Pokémon Cafe Mix is a cute little link and match puzzle game. Drag your finger over tiny Pokémon icons to connect them and complete the puzzle. Fill orders of “Poke Customers” and make new friends. The game’s easy to play and the puzzles are extremely engaging.
The puzzle board contains randomly generated icons of your favorite characters. Connect icons of the same type to score points and complete orders. Read on if you have just started playing:
Table of Contents
How to Play
In a puzzle level, link two or more Pokémon icons and release to score points. Each level has a set of objectives and completing all objectives before running out of moves will let you complete an order of a customer.
Levels are known as “orders” in this restaurant-themed Pokémon game.
You will have to reach certain levels or orders to unlock new cafe upgrades, which will also open up new “menu items”. Menu items or “offerings” can be served to new customers after completing a puzzle level.
For example: Once you finish level 11 or order #11, you will get the “Whipped Key Dispenser” upgrade. This will also unlock a yummy new food item named “Fluffy Eevee Pancakes”. When a customer arrives with an order for this new food item, complete a level to serve it to him and get stars/golden acorns as rewards.
You can check all unlocked menu items by tapping on “Offerings” under “Owner’s Menu”. Tap on the menu book on the lower-left corner of the screen to access the owner’s menu.
Along with new upgrades and items, you will also be expanding your cafe and unlocking new Pokémon customers when you reach a particular level.
In the Café screen, tap on the “Orders Left” button above the orange order button on the lower right corner of the screen.
Under “Cafe Upgrades” you will know at what level will the next upgrade be unlocked.
While playing a puzzle level, pay attention to “gimmicks”. They are nothing but obstacles that appear once you unlock a new menu item. Some examples of gimmicks are sugar cubes and whipped cream. You will have to collect these gimmicks to complete objectives.
Now that you know what’s new and awesome in Pokémon Cafe Mix, check out these tips, tricks and strategies to fulfill more orders, complete puzzles and unlock new characters.
Link Max Icons Before Time’s Up
When linking Pokémon icons, pay attention to the tiny time gauge above them. Keep linking icons until the time gauge is empty.
The gauge changes color from green to yellow when it decreases and finally to red, indicating that time’s going to run out soon.
You will have to be quick in linking icons or moving skills from one spot to another before time’s up else, it will automatically release all connected icons or the skill.
The more icons you link, the more points you will earn and faster you will reach your objectives.
Keep an eye on the move count on the left-hand side of the puzzle screen. You will have to complete all objectives in a level before running out of moves.
Connect and Move Icons Anywhere in the Game Board
One of the best features of Pokémon Cafe Mix is that it allows full freedom to players to move icons from one place to another within the game board. Simply speaking, icons position is not fixed, which makes it easy for you to link several of them at once.
This means that you can connect all icons of the same Pokémon type by just dragging your finger over each icon to connect them. Remember: The more icons you connect, the more points you will score. But keep an eye on the time gauge above icons while connecting them. You will have to link them quickly before the time gauge is empty.
How to Remove Gimmicks Fast
Gimmicks, such as sugar cubes, whipped cream etc., on the game board can be easily removed if you move all linked icons towards them.
If gimmicks are in the bottom of the game board, just connect Pokémon icons of the same type and without releasing the finger drag all linked icons towards the gimmicks to remove them.
You can try this trick using a Cafe skill. Just drag and drop a cafe skill beside a gimmick to remove it.
Fulfill Orders to Build Friendships
Pokémon customers will visit your cafe with their orders. Complete levels to fulfill their orders.
When a customer arrives, tap on the orange order button on the bottom-right corner of the screen. Press the start button to begin solving the link puzzle level. Complete the level and the item ordered by the customer will be served to him/her.
Happy customers will pay golden acorns. But that’s not all, you will also earn a star upon completion of a level.
Stars fill up a customer’s order gauge. This gauge appears below him when he is busy munching on his favorite treat in your cafe soon after you complete a level.
Keep completing levels and collecting stars for the same customer until his order gauge is full. When his gauge is filled up, it means you have fulfilled all of his orders. You can now build friendship with him.
Your cafe will witness repeat customers. Make sure you complete their orders by completing puzzle levels, earn stars and fill their order gauges faster to build friendship with them.
You will need a certain number of stars to fill the order gauge. When the order gauge is full, you will make a new friend. He/she will also be a part of your team and will help you run the cafe. You can choose your new Poke friend as your leader and use their special “cafe skills” to complete levels faster.
How to choose a Leader
Once you have built friendship with a Pokémon customer, he/she joins your team. You can then choose him as your leader.
Before assigning a Pokémon as your leader, check his/her specialization. Each character specializes in a particular food type.
For example: Charmander specializes in drinks, whereas Minccino specializes in sweets. You can check “Specialty” of all unlocked characters by tapping on the menu card located on the lower left corner of the screen > Pokémon List.
To assign a new character as your leader, tap on the orange level button on the lower right corner of the cafe screen. Check the icon below the item type under order #.
Look for the Pokémon icon above “Good fit”. It suggests choosing a different character will make things easier for you while solving a level. Now tap on the medal button to change leader. Choose a character mentioned under “good fit” by tapping on his portrait on the bottom.
Now tap on the “Set as Leader” button. Now tap on the back button and press the start button to begin a level with a new leader.
Having a leader whose specialty matches with a level’s required specialty (drinks, sweets etc.), will make it easy for you to complete a level. This is because the skill of the leader with a matching specialty will help you finish all objectives quickly.
Link Leader Icons to Fill the Skill Gauge Fast
The cafe skill gauge is placed on the lower right corner of the puzzle level screen. When the gauge fills up, the skill is dropped on the puzzle board. You can tap, hold and drag the skill wherever you want and then release to activate it.
Connecting leader Pokémon icons on the puzzle board fills the gauge faster. Keep this in mind when linking icons. You will need skills more often than not to finish objectives before running out of moves.
Tip: Get two cafe skills icon on the puzzle board. Now merge both by dragging one skill over the other. Merging two skills will power up the skill. A powered-up skill will help you remove/collect more gimmicks and icons.
Make the most of Megaphones
Megaphones are powerups that may appear after linking a certain number of icons together.
A megaphone is used to clear icons on the top, bottom, left or right in the direction it’s facing. If it’s facing left then moving it onto a group of icons will remove only those on the left side of the puzzle board.
How many links it takes to make the megaphone appear depends on the leader you have assigned. To find this, tap on the menu card. It’s located on the bottom-left corner of the screen and then tap on “Pokémon List”.
Choose your leader’s portrait and then tap on Info on the right side of his card. You will see the number of links that will make the power-up appear under “Megaphone Grants”.
How to add Friends
You can add real world friends in Pokémon Cafe Mix with the help of a friend code or ID. You can share your friend ID with other players to make new friends.
To get your ID, tap on the owner’s menu card on the bottom-left > profile and copy your ID.
If your friend has sent a friend request, he will send his unique ID to you. Copy his ID and go to the “Friend List” on the same menu card. Tap on the “Add Friends” tab and enter or paste your friend’s ID on the empty space to add him as your friend in this app.
Use Items to Solve Puzzles Fast
You will unlock 3 handy items or power-ups when you reach order #12 or level 12. These items are:
Skill Plus: Adds a cafe skill to a random area at the start of a level.
Megaphone maker: Adds a megaphone facing right or left to a random area within the puzzle board. It will appear at the start of a level.
Megaphone Maker 2: Choosing this item will add a megaphone facing up or down to a random area in the puzzle board at the start of a level.
You can choose any one of these three items before pressing the start button. Just tap on its icon and then press the start button to get that item on the puzzle board.
Complete Challenges
The challenge button appears on the left side of the screen. Tap on it to get a list of “Challenge Cards. Complete a set of tasks to get golden acorns as rewards.
Use Tasty Tarts to Strengthen Friendship
Once you have built friendship with a Pokémon by fulfilling his orders, you can further strengthen friendship with him using tasty tarts. You can get these items from event rewards or presents.
To use a tasty tart In Pokémon Cafe Mix, go to the owner’s menu from the menu card on the lower left corner of the screen. Tap on “Pokémon List” and then tap on the tiny button on the lower-right corner of your character’s profile page.
Take Advantage of Friendship Bonuses
Friendship bonus activates on random occasions. Make sure you fulfill orders of a customer while the friendship bonus remains active to get bonus stars.
How to get Golden Acorns
In Pokémon Cafe Mix, golden acorns are used to obtain extra lives (Hearts) when you have very few lives left. While playing, tap on the heart icon located on the upper-left corner of the screen. Make sure you have a few lives left to purchase more. You can’t spend acorns if you have max lives. You can also spend acorns to purchase extra moves if you fail in a level and need a few moves to complete it.
Here are a few ways to get acorns:
From customers: Complete puzzle levels to fulfill customer orders and get acorns as rewards.
From Challenges: Tap on the challenge card on the top-left side of the cafe screen and complete all challenges in the “challenge card” to get 1000 acorns as rewards.
From the Daily Stamp Board: Play the game daily to win lots of acorns as daily login rewards. Under the grand-opening celebration, you will get more than just acorn. Obtain power-ups, new characters, such as Pikachu and a tasty tart to improve friendship with a Pokémon customer.