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Fancy Café Beginner’s Guide: Tips, Cheats & Strategies to Run Your Own Café

Fancy Café is a unique match-three puzzle game from Genera Games, that’s out now on iOS and Android platforms. The game follows the story of a young woman named Kate. She is following her dream of running her own café, and it is your job to help her. Solving match-three puzzles will allow you to decorate the restaurant, unlock menu items, and gain access to new locations.

You might think it’s just another Gardenscapes clone, but this game has a few twists of its own that will keep you occupied. Despite being Kate’s assistant, she puts you in charge of nearly every task. You also get to decide how to design her restaurant. Of course, you will have to work for each decoration you put up. There are over a hundred puzzles to solve, each one more difficult than the last. If you find yourself stuck in any of them, just check out our Fancy Café beginner’s guide for tips, cheats and strategies!

1. Know Your Bombs

fancy café bombs

If you are a match-three puzzle veteran, you would be familiar with the concept of creating bombs by matching four or more tiles of the same kind. This game is no exception. Creating bombs is the first thing you need to learn in this game because it will be impossible to complete later stages without them. You should practice scanning the entire board for patterns that will allow you to make these bombs. Not all bombs are the same, and you need to know which ones to use depending on your goal. Check out the list of bombs below along with how to make them.

Line Bomb: These are actually called Horizontal or Vertical Bombs depending on how you made them. A Horizontal Bomb would clear the entire row while a Vertical Bomb will clear the entire column. You can make these by match four tiles in a row or column.

Bee Bomb: This is made by matching four tiles as well, but in a square formation. When used, the Bee Bomb will destroy four tiles around it then fly to a random tile and destroy that as well.

Big Bomb: A Big Bomb is made by matching five tiles in a T or L formation. When you use it, it will explode and destroy everything in a three-tile radius.

Rainbow Bomb: This can be made by matching five tiles in a row or column. Match it with a specific tile in order to delete all instances of that tile from the board.

2. Combine Your Bombs

If bombs are fun to make, it’s even more fun to mix them up. When you swap two bombs, their effects will combine and create an even bigger explosion. You can clear even more tiles from the board by combining the right bombs. Combining a Line Bomb with a Big Bomb will clear three rows and three columns. Combining a Bee Bomb with a Line or Big Bomb will make the bee carry the other bomb to a random location. Combining a Rainbow Bomb with any of the three other bombs will create multiple instances of those bombs all over the board then detonate them all at once.

Using two bombs of the same type will amplify their effect. When you swap two Line Bombs, they will clear an entire row and column in a cross-shaped pattern. Swapping two Big Bombs will create a bigger explosion. Using two Bee Bombs will clear the tiles surrounding the two bees then create a third bee that will fly to another location. Finally, two Rainbow Bombs will clear the entire board. It takes a bit of work, but if you manage to pull off these combinations, you will be able to solve even the most complicated puzzles.

3. Know Your Goal

fancy café goal

Even before you begin a stage, you will be presented with your goals. The same goals will be listed on the left side of the board once you begin the puzzle. Goals can include collecting a certain tile, clearing out all boxes, unlocking chili peppers, making milk cartons fall, and so on. While it may be fun to continuously make bombs and watch them destroy tiles, make sure you stay focused on your goals. There are only a limited number of moves available per puzzle. If you use them all up, you will fail the puzzle. Make every move you make count.

When you run out of moves, you will be given the option to buy a few more by spending coins. Don’t do this. It might seem like you have a lot of coins in the beginning, but don’t let that fool you. You only earn around 50 to 65 coins per puzzle and buying five measly moves will cost you a whopping 900 coins. It’s better to just start over unless you have been stuck on the same puzzle forever and you are sure you only need five moves or less to finally complete it.

4. Save Your Moves If You Can

fancy café moves

Just because you are given a certain number of moves per puzzle does not mean you should use them all up. All the unused moves you have at the end of a puzzle will be converted into random bombs on the board. They will then all detonate and give you bonus coins. Take advantage of this while the stages are still easy. Coins are hard to come by in this game, and you won’t be able to get a lot of leftover moves once the puzzles get tougher. You also cannot farm for coins by replaying old levels since there is no way to go back to any of the completed puzzles. Try to make as much money as you can while you are still in the early stages. You will need a lot once you reach the advanced puzzles.

5. Think Before You Move

The game does not have a time limit, so you don’t really need to hurry when solving a puzzle. Make sure you analyze the board carefully before making a move. It is generally a good idea to match tiles at the bottom of the board in order to set off chain reactions. Before you do that, however, make sure there are no potential bomb matches that would get ruined by your move.

You should also be careful in making moves that could potentially get you stuck. For example, some stages where you need to bring the milk carton to the bottom of the board will allow you to swap the milk carton to the side of the board. The problem with this is the carton will no longer fall no matter how many matches you make. The only way to get it out of that corner is if you swap it back out. And there’s no way to do that unless you can get a bomb right beside the carton.

6. Don’t Buy Extra Lives

You can have a maximum of 5 lives in the game. When the number of lives you have is less than five, you will automatically generate them after some time. If you run out of lives, you will be given the option to replenish all 5 lives in exchange for 1000 coins. Never spend coins to buy extra lives. Just wait a few minutes until you get more lives for free. It will be a lot harder for you to earn back those coins than to wait for lives to regenerate naturally.

7. Avoid Using Boosters

There are several boosters that you can use in the Fancy Café. Kate will ask you to select them at the beginning of a stage as part of the tutorial. You can just cancel the selection before you enter the stage in order to avoid using the said booster. The last thing you want is to waste a perfectly good booster on an easy puzzle. Boosters are consumable, and you will be difficult to get more of them for free. Save them for puzzles that are nearly impossible to solve. The only time you should use a booster is if you have spent multiple lives trying to solve a puzzle and you are absolutely sure that the booster will make a difference.

8. Check The Day Meter

fancy café day meter

The story of the game is divided into chapters called Days. You will know how far along you are in terms of completing a chapter before you enter a stage. It is the blue meter on the right side of the stage window. The blue meter fills up as you complete puzzles. Once it is full, the chapter is completed, and you earn various rewards.

Don’t be in too much of a hurry to complete a chapter. You will be rated based on the things you unlocked before you completed the day. If you got three stars on all categories, you will receive unlimited lives for 30 minutes. Take advantage of this 30-minute boost and try to complete as many puzzles as you can while it is active.

9. How To Decorate Your Café

fancy café products

Now that you know about the chapter rewards, you are probably wondering how you can unlock them. There are three categories for decorating your café: Products, Furniture, and Service. You can unlock items under these categories by following the story. The tasks are given to you through the checklist icon on the lower left corner of the screen. Check each tab to see which ones can be unlocked. You will need stars to complete tasks. Stars can be earned by completing puzzles.

The trick here is to avoid going on a puzzle-solving spree without spending your stars. If you complete the required number of puzzles without spending any stars, the chapter will be completed without having accomplished anything. On top of that, items under the Products category will require you to complete additional levels even if you have extra stars. Take that into consideration to avoid accidentally ending the chapter before you can unlock all the available items.

The Products tab also has a Catalogue button. When you tap on it, you will be able to see the list of menu items that you can unlock. Tap on the silhouette of the product you want to know more about, and you will see the requirements for unlocking that Product.

10. Choose Your Decorations Carefully

fancy café decorations

While your choice of decoration won’t really have an impact on the game, it will impact your budget if you decide later on that you don’t like what you picked. When setting furniture, you will be given three options. You can tap on each option to see what it will look like, then tap on the check button on the right to confirm.

If you want to change a certain decoration, you can do so by tapping and holding on the part you want to change. You will be given the three options again, but this time around, there will be a price on the ones you didn’t choose earlier. That means you will end up spending precious coins if you change your mind on the designs.

11. Claim Your Freebies

fancy café freebies

There are a few freebies available in the game that can make your life easier. The first one is through ad offers that you can take advantage of daily. You will see an exclamation mark on the checklist icon whenever an ad offer is available. Tap on it and you will find an extra task under the Furniture tab. Just tap on the Watch button and a video advertisement will play. After the video, you will receive a random reward. You can get the offer several times in a day, so keep an eye out for that exclamation mark.

Another freebie you can get from the game is the Daily Login reward. All you have to do is log into the game daily. You get a reward even if you don’t play. The Daily Login is a great way to get free boosters that you can use to complete more advanced stages. The rewards get better when you log in for consecutive days, with the best reward coming in on the 7th consecutive day. Keep in mind that if you miss a day, you will have to start over from Day 1.

It is time to help Kate fulfill her dream of building her own café! Just follow our Fancy Cafe tips and tricks listed above and you will be solving puzzles with ease!