Overview

Critter Kitchen is a competitive resource-gathering and meal-preparation game set during Restaurant Week in Bistro Bay. Players run restaurants staffed by critter chefs (mouse, lizard, boar) and compete over 7 rounds across 3 days. Each round, players secretly assign their chefs to locations around town to collect ingredients, spices, soup, and rumors. At the end of days 1 and 2, players present challenge meals. On day 3, a celebrity critic visits and players prepare a 7-course final meal. The player with the most stars wins.

Components

• Waterfront Board (round tracker, challenge/critic/rumor card slots, priority track)
• Location Boards (numbered, plus Soup Truck, Midnight Merchant, Chef Academy)
• Challenge Cards, Critic Cards, Rumor Cards
• Ingredient Tokens (7 types: bread, carrot, cheese, fish, meat, mushroom, wine; values 2-7)
• Spice Tokens (one per ingredient type plus allspice)
• Soup Tokens (value 1, unlimited), Bisque Tokens (value 3)
• Rumor Tokens (3 types + wilds)
• Star Tokens (1s, 5s, 10s)
• Token Bag
• Per player: Restaurant Shield, Kitchen Board, Chef Hat, 3 Chef Figures (mouse, lizard, boar), 9 Location Cards, 3 Challenge Plates, 1 Critic Plate
• Zous-chef Cards and Tokens
• Restaurateur Cards (optional)
• Round Tracker, Hold Token, Allspice 7th-Round Token, Maitre d’ Card

Setup

1. Designate a maitre d’ to guide setup each round.
2. Put all Ingredient, Spice, and Rumor Tokens into the Token Bag.
3. Place the Waterfront Board centrally. Set Round Tracker on round 1, Hold Token on round 3, Allspice Token on round 7. Shuffle and place Challenge Cards (6 face down), 1 Critic Card (face up), 3 Rumor Cards (face down).
4. Set up Location Boards in numbered order (use boards 1 through player count). Add Soup Truck on the left, Midnight Merchant and Chef Academy on the right.
5. Each player takes their color’s Shield, Kitchen Board, Chef Hat, 3 Chef Figures, Location Cards (matching active locations only), Challenge Plates, Critic Plate, and 1 starting soup.
6. Randomize Chef Hats on the priority track.

Turn Structure

Each round has 5 steps:

1. Start of Round – Restock bisque, reveal next challenge card, restock location items from the bag, reveal new zous-chef at Chef Academy.
2. Planning – All players simultaneously place Location Cards face down to assign each chef to a different location.
3. Running (Shopping) – Flip all Location Cards. Move chefs to their locations. Resolve locations left to right. At each location, chefs pick items in queue order by carrying capacity (mouse=1 first, lizard=2, boar=3 last). Ties broken by priority track position.
4. Step 4 (Challenge/Critic Meals) – On rounds 3, 6, and 7, prepare and score meals.
5. End of Round – Return Location Cards, remove used zous-chefs, advance Round Tracker.

Actions

Assigning Chefs: Each chef must go to a different location. Place Location Cards face down, then reveal simultaneously.

Shopping at Locations: Chefs pick items based on carrying capacity queues:

• Mouse picks first (carrying capacity 1)
• Lizard picks second (carrying capacity 2)
• Boar picks last (carrying capacity 3)
• Within the same queue, priority track position breaks ties; the first to pick from a location must move their Chef Hat to the back of the priority track.

Item Types:

• Ingredients (7 types, values 2-7): Core of every meal.
• Spices (1 per ingredient type + allspice): Pair with a matching ingredient to double its value. Allspice pairs with any type.
• Soup (value 1, unlimited at Soup Truck): Substitutes for any ingredient in challenge meals. Can also be added to boost quality.
• Bisque (value 3): Functions like soup but worth 3.
• Rumors: Peek at a face-down Rumor Card on the Waterfront Board. Rumors reveal end-game scoring conditions for the critic meal.

Consolation Soup: If a chef returns with nothing, take 1 soup. You may also choose to leave early before picking to claim consolation soup.

Special Locations:

• Soup Truck: Unlimited soup supply; also has leftover ingredients from previous rounds.
• Midnight Merchant: Items drawn from the bag when resolved (unknown during planning).
• Chef Academy: Offers a zous-chef (extra chef for next round) plus leftover ingredients from other locations.

Zous-chefs: If you acquire a zous-chef, you must use them as an extra chef the following round, assigning them a Location Card. Each has a unique ability.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Challenge Meals (end of rounds 3 and 6): Present up to 3 meals matching the 3 revealed challenges. Each meal must include at least 1 required ingredient (soup may substitute for missing ingredients but the meal cannot be all soup). Quality = sum of all ingredient values (spiced ingredients count double). Stars earned by quality threshold:

Quality	Stars
0-5	Cannot present
6-11	1 star
12-20	2 stars
21+	4 stars

Critic Meal (end of round 7): Prepare a 7-course meal. For each course (one per ingredient type), serve exactly 1 ingredient, optionally paired with 1 spice. No soup allowed. Score:

• Most Soup: Player with highest total soup/bisque value earns 1 star.
• All 7 Courses: Each player who serves all 7 courses earns 1 star.
• Best of Each Course: For each of the 7 courses, highest quality earns 1 star. Ties award full stars to all tied players.
• Rumors: Reveal all rumors; score bonus stars per their conditions.
• Bonus Scoring: Critic Card may add additional scoring rules.

Winning: The player with the most total stars wins. All ties are friendly (all tied players earn full stars).

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Refrigeration Limit: After day 1 challenges (round 3), keep max 5 ingredients/spices. After day 2 challenges (round 6), keep max 10. Soup does not count. Excess tokens go back to the bag.
• Hold Token: The last challenge revealed each day gets a Hold Token covering its rightmost required ingredient, reducing the number of required types.
• Cleaning Up Locations: After all chefs leave, leftover ingredients/spices move to the Chef Academy. Leftover rumors are removed from the game. After Chef Academy resolves, its leftovers move to the Soup Truck.
• Priority Track: Only the first chef to pick from a location in a tie situation moves their Chef Hat to the back. This affects future tie-breaking.
• Rumor Sharing: If every player knows the same rumor, flip it face up. Any matching rumor tokens drawn later are removed from the game.
• Wild Rumors: Must be placed immediately in any empty rumor space.
• In the 7th round, the Chef Academy offers the Allspice Token instead of a zous-chef.

Player Reference

Chef	Carrying Capacity	Pick Order
Mouse	1	First
Lizard	2	Second
Boar	3	Third

Round	Event
1-3	Day 1 (challenge scoring after round 3)
4-6	Day 2 (challenge scoring after round 6)
7	Day 3 (critic meal and final scoring)

• 7 ingredient types, values 2-7
• Spice doubles its paired ingredient’s value
• Soup = value 1 wildcard (challenges only)
• Bisque = value 3 (same as soup rules)
• Most stars wins