Icing on the Cake Review

boardgamequest.com:

I feel like it’s been forever since I reviewed a game about cakes. The last one I remember doing was back in 2016 for a kids’ game called Happy Party. I’ve actually come a long way in reviewing kids’ games now that I have some of my own (back then I had to borrow a friend’s kids to get some younger reviewers). Having played games with my kids for a few years now, I’m getting a better grasp on not only what makes kids’ games fun, but what little kids’ taste buds enjoy.

The latest game I tossed at them (not literally) is the newest offering from one of my favorite family game publishers FoxMind Games. Icing on the Cake is a tile-laying game where you’ll be creating your own cake from the bottom up. So strap on your aprons as we see what makes this one tick.

For a family/kids’ game, Icing on the Cake actually has a fair bit going on. The game is played over two rounds, with the first round being the simplest of the two. To start a round, 16 level-1 tiles are dealt out in a 4×4 grid. Then the active player draws a cut card and splits the cake tiles according to the polyomino shapes on the card. Then, each player selects one of the groups of shapes and adds them to their cake.

In part one, the goal is to have the edges of your cake contain frosting and build up a large area of matching color tiles. You earn one point for each edge that contains frosting, and 2 points per tile in your largest area. After four rounds have gone by, everyone should have a full layer of their cake. It’s time to move on to part 2.

Part two plays out similarly to part one, however now there are frosting cards instead of cake tiles. But the gameplay works similarly, with a player splitting the tiles and each choosing a group. What’s new here is that each time you place a card on its matching color tile, you earn a treat token (1 point). If you get a full set of all 4 types of treats, you earn a candle (4 points). After four rounds, the scores are tallied and the player with the most points is