Pokémon Café Mix Staff list: How to recruit staff, increase Friendship Level, Café Skills and every Pokémon staff member explained
How to build your staff in Pokémon Café Mix.
Pokémon Café Mix is a free-to-play puzzle game that sees you recruiting various Pokémon to work in your café.
You gain these new staff members by raising their Friendship Level and, once they're part of the team, you can use their various Café Skills to your advantage.
Below you can discover exactly which Pokémon can join your staff and everything you need to know about their Café Skills.
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How to recruit Pokémon staff members in Pokémon Café Mix
Aside from solving puzzles, one of the main goals of Pokémon Café Mix is to recruit Pokémon as staff members for your café. Doing so will allow them to assist you in puzzle solving, granting you access to their Café Skills and, as you raise their Friendship Level, increase their stats, making them more effective puzzle solving assistants.
Each Pokémon is also specialised in a specific type of puzzle, such as drinks, which means, if you're stuck on a certain puzzle, then it's a good idea to ensure the speciality Pokémon assisting you matches the type of puzzle.
To recruit a Pokémon you must first reach the order number which marks their first arrival at your cafe. This will often occur after you've unlocked a new decoration and you can discover exactly when a new Pokémon will arrive by visiting the Café Upgrades menu.
In the Café Upgrades menu, you can look ahead to see at what order number you'll be receiving your next visitor and upgrades. You can also look back at your previous upgrades and visitors.
Once a Pokémon has visited for the first time, you can begin to raise its friendship level by correctly solving the puzzle every time it orders. You'll usually only receive one star for every puzzle you solve, but occasionally you'll receive a Friendship Bonus.
This Friendship Bonus will increase the amount of stars you'll receive for solving the puzzle, giving you the opportunity to add that customer to your staff rooster sooner than usual. Yet, if you fail to complete the puzzle first time round, then the Friendship Bonus will vanish and you'll only receive one star for completing it.
Unlocked at order 50, the Pelipper Bell will allow you to send out invitations to two Pokémon for a party. During this party, you can raise the Friendship Levels of the two Pokémon you've invited by solving puzzles, without having to wait for them to visit the café.
There are, however, two downsides to the Pelipper Bell, the first is that, if you fail a puzzle, then the party will end. The second is that the Pokémon who attend the party are randomly selected and, if you don't like who's attending, you'll have to spend 200 Golden Acorns (the in-game currency for Pokémon Café Mix) to reroll the invitations.
Eventually, through the power of puzzle solving, you'll be able to add a new member of staff for your cafe.
Friendship Level in Pokémon Café Mix explained
A Pokémon's Friendship Level serves two different purposes in Pokémon Café Mix.
Initially, you must max out the Friendship Level of a Pokémon by correctly fulfilling their orders, so that they will become a member of staff at your café.
Afterwards, when members of that Pokémon species will visit your café, solving their puzzles will raise the Friendship Level of that Pokémon on your staff. If you have a Charmander on staff, for example, then serving a Charmander customer will raise the staff Charmander's friendship level.
Raising the Friendship Level of a staff member will increase their stats, making them better puzzle solving assistants. This includes decreasing the amount of Pokémon you need to clear to fill their skill gauge to grating extra moves if you choose them to help you with a puzzle.
You can find the Friendship Levels for all of your staff members, by selecting the Owner's menu in the bottom-left hand corner of the screen and then the option 'Pokémon List.'
Pokémon Café Mix: Every unlockable Pokémon staff
Below you'll find all the Pokémon that you can recruit in Pokémon Café Mix by completing puzzles. We've also included when these Pokémon first appear and how many stars you'll need for them to become a staff member.
| Pokémon | Order Level | Speciality | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eevee | 
| N/A | None |
| Charmander | 
| 2 | Drinks |
| Minccino | 
| 3 | Sweets |
| Snubbull | 
| 5 | Small Plates |
| Slurpuff | 
| 10 | Sweets |
| Togepi | 
| 26 | Drinks |
| Munchlax | 
| 26 | Entrees |
| Squirtle | 
| 36 | Small Plates |
| Kirlia | 
| 46 | Drinks |
| Starly | 
| 55 | Sweets |
| Steenee | 
| 66 | Entrees |
| Bulbasaur | 
| 76 | Small Plates |
| Stoutland | 
| 86 | Drinks |
| Meowth | 
| 96 | Entrees |
| Jigglypuff | 
| 111 | Sweets |
| Lucario | 
| 131 | Sweets |
Café Skills in Pokémon Café Mix explained
Each Pokémon you recruit as a staff member in Pokémon Café Mix has their own Café Skill, which is a special ability that will assist you in solving the puzzles.
To use a Café Skill, you must first charge it by linking together as many Pokémon icons as possible. The gauge in the bottom left-hand corner will keep track of how close you are to unlocking a Café Skill.
Once the gauge is full, a Café Skill will appear, alongside the Pokémon icons, in the puzzle. You don't, however, have to use the Café Skill straight away. Instead, you can save it for a later move or simply decide not to use it at all.
When you do decide to use a Café Skill, drag it into position like you would a Pokémon icon. You'll be able to see an outline on screen of which icons will be affected by this skill - just make sure you get it into position before the timer runs out!
The Café Skill will then activate either when you let go of it or when the timer runs out.
Below you can find all the Pokémon staff members you can unlock by completing puzzles and the Café Skills, along with their speciality, that they can use:
| Pokémon | Ability | |
|---|---|---|
| Eevee |
| Clears surrounding Pokemon icons and gimmicks |
| Charmander |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks to the right |
| Minccino |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks to the left |
| Snubbull |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks below |
| Slurpuff |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks above |
| Togepi |
| Clears surrounding icons and gimmicks, then replaces icons to either side with icons of the most common Pokémon |
| Munchlax |
| Clears surroudning icons and gimmicks, then sets off megaphones created in place of other surrounding icons |
| Squirtle |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks to the right |
| Kirlia |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks diagonally |
| Starly |
| Clears surrounding icons and gimmicks, then sets off megaphones created in place of other icons above and below |
| Steenee |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks above |
| Bulbasaur |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks in an X shape, then replaces surrounding icons with the most common Pokémon |
| Stoutland |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks below, while setting off any megaphones that replaced the surrouding icons |
| Meowth |
| Clears Pokemon icons and gimmicks to the left |
| Jigglypuff |
| Clears surrounding icons and gimmicks, then replaces icons with icons of the most common Pokémon |
| Lucario |
| Clears Pokémon icons and gimmicks in a + pattern |
Special Pokémon staff members in Pokémon Café Mix explained
Aside from the Pokémon you can unlock simply by solving puzzles, there are a number of other ways to gain new staff members in Pokémon Café Mix.
The first way is by buying them using real world currency from the in-game store, where certain Pokémon, such as Sweets Pikachu, will only be available in premium bundles.
The in-game store is accessed by pressing the Golden Acorns button at the top of your screen.
The second way is by logging into the game five day straight. If you do this correctly, you'll be able to unlock Pikachu and you'll know if you've done this correctly, because, when you load up the game, you'll be met with the Daily Stamp Board.
Finally, thanks to the official Pokémon Café Mix website, we know that certain Pokémon will only be available for a limited time period in the game. If you manage to befriend this special Pokémon before the time period finishes, they will join your staff forever.