Bottom of the screen idler games continue to gain popularity but I’ve found them usually a little bit too hands-off for my own personal preference. Not Monday Cafe is the antidote to this problem for me. It is a cafe management game in the same vein as a Kairosoft game. Simple, streamlined, and not requiring very much effort at all, but with lots of options to explore and expand on. I’ve had the opportunity to preview an extended demo of the game, and so whilst I’ve not played the entire experience, I’ve spent hours fiddling with the mechanics and so feel comfortable reviewing the game in a broad stroke.
Not Monday Cafe has three distinct areas of gameplay to manage. The first is your cafe front for your customers. Here you’ll spend coins decorating the walls, and buying tables and chairs to lay out along the long, thin strip of your cafe. You’ll also need serving hatches and clean up trays to let your staff deliver and clean up efficiently, too. Customers review your cafe based on the food and the general aesthetic so early on, you’ll buy cheap decor, but if you want those consistent 4 and 5-star reviews, you’ll need to upgrade over time.
The second area of management is your kitchen. Here you’ll buy appliances, place them in the kitchen area, and over time upgrade them. Each appliance unlocks new recipes that your kitchen staff can make, and then even more if you level them up. Upgraded kitchen items run faster too, and the appliances start to create chains of workflow to create ingredients. The player doesn’t need to worry about this, aside from ensuring you have the right appliances available and installed. Your workers automatically chill or prep ingredients to form another complex ingredient for a recipe. The more complex the recipe, the more it will cost to produce and the higher the selling price. If you want bigger profits, you can take off cheaper items from your menu, but be aware that the prep time will be longer and you’ll need enough staff to manage the flow of customers too.
Lastly, you’ll have the farm area. Here is where all your ingredients are grown, from lettuce to eggs to meat and fish. Each plot generates a new ingredient on a cool-down timer that runs at pace if the plot is watered but the farmer staff. You can click away to water and harvest ingredients if you want, but the staff do a decent job as is. As plots are limited, you’ll need to optimise what you grow to match your menu.
All three areas can be expanded, costing coins to do so. You can also farm coins by clicking on customers if you find yourself broke. I found it quite difficult to get yourself into financial difficulty without doing something obviously poor, like hiring too many staff. The staff automation is decent, and you can customise their look and uniform too. All of this runs nicely with a smooth, jazzy soundtrack.
What I liked about Not Monday Cafe was that I felt in control of decisions that were impactful and meaningful. Choosing decor and upgrading bits of the cafe meant more tips. Deciding which appliances to buy and upgrade changed my menu, and therefore what I wanted to grow. Is it rocket science? No, but it is a step more involved than any other bottom-of-the-screen game I’ve played. If you enjoy management games, there are stat charts which detail profit by in-game day. There are missions to serve X amount of dishes, clean X amount of plates, or get X amount of 3-star reviews that unlock new decor or ingredients, too. You are always progressing towards something and the next choice and unlockable never feels too far away. There’s more here than most other games in this low-effort genre, and I really appreciated that.
Not Monday Cafe may not be out in full, but the extensive demo felt larger than many early access releases. Therefore, I’m going to be bold for once and declare this a great bottom-of-the-screen idler. Cute, simple, and full of choice. Monday might be a bit warmer with this cafe around.
Advanced access to the free demo was provided for this review. Not Monday Cafe is coming soon to Steam.
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