
- 3Pour Ingredients — distribute the ingredients gained this turn among Cups, or return them to the Supply Area.
- 4Process Order (optional) — complete an Order when a Cup matches it exactly.
- 5Turn End — give other players new Orders, then apply the Flow of Time to your own Orders.
Receive the ingredient on every cell you move onto
Your basic movement is up to 3 moves. Each Rush Token adds 1 move, with no limit on the number spent in one turn. If the Supply Area lacks enough of an ingredient, take as many as are available.
You may pass through an occupied cell, but may not stop there
You receive that cell's Ingredient Token and may continue moving to the next cell. At the end of movement there must be only 1 Meeple on a cell. You may revisit the same cell several times and may finish on the cell where you started.
Cups and Process Order
- Of the Ingredient Tokens gained during Move, place any number into one Cup or several Cups. You may return some or all unwanted tokens to the Supply Area.
- An Ingredient Token already in a Cup cannot be transferred to another Cup.
- During your turn you may empty any number of Cups. Every token in each chosen Cup returns to the Supply Area.
- A Cup's contents must match the Order Card exactly. An extra or missing ingredient means the Order cannot be completed.
- Whenever you complete a Specialty Menu Order, gain 1 Rush Token.
Upgrades — activate one with three completed Orders
At the beginning of your turn, if you have at least 3 completed Order Cards, you may discard 3 to activate 1 Upgrade Tile. It works immediately and remains active for the rest of the game.
| Official name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Double Meeples | Receive ×2 Ingredient Tokens on cells with another Meeple |
| Double Corners | Receive ×2 Ingredient Tokens on the Ingredient Board's 4 corner cells |
| Double Specialties | Receive ×2 Ingredient Tokens on caramel, chocolate, water, and tea leaves cells |
| Diagonal Movement | You may move to diagonal cells |
Upgrade effects stack
If a cell satisfies more than one upgrade, apply every multiplier. A corner cell containing another Meeple, for example, combines Double Meeples and Double Corners to provide 4 times the base ingredient.
Too Many Orders, Flow of Time, and Penalty Cards
The more Orders you complete, the more Orders each of the next two players to your left receives. Resolve Too Many Orders first, then move your own Order Cards down through Flow of Time.
| Completed this turn | Nearest player to your left | Next player to your left |
|---|---|---|
| N Orders | Takes all N first and puts them on tab 1 | Then takes N and puts them on tab 1 |
- 1Too Many Orders — each of the two players to your left takes as many Order Cards as you completed and puts them on tab 1.
- 2The nearest player to your left takes their entire share before the next player draws theirs.
- 3If the deck runs short during Too Many Orders, distribute the remaining cards as far as possible starting with the player to your left. The starting player then flips the Starting Player Token to “CLOSED.”
- 4Flow of Time — afterwards, move your own Orders down one tab: tab 1→2, 2→3, and 3→4.
- 5An Order pushed off tab 4 is turned face down as a Penalty Card. Gain 1 Rush Token for each new Penalty Card.
Each Penalty Card is worth −1 Rating. When anyone has 5 or more, flip the Starting Player Token to “CLOSED.”
Game End and Rating
- The game closes when the Order Card deck is depleted or a player has 5 or more Penalty Cards. Flip the Starting Player Token to “CLOSED.”
- Continue through the turn of the player to the starting player's right, then end the game. This gives everyone the same number of turns.
| Item | Rating |
|---|---|
| Completed Order Card | +1 each |
| Activated Upgrade Tile | +2 each |
| Penalty Card | −1 each |
Ties
Compare ① completed Order Cards, then ② Rush Tokens. If the tie remains, share the win.
2 Player Rules
- Each player chooses red or blue and uses 2 Meeples. Starting with the non-starting player, alternate placing one Meeple at a time on empty cells. After all 4 are placed, put each Meeple's ingredient into your Cup or Cups.
- On your turn, move only 1 of your Meeples. You cannot split movement between them.
- Double Meeples also works on a cell containing your own other Meeple.
- During Too Many Orders, the other player takes as many Order Cards as you completed and puts them on tab 1.
- After moving your Orders down for Flow of Time, add 1 Order Card to tab 1 on every turn.
- Depleting the deck during Flow of Time can also trigger Game End. If the starting player triggers it, the other player takes one last turn; if the non-starting player triggers it, the game ends immediately.
Rules people get wrong
Q. Must I use all three basic moves?
No. You may move 1–3 times and stop after only 1 or 2 moves. Each Rush Token adds 1 more move.
Q. May I revisit a cell or return to my starting cell?
Yes. You may pass through the same cell several times and may finish on the cell where you started.
Q. May I move through a cell with another Meeple?
Yes, and you still receive that cell's ingredient. You just may not end your movement there.
Q. I poured an ingredient into the wrong Cup.
You cannot transfer one token to another Cup, but during your turn you may empty any number of Cups completely.
Q. Can I complete an Order with an ingredient left over?
No. The Cup must match the Order Card exactly.
Q. How many Rush Tokens can I spend?
There is no limit. Each token adds 1 move, and you may spend as many as you hold.
History and editions
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Players · time | 2–4 players · about 30 minutes · age 8+ |
| Game design | Euijin Han |
| Genre | Grid movement + set collection |
This guide was checked against all 8 pages of Korea Boardgames' official English rulebook. A public official Korean rulebook source has not yet been obtained; the Korea Boardgames QR and rules-library routes and the owner's physical rulebook still need to be checked for Korean-edition terminology.
Sources
Korea Boardgames — Official English rulebookBoardGameGeek: Coffee RushPublisher page — Asmodee: Coffee RushEnglish Wikipedia search — no dedicated game article found (9 October 2026)Wiki 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 2026-10-24
💡 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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