Boba Tale is a cozy, stress-free tea shop management game made by developer bobafriends, who also created Boba Run. The game is highly non-nonsense to the point where it throws you into the fray of managing and shaking tea for your consumers without even popping a screen to teach you the ropes.
Well, good for us because that’s what we are here for. In this Boba Tale Walkthrough & Gameplay Guide, we will teach you the basics of the game, presenting all its features and how to best enjoy them.
How Boba Tales Works
Photo: bobafriends
While the game doesn’t concern itself with teaching at least its most basic features, there’s a small tooltip on the start screen that explains the gist of it. Open your shop, sell tea and pancakes to customers, get some tips, buy upgrades, rinse, and repeat.
Opening your shop is as easy as tapping a button. Then, customers will appear at the counter, ordering a specific item. Teas are always made with at least two ingredients: tea and boba, but sometimes customers ask for ice.
There are two types of tea, six bobas, and ice. It’s easy to identify customers’ orders by their chatty bubbles. You have to tap on the teas on the left side first, then pick a boba topping, and on the ice cubes on the right if they ask for them.
After selecting all the ingredients, you shake them all, tapping your screen repeatedly. Then, drag the boba tea to the customer and earn some gold in the process. If you miss one ingredient, you must throw the whole thing away.
Photo: bobafriends
Customers have a relationship level with you that increases as you fill their orders. When you hit three hearts, a reward is granted.
Snacks and Icecream
Sometimes customers ask for snacks rather than tea. There are three types of snacks: pancakes, takoyaki, and ice cream. To bake pancakes and takoyaki, tap on the screen’s right arrow all the way to the end and click on their respective oven.
To make some ice cream, you have to go all the way to the left screen and tap on the machine. There’s a timer before every food is made. Since snacks don’t expire, one tip is to always leave a piece of them ready in case a customer asks for it.
Upgrading your Shop
Photo: bobafriends
After collecting some gold, it’s time to upgrade your shop. There are several upgrades available, and each one of them improves a segment of the game.
You can improve your Bobarista Skills, which increases the experience gained with each boba tea you make and the happiness of your customers. Shaking Skills increase your shaking power, mixing ingredients faster.
Advertisements are one of the best skills, but one of the most expensive. Besides decreasing the customer spawn delay, the first upgrade increases the maximum number of customers up to 2, and the third allows 3 customers simultaneously. Since they are your primary source of money, this is a skill you can’t miss.
Several upgrades will suit what you choose for your shop initially since the intention is to acquire them all eventually and turn your ma-and-pa shop into a multinational franchise.
Crafting new Recipes
Photo: bobafriends
After reaching level 5, the player unlocks the crafting option. On this screen, you need to buy ingredients from an NPC named Mai Hong and then mix and match those to create new products.
However, instead of taking these products to your store, they are left in your inventory for the moment. Boba Tale still needs to implement these recipes in the shop. But discovering new recipes gives you bonuses with Gordo.
The trial-and-error of discovering new recipes is fun, but if you don’t have the time or patience for countless trials, check out our Ultimate Recipes List and easily unlock all the recipes.
Photo: bobafriends
Building Mode
Boba Tale has two currencies: gold and gems. Since it’s an entirely free game, meaning no microtransactions, you earn those resources simply by playing or doing achievements.
On the start screen, you can see your shop from the outside. If you click the build button in the bottom right corner, you can build new rooms around the store using gems, such as tables or landscaping in the background, or enhance the store itself with gold.
Photo: bobafriends
For now, the only function of this building mode is aesthetic. It does not change the gameplay, but it is endearing to see your store growing little by little.
We’re optimistic that Boba Tale will keep growing, adding more features and gimmicks to make the game increasingly fun. Want to share your own experience doing so? Make sure to write it down in the comment section below!
