Chef ShowdownNot another competitive cooking show on TV, Chef Showdown is a fast-action matching game from Educational Insights.

Players race to put their chef tokens on showdown cards that match the ingredients of cards in their hands. But it’s not about who’s chef gets there first. Because players are encouraged to knock each other’s chefs off the showdown cards, what’s important is who’s chefs are left standing when the timer runs out. The winner is the one who’s collected the most cards.

As the designer, Kim Vandenbroucke, explains:

Chef Showdown came about because… I wanted to make a speed visual dexterity game, but I also wanted it to have a revenge factor with quick short rounds so you could yell at a player for stealing something from you. When I started I didn’t know what kind of theme it should be but I found the kawaii-style foods really fun and cute and it just kind of grew from there.