Demanding jobs, unpaid bills, health concerns: modern life is filled with constant worry. Let your burdens drift away, if only for a moment, in the rich aromatic steam of your favorite tea.

A Nice Cuppa is the seventh game in Button Shy’s Simply Solo series. Designed by Scott Almes, the game tasks the player with managing Worries through careful card management across 8 turns. As Worries are revealed, they complicate your life and force you to become distracted. Focus on your tea to eliminate those pesky problems and soothe your shattered nerves. Once your tea is ready, evaluate how you did.

When your worries start to pile up, it’s important to focus on what really matters by concentrating on the soothing ritual of preparing a cup of tea.

To start the game, first shuffle the 7 Tea cards and place them in a line, Focused side up, each with a random face-down Worry card directly below it.

On your turn, first flip over a single face-down Worry. Then, in sequence from left to right, resolve each face-up Worry. These force you to rearrange your Tea cards in various ways, and you'll need to plan carefully to keep them from messing up your well-laid plans.

After all Worries have been resolved, flip each Tea card above a face-up Worry to its opposite face. This turns a Focused Tea card into a Distracted one and vice versa.

Remove each face-up Worry that’s below a Focused Tea card. These Worries have been addressed through the calming powers of tea and won’t be dealt with again!

Lastly, if you choose to, you may swap any two adjacent Tea cards to get them in a better position for the next turn.

After 8 turns, your tea is ready (whether you are or not). Score points for each Tea Card you have in the correct order, plus extra points for each Tea Card with its Focused side showing. But beware that you’ll lose points for each remaining Worry.

Tally up your total and check your score to see whether you’re ready to face the rest of your day or need to cozy up with another cuppa!

Games