Late Pledge Store - Umami Friends: The Card Game

Umami Friends Recap! First look at the updated player mats!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 08:24:53 AM

What's up Umami Friends!

Quick update:

• Plushies are produced.
• Cards and rulebook will be finalized as of 5/5.
• Art is virtually complete — we’re just in final touch mode now.
• Pledge manager is still on hold while we refine the shipping plan (tariffs = chaos).
• Manufacturing plan has remained the same.

I am so so happy with the player mats!!!

I’m continuing to hold off on the pledge manager until the last minute. I’m hoping things settle down with tariffs in the next month or so. Either way, production is staying on schedule. I’ll be making extra games, mats, plushies, etc., so add-ons won’t be affected — you’ll still be able to grab add-ons when the pledge manager opens.

There are about two weeks left before everything is officially locked in. I’m doing a ton of in-person playtesting right now to finalize the balance, and it’s feeling really good. After May 5th, everything will be final. I'm so excited to share!

I am keeping the Tabletop Simulator updated with the latest balance tweaks. As always, I’m around on Discord and email if you have any questions. And if you’ve got thoughts on the game or balance ideas, definitely send them my way!

– Andy

Happy Umami Monday! February Recap.
over 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 03, 2025 at 10:41:30 PM

What's up, Umami Friends!

First off, huge apologies for the hold-up on the pledge manager. Thanks over and over for your patience and sticking with me through this. I’m now teaming up with Naylor Games for all our needs on the fulfillment for this first round of games.

Naylor Games is onboarding Umami Friends into their system and updating the SKU system, and then we'll be all set to launch the pledge manager. They have an excellent track record and lots of glowing recommendations, which really eases my mind about some of the big uncertainties of self-publishing— namely fluctuating freight costs and navigating any potential extra costs from U.S. tariffs that might pop up.

Shinies are complete!

Pikarar has completed the Shiny Arts! I'm so excited to share all of these with y'all.

We're finishing up the player mats and optimizing some packaging, otherwise all other components are complete and are proofed or ready to be proofed for manufacturing.

Other Updates

I spend a ton of time on game design! Besides putting the finishing touches on balancing the base game and expansion, I am working on potential future expansion ideas and a long-term trajectory for the game.  I'll save those for a future update once they are further finalized. I'll update the TTS with the new balance patch and the player mats once those are finished as well.

Thank you again for all your support and patience—it really means the world to me. Next update, I'll share some more gameplay and lore updates, and of course, keep you posted on the state of production and fulfillment.

Thank you all!

Andy

January Update! Thank you for being patient with me.
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jan 23, 2025 at 06:34:55 AM

I’ve got a ton to share with you all! Thank you for being so patient with me. I will share monthly updates from here on out unless otherwise noted.

Here’s a Quick Update:

• Huge Gameplay Updates / Tabletop Sim Updated
• Pledge Manager will open in February.
• Original Pin Designs are being proofed.
• Shinies are currently being illustrated by Pikarar.
• Plushie Manufacturing is set up and final designs are looking good.
• Printed assets will begin production sometime after CNY.

U.S. trade politics are quite turbulent right now so I am waiting to launch the pledge manager for a little while longer once details about tariffs and international trade become more clear. Waiting does not affect the production timeline.

I’m being consulted by a logistics expert to navigate this space, and talking to potential future publishers and localization partners. I'll get into this more in the next update.

Updated Pin Art!

Pikarar was kind enough to make original, chibi-style designs that look AWESOME as pins. 

Gameplay Changelog

The rest of this post is dedicated to gameplay updates. I have updated Tabletop Simulator to reflect these balance changes, so you can check them out now. I’ll be adding some scripted automations to the game soon too (huge thank you to community member Rockin123)!

Core Gameplay Change

There is a new default action you can take in Umami Friends! This is huge and will affect the base game and all expansions.

“If you have built no Recipes this turn, you may use an Action to place 2 (instead of 1) Ingredient.”

Previously, you could only place 1 Ingredient on a turn. Now, if you don’t want to build a Recipe, you can place 2 Ingredients down. 

This is a massive positive change:

• It saves turns where you have bad luck.
• It makes lots more new strategies viable.
• It makes it easier to buy Recipes and cycle Ingredients for newer players.

Ingredient Deck

I want newer players to understand the deck easily. I inverted the role of Noodle and Spicy. Before, Noodles enhanced Spicy cards. Now, Noodles function as the base of Recipes, and Spicy ingredients are added to scale their power. 

 I changed the frequency of types in the ingredient deck as well for simplicity and balance. A new Umami Friend appeared!

Common Recipes

This is a massive change for Umami Friends. Your ingredients in your hand used to be unsafe cards at a high risk of being attacked by the opponent, and the cards on your board were the safe ones. This is now inverted. 

Placing ingredients on your board is a great way to build up to strong Recipes and get extra Umami points quickly, but it is riskier, as the easy-to-make Spicy Ramen can now target these Ingredients.

This gives Umami Friends a really fun sense of tension. You can see what your opponent is building towards on their board, but you can’t see what is in their hand. 

Do you cook the Recipe you were planning on going for? Or do you have to pivot and make a Spicy Recipe, to get rid of the Ketchup on their board to stop them from getting Omegaburger?

Fancy Burger

Since Spicy Ramen got a buff, Fancy Burger deserved one too. Fancy Burger now places a card on your board. This gives Burger players really good early game momentum to either build more burgers, or to save Ingredients and scale up Umami Points for a quick win.
 

Garden Salad

Garden Salad got a buff now too. Garden Salad now gives all players +1 including the one who bought it +1 ingredient. This means that the timing of buying Garden Salad makes when to buy Garden Salad a strategic decision to string together a Recipe combo.

Big Burrito

In the last update, I had a long discussion about reworking scoring. The fix turned out to be pretty simple! All abilities that gave +Umami per Recipe were taken out to disincentivize spamming a ton of small Recipes. 

Twice Cream

Twice Cream are now worth +2 Umami (instead of +1 Umami). Twice Cream is a little harder to build into, meaning they are typically only seen late game. They are meant to scale up and eventually end the game.

They are also not discardable or stealable, so that a Spicy player can’t just camp the late-game and wait to steal your powerful Recipe.

Rare Recipes

Basic / Rares now reflect Risk / Reward.

These costs are now statistically just out of reach. Meaning if you want these, you have to set up for them. This really builds tension between players as you see the opponent building up for Rares on their board. Will you counter your opponent, or try to get to the Rares first on your own?

Advanced/Legendary Rares

Before, certain board states emerged that disincentivized building up to stronger Rare Recipes.  Now, it’s almost always worth it to turn in your weaker Recipes and combine them into the more powerful Rares, which scale in points better.

New Rare Recipes

The new Rare Recipes have emerged! I have been playtesting them endlessly internally, but I’m sure the community will find a broken combo to give me feedback on with these guys.

Sweets

In Umami Friends, you can spend Sweets to give you more actions and ingredients early, or you can try to save them for late-game point scaling. I tried to balance the two, and give Rare Recipes that more strongly reinforce either decision.

Chefs

Clara has been added!

Clara is the chillest Umami Chef, by far. If you’re a player who just wants to cook with the ingredients the game throws at you and go with the flow, then Clara is for you!

Fronk

Fronk isn’t directly changed, but the buff to Fancy Burger makes him an absolute beast. He is capable of the fastest win in the game!

Shinra

Shinra’s special ability now costs 7x  Spicy. This is simply reflective of the change of Ingredient Deck frequency, and the fact that Shinra’s ability is incredibly powerful. 

---

That’s it for now. I’m still balancing the game up until I have to finalize the print, so please, if you get a chance,hop onto Tabletop Simulator and let me know what you think!I added stuff like player aids to make it easier to get into as well.

Your feedback since the Kickstarter has already improved the game immensely, so I’m sure there’s even more improvements we can make right up until the finish.

-Andy

Thank you all!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 07:09:26 AM

Thank you Umami Friends!

Wow. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Umami Friends Kickstarter has officially ended, and it was a massive success—all thanks to you. Whether you backed the project, shared it with a friend, or cheered it on, you made this happen. 

I’m so incredibly grateful for every one of you who believed in this game and the world we’re building together.

When I set out to make Umami Friends, I wanted to create something that would be my ideal version of a card game combined with my love for food, animals, and gaming. The fact that so many of you saw that vision and decided to join me on this journey means the world. I can't wait to get this game into your hands!

So, what’s next? I'll be keeping you in the loop as we work on logistics and getting everything prepared. We were so close to the last stretch goal, that I'll release an update and add the character when we hit it via Late Pledging! I just don't want to leave that Umami Friend hanging with $1k short! 

Stay tuned for more updates as we turn this campaign success into the real thing. This will be my last window to refine the game via print, so if you are a dedicated playtester or competitive player, please hop on over to the Discord or email me to help work on refining the final game mechanics! As always, the gameplay experience is priority to me.

I'll be working on building out an Umami Friends website with tons more content, and I'll share an alpha version of some solo mode ideas in the future too. 

Until then, thank you again for making Umami Friends a reality—this is only the beginning, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with all of you!

-Andy

Just a few hours left!! Thank you all.
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 11:52:34 PM

Hello to all my Umami Friends!

I am writing this before going to bed, with just a few hours left to go in the campaign. We are officially wrapping up, with an end time of 6 AM PST / 9AM EST / 1 PM GMT + 0.

If you didn't catch the email earlier today, I'll reshare the detils for the final hours here:

Don’t miss your chance to meet Sasha, Shinra, Coco, Damien, Ramona... and of course, Fronk!

My last two updates were really big ones! If you are a dedicated gamer, I'd recommend checking out the big gameplay update. If you are a hardcore collector, I shared some of the Shinies and a chart of Rarities in the latest update!

Shiny Boosters will go up in price during the late pledge phase, and their availability may be limited. All gameplay-centric components will remain at MSRP, with the opportunity to upgrade to higher tiers. As always, I want to make the gameplay aspects as accessible as possible.

Get the bundled pricing on everything Umami, the lowest prices on Shiny Packs, and the opportunity to contribute to a one-of-a-kind board game that only exists because of you!

If you’ve been meaning to dive into the Umamiverse, now is the time!

I really appreciate all of you. As a first-time creator your early support means everything to me, and the community has been so positive! It feels so good.

So awesome to take this Umami Adventure with you. We made the Umamiverse come true!

Thank you all again.

-Andy