Burger ASAP

Burger ASAP! is a fun competitive puzzle game where players compete to build adorable burgers and be the best chef in the kitchen! Puzzle-solving never got so burger flipping fun.

How to Play

Burger ASAP! plays up to 5 players, each with their own set of 7 double sided ingredient cards. Each round, an order card is revealed with a set of burgers on it which can be made out of the ingredients on the ingredient cards. Players then race to flip and stack their ingredient cards to show the listed burgers. All 7 ingredient cards must be used to display the required order. Each side of the ingredient card has two ingredients on it, meaning that players can overlap their cards so only one of these ingredients is shown if necessary. Once a player believes that they have completed the order, they must shout “Burger!” and everyone stops to check that they have indeed completed it correctly. If they have, they take the order card into their stash and a new order card is drawn. If they have not completed it correctly, that player is eliminated from the round and players continue playing the current order until someone successfully completes it. Order cards have a one to three star rating on them, indicating their difficulty, with one star cards being the easiest to complete and three star cards being the most difficult. The winner of the game is the first person to reach 5 stars if only playing with one and two star cards, or 7 stars if playing with all three levels.

A Bun-dle of Joy

Burger ASAP! incorporates both a lovely puzzle element and a competitive edge to make a really engaging family party game. There are a lot of different order cards, so the game can be played many times whilst still feeling fresh. Even if you end up playing all of the cards, so they are familiar, this adds a different element to the game, where it is not only about being quick to problem solve, but also about the efficiency with which you solve it, due to the competitive speed element. Because of this two-stage aspect, the game does not necessarily get stale in the way many puzzle games do once you know the answers. This puzzle-speed element also lends the game nicely to playing solo, as you can attempt to beat your personal best time.

I am also a fan of the way that Burger ASAP! scores, with different star levels of cards instead of just the number of cards won. This rewards players for solving trickier puzzles more than the easier ones, which makes them feel like more of an achievement upon completion. I think this really aids in the engagement with the game, as it shifts the tension when a higher level card is played, as whilst it gets someone closer to winning, it will also take them longer to solve it. I also like this scoring system because it allows for the addition and removal of different levels of cards, making the game as a whole easier or more difficult depending on the skill level of the people playing. Whilst the rules only provide for two options: all one and two cards, or all one, two, and three cards, there is no stopping a group deciding on a different distribution of tricky to easy that suits their play styles and abilities.

A Little Undercooked

As with any competitive puzzle game, disadvantages come most often when playing with mixed experience groups. Those who have played multiple times have a significant advantage over those who are new to the game, which can leave the game feeling unfair. If you add in all easy cards to accommodate new players, you’re basically guaranteeing a win for experienced players who are more skilled in their burger creation and know what they’re doing. But equally, if you add in the trickier cards to give some challenge for the more experienced, then it just alienates the new players who become lost and disinsentivised. Even just knowing which ingredient cards have which ingredients on them conveys a large advantage over those who need to search around for the ingredients they need.

Arguably, there is no solution to this problem, as it just comes with the nature of the game, and once people gain experience, those differences lessen, but it can be a little off-putting.

Does Burger ASAP! meat my expectations?

Overall, Burger ASAP! is a highly enjoyable and very cute little party game with simple to learn rules. The game has an element of “mastery” to it as a puzzle game, which can be a double-edged sword, giving a lovely challenge to the experienced, but can be alienating to the new. A solid party game for any household, packed into a very adorable, if a bit flimsy burger case.