Two Playdate games about cheese, and spooky campfire stories

1 hour ago7 min read

After a bit of a hiatus from my Playdate following the wild ride of Season Two and the gloriously bizarre Blippo+, I finally dug my little yellow console out of the drawer this week, blew off the dust, and jumped back into its wonderfully quirky ecosystem. And honestly, what better way to reacquaint myself than with a double dose of dairy? Cheese 'n Crackers and Say When! both recently dropped on the Playdate Catalog, and while they share a cheesy theme, they play like they're from completely different universes.As a little bonus snack—this one unrelated to fromage—I also snagged Ware-wolf Campfire Stories, a free gem on itch. io that’s basically a whole bundle of spooky mini-games in one killer package.Let's break 'em down. First up, Cheese 'n Crackers is the ultimate chill-out game for anyone who’s ever dreamed of crafting the perfect charcuterie board without any of the real-world cleanup.You’re presented with a never-ending spread of meats, cheeses, crackers, fruits, and all the fixings, and your job is to assemble snacks for a rotating cast of customers, from the Speed Daters to Grandma's Bridge Club. Each group comes with its own set of likes, dislikes, and dietary restrictions, making it a delicious puzzle.The gameplay is super intuitive—just drag and drop toppings—but there’s a surprising depth for the min-maxers out there. Specific ingredient combos net you more points, and yes, there’s an actual, community-made Cheese 'n Crackers Compatibility Spreadsheet that is both terrifying and awe-inspiring in its culinary dedication.Toppings can spoil if you take too long, but the pressure is low, making it a perfect podcast game. For the leaderboard warriors, though, there are global scores to chase, adding a competitive edge to your gastronomic creations.Then you've got Say When!, which is basically the chaotic, high-energy cousin that shows up and turns your peaceful kitchen into a frantic grating simulator. This one has major Root Bear vibes, throwing you into a restaurant where you must grate the perfect amount of cheese for a parade of patrons using the Playdate's iconic crank.The twist? Despite the game's name, these customers absolutely will not tell you 'when' to stop. You have to watch for subtle tells—a twitch of a mustache, a slight change in expression—to avoid under- or over-serving.A customer satisfaction meter at the top of the screen constantly ticks down if you mess up or move too slow, and when it empties, you're fired. After each shift, you can choose modifiers to give you a slight edge, and just when you think you've got a rhythm, a mini-game might pop up, forcing you to, say, save a choking diner mid-grate.It’s ridiculously addictive, silly, and the kind of game that'll have you muttering 'just one more shift' for hours. And for a change of pace, there's Ware-wolf Campfire Stories.It’s a reminder that some of the coolest Playdate experiences live outside the official Catalog. This free itch.io collection is a collaboration between 15 dev teams, including folks behind hits like Off-Planet Dreams and Voidblazers, and it packs 14 bite-sized spooky games into one neat package. The framing device is genius: five kids are sitting around a campfire with their counselor telling scary stories, and each story launches a separate mini-game.The consequences of winning or losing in these mini-games ripple through the narrative. The variety is fantastic—you'll encounter everything from ghost-filled arcade shooters to skeleton-packed puzzles, each lasting just a few minutes.It’s a perfect sampler platter of what the Playdate can do, a love letter to its indie spirit, and an awesome way to discover new developers whose work you might have missed. It’s this kind of creative, community-driven project that makes the Playdate scene so special, proving that the biggest innovations often come from the edges, not the center.

#Playdate

#indie games

#cheese games

#horror games

#game reviews

#featured