Overview

Food Chain Magnate is a heavy strategy game about building a fast food chain. Players start as a single CEO and build their company by hiring and training staff (represented by employee cards), marketing food and drinks to create demand, producing and delivering goods, and selling to houses on a variable city map. The game is highly interactive and unforgiving — milestones (first-to-achieve bonuses) are a key strategic element. The game ends when the bank runs out of money twice, and the wealthiest player wins.

Components

• 1 Turn Order Track
• 20 Map tiles (5x5 squares each), 8 House tiles, 8 Garden tiles
• 16 Marketing tiles: 6 billboards, 4 mailboxes, 3 airplanes, 3 radios
• 16 Numbered “busy” chips
• 222 Employee cards (various types with upgrade paths)
• 84 Milestone cards
• 18 Bank Reserve cards, 6 CEO cards
• 3 Restaurants per player, 1 Turn Order marker per player
• Paper money bills
• Wooden pieces: 40 burgers, 40 pizzas, 40 lemonade, 40 beers, 40 soft drinks

Setup

1. Map: Randomly select and rotate map tiles to form a grid (2P: 3x3, 3P: 3x4, 4P: 4x4, 5P: 5x4). Remove billboards per player count.
2. Cards: Lay out employee cards by type (showing upgrade paths) and milestone cards. Remove employee cards based on player count.
3. Bank: Place $50 x number of players into the bank pool.
4. Players: Each player takes a CEO card, 3 restaurants, turn order marker, and a set of 3 bank reserve cards.
5. Turn Order: Randomly determine initial turn order.
6. Restaurant Placement: In reverse turn order, each player places one starting restaurant on empty squares with entrance bordering a road (not on the same tile as another restaurant entrance).
7. Reserve Cards: Each player secretly chooses one bank reserve card; place chosen cards face-down next to bank (determines game length). Discard unchosen cards.

Turn Structure

Each turn consists of 7 phases:

Phase 1: Restructuring

All players simultaneously choose which employee cards to use this turn (“at work”) and which to leave idle (“on the beach”). Cards at work are placed into a company structure (pyramid): CEO at top (3 slots), managers below CEO (2-10 slots each, black cards only), then normal employees below managers.

Phase 2: Order of Business

Players choose their position on the turn order track. The player with the most open (unused) slots in their company structure chooses first. Ties broken by previous turn order.

Phase 3: Working 9:00-5:00

Players take turns in turn order. Each player performs actions for all cards at work, in this fixed order:

1. Recruit: CEO provides 1 free hire. Recruiting Girl (1x), Recruiting Manager (2x), HR Director (4x) provide additional hires. May only hire entry-level positions.
2. Train: Each training action upgrades one employee on the beach one step along its upgrade track. Return old card, take new card. Coach trains 2 steps; Guru trains 3 steps.
3. Initiate Marketing Campaigns: Marketeers place campaign tiles (billboard, mailbox, airplane, radio) within their range from a restaurant entrance. Choose what to advertise (burger, pizza, or one drink type). Place advertising tokens equal to campaign duration. Marketeer becomes “busy” until campaign ends.
4. Get Food & Drinks: Kitchen staff produce food; buyers collect drinks along road routes from restaurant entrances. Kitchen Trainee: 1 burger or pizza. Burger Cook: 3 burgers. Burger Chef: 8 burgers. Pizza Cook: 3 pizzas. Pizza Chef: 8 pizzas. Errand Boy: 1 drink of choice. Cart Operator: 2 drinks per symbol, range 2. Truck Driver: 3 drinks per symbol, range 3. Zeppelin Pilot: 2 drinks per symbol, range 4 (ignores roads).
5. Place Houses/Gardens: New Business Developer places a new house (with garden) or adds a garden to an existing house.
6. Place/Move Restaurants: Local Manager places a new restaurant within range 3 (“COMING SOON”). Regional Manager places/moves anywhere (opens immediately). Both enable drive-in (entrances in all corners).

Phase 4: Dinnertime

Houses with demand tokens seek food from restaurants connected by road. Houses are processed in order of house numbers (lowest first).

• A chain must be able to fulfill ALL of a house’s demands to serve it.
• If multiple chains qualify, the house chooses based on: unit price + distance (in tiles). Ties broken by most waitresses, then turn order.
• Standard unit price: $10 per item. Modified by Price Manager (-$1), Discount Manager (-$3), Luxury Manager (+$10).
• Houses with gardens pay double the unit price (bonuses not doubled).
• After all houses: Waitresses earn $3 each ($5 with milestone). CFO adds 50% bonus to all cash earned this turn.
• If bank runs out of money, bank breaks (see Scoring).

Phase 5: Payday

Fire any unwanted employees (return to stock). Then pay $5 salary per employee card with a salary symbol. Unused recruiting actions give $5 salary discount each. Various milestones reduce salary costs. Minimum salary total is $0.

Phase 6: Marketing Campaigns

All active campaigns run in campaign number order. Campaigns create demand by placing tokens on nearby houses (max 3 per house, or 5 with garden):

• Billboard: Reaches orthogonally adjacent houses.
• Mailbox: Reaches all houses in the same “block” (bounded by roads/board edge).
• Airplane: Reaches all houses in 1, 3, or 5 rows/columns across the board.
• Radio: Reaches all houses on same tile and 8 surrounding tiles. Remove one advertising token from each campaign after it runs. If no tokens remain, return campaign and free the marketeer.

Phase 7: Cleanup

Discard all unsold food/drinks (unless you have the freezer milestone). Take back all employee cards. Flip “COMING SOON” restaurants to “WELCOME.” Remove unclaimed milestone cards that were claimed this turn.

Actions

Milestones (First-to-Achieve Bonuses)

Milestones are awarded immediately when conditions are met. Other players can claim the same milestone only during the same turn. After that turn, unclaimed copies are removed permanently.

Milestone	Trigger	Permanent Benefit
First billboard placed	Place a billboard	No marketeer salaries; all your campaigns are eternal
First to train someone	Train an employee	$15 salary discount
First to hire 3 in 1 turn	Hire 3+ people in one turn	Gain 2 Management Trainees
First burger/pizza/drink marketed	Place campaign advertising that type	+$5 bonus per item of that type sold
First errand boy played	Play errand boy in structure	All buyers get +1 drink per source
First to have $20	Have $20 cash	May view bank reserve cards
First burger/pizza produced	Produce a burger/pizza	Gain a free burger/pizza cook
First waitress played	Play waitress in structure	Waitresses earn $5 instead of $3
First to throw away food/drink	Discard food/drink in cleanup	Get a freezer (stores 10 items between turns)
First to lower prices	Play a pricing/discount manager	Permanent additional -$1 to unit price
First cart operator played	Play cart operator in structure	Buyers get +1 range
First airplane campaign	Place airplane campaign	+2 virtual open slots for turn order
First radio campaign	Place radio campaign	Radio campaigns place 2 demand tokens
First to have $100	Have $100+ after Dinnertime	CEO acts as CFO (+50% cash); may not have a CFO
First to pay $20+ in salaries	Pay $20+ in actual salaries	May use multiple trainers on same person

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends when the bank breaks for the second time:

• First bank break: Open reserve cards; sum their money and add to bank. Reserve cards also determine CEO slot count for remainder of game (most common value wins; ties go to highest).
• Second bank break: Finish Phase 4 (Dinnertime), paying all remaining earnings (write IOUs if needed). Skip Phase 5 (Payday).
• Winner: The player with the most cash wins. Ties broken by earlier position in turn order.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Company Structure: If a player places more employee cards than fit in their structure, all cards except CEO go to beach and the player plays with only the CEO that turn.
• Card Transparency: During all phases except Restructuring, any player may request to see another player’s cards (both at work and on the beach).
• Range: Counted by crossing tile borders along roads from a restaurant entrance. Zeppelin pilots ignore roads.
• Drive-in: Active Local or Regional Manager gives all restaurants in the chain entrances in every corner (not just the printed entrance).
• Empty Card Stacks: If a card type runs out, you cannot hire that type unless you immediately train it to a higher level.
• Busy Marketeers: Cannot be fired, trained, or placed in company structure. Still require salary if applicable.
• Introductory Game: Recommended for first play — no reserve cards, $75 per player in bank, no milestones, no salaries, game ends on first bank break.
• Unique Cards: Cards marked with a special symbol are limited to one per player.

Player Reference

Phase Summary

1. Restructuring — Choose cards to play (simultaneous)
2. Order of Business — Choose turn order position (most open slots first)
3. Working — Execute actions in order: Recruit, Train, Market, Produce, Place Houses, Place Restaurants
4. Dinnertime — Houses buy food (automated, no player decisions)
5. Payday — Fire employees, then pay $5 per salaried employee
6. Marketing Campaigns — Campaigns create demand on nearby houses
7. Cleanup — Discard unsold goods, return cards to hand, flip new restaurants

Unit Prices

| Manager | Effect | |———|——–| | Base price | $10 | | Pricing Manager | -$1 | | Discount Manager | -$3 | | Luxury Manager | +$10 | | “First to lower prices” | -$1 | | Garden bonus | 2x unit price (bonuses not doubled) |

Game End

Bank breaks twice. Most cash wins.