Buffet Boss Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components
Lunch Buffet
Dinner Buffet (Advanced)
All-You-Can-Eat (Solo & Cooperative)

Game Components

42 Food Pieces

5 Plates

1 Waste Bin (Box Lid)

65 Cards

5 Menu Cards (Player Reference)
42 Food Cards
18 Character Cards

The rulebook features three versions of play: Lunch Buffet, Dinner Buffet, and All-You-Can-Eat.

Lunch Buffet: The simplest version of the rules, suitable for playing with both children and adults.
Dinner Buffet: This is the standard ruleset, suitable for adults and children with more gaming experience.
All-You-Can-Eat: Rules for solo and cooperative play.

Lunch Buffet

Game Set-up

Before the game starts:

Sort all cards according to their backs: Food Card Deck, Character Card Deck, Menu Cards.
Return the Character Card Deck to the box, they will not be used during the Lunch Buffet. Return the following number of Food Cards to the box based on player count:

Number of Players	2	3	4	5
Cards to Remove	27	22	17	12

Shuffle the remaining Food Cards and place them facedown within reach of all Players.

Deconstructing a Food Card:

Number of Stars the Food is worth.
This symbol is important when setting up a Dinner Buffet game (see the Dinner Buffet section).
The Food's Group: Seafood, Meat, Fruit, Veggie, Dessert.
Give each Player one Plate and one Menu Card. The Menu Card shows Players the Food Groups, Food available in each group, and how many Stars (points) you will earn if you stack them on your Plate.
Place all Food Pieces near the Buffet Line.
Place the Waste Bin next to the Food supply.
The hungriest Player goes first.

You are now ready to head to the buffet!

How to Play

The game takes place over 5 rounds. Each round, Players will take turns choosing Food Pieces from the Buffet Line and stacking the food on their Plate.

The game ends when there are no more Food Cards.

The player with the highest Star total is the winner and is declared the BUFFET BOSS! Simple, right?

Gameplay

A round consists of 3 steps:

1. Reveal the Buffet Line

Players flip over a number of Food Cards equal to the number of players + one. (Example: 3 Food Cards in a 2 Player Game, 4 Food Cards in a 3 Player Game, etc.)

Place the revealed Food Cards next to each other in the middle of the table to create the Buffet Line. Place the corresponding Food Piece on each card.

2. Choose Food and Stack Plate

Starting with the First Player and going clockwise, pick one Food Card from the Buffet Line and place it in front of you. Stack the corresponding Food Piece on your Plate.

The last Player will have a choice of 2 Food Cards – they may choose either one or both. If both Food Cards are chosen, the Player may choose which order to stack the corresponding Food Pieces in.

3. Rotate First Player

If there is any remaining Food in the Buffet Line, place the Food Card and Food Piece in the Waste Bin. The next Player in clockwise order becomes the new First Player for the next round. If this is not the end of the fifth round, start a new round.

Rules for Stacking:

Younger Players can use both hands, otherwise, all Players may only use one hand when stacking Food Pieces (the hand used can change).
Food Pieces must touch either the Plate or another Food Piece that is on the Plate.
Food Pieces may not touch the table or other playing surface.
Food Pieces may not lie sideways, they must lie parallel to the plate.
Food Pieces can be adjusted at any time but may not be removed from the Plate.

Dropped Food:

If a Food Piece falls off your Plate, follow the 3 Second Rule!
If a single Food Piece falls off your Plate, you have 3 seconds to pick it up again. Blow the Food Piece off and place it back on the Plate following the rules above.
If multiple Food Pieces fall off your Plate, you have 3 seconds to pick up half the number of Food Pieces that fell, rounded up. You may place these pieces back onto your Plate following the rules above.
Any unsaved Food Pieces are thrown into the Waste Bin. Remove the corresponding Food Cards and Pieces from the game.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after 5 rounds (you will have played through the whole deck of Food Cards). At the end of the fifth round, scoring begins.

Score Food Cards: Add up all the Stars on your Food Cards, double checking that only Food that is still stacked on your Plate is being counted.
Tallest Plate of Food: Determine who has the Tallest Plate of Food by using the ruler on the side of the inner box. Award 5 Bonus Stars to that Player.

The Player who scored the most points is the winner and is crowned the BUFFET BOSS.

In the event of a tie, the Player who has the Tallest Plate of Food is the winner. If a tie persists, the tied Players share the victory.

Example: A Player was able to stack 7 pieces of food on their Plate. However, there are 8 Food Cards in front of them. They realize their mistake and with great shame throw the Banana card into the Waste Bin since the Banana is not on their Plate. They now add the Stars on the remaining 7 Food Cards together for a total of 23 points.

Dinner Buffet (Advanced)

Game Set-up

Set-up the game as described in the Lunch Buffet rules with the following changes:

Shuffle the Character Cards and deal 2 to each Player. Place the Characters facedown in front of you. You may look at your Character Cards at any time, but do not reveal them to the other Players. Return any remaining Character Cards to the box.
Depending on how many Players are playing, return the following number of Food Cards to the box. Only remove Food Cards with the 3-or-more-players symbol:

Number of Players	2	3	4	5
Cards to remove	21	14	7	0

Shuffle the remaining cards and place them facedown within reach of all Players.

The game takes place over 7 rounds.
The game ends when there are no more Food Cards.

Characters give you the opportunity to score Bonus Stars for stacking your Plate with the Food they like best!

If this is your first time playing, we recommend only using cards B1-B8.

How to Play

The gameplay in this mode is the same as Lunch Buffet, except now Players can score Bonus Stars from one of their two Characters. Make sure to pay attention to what each Character likes to eat!

Bonus Points are awarded at the end of the game.

Character Cards

Sweet Tooth, Pescatarian, Hangry, Meat Lover, Vegan (B1-B5): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each Food that matches the Groups shown on the card.
Brorange, Greeple, Whellow (B6-B8): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each Food that matches the colors shown.
Easy Goer (B9): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each 2 Star Food.
3-pointer (B10): Score 3 Bonus Stars for every two foods worth 3 Stars.
4-tified Diet (B11): Score 1 Bonus Star for each 4 Star Food.
Plate Licker (B12): Score 3 Bonus Stars for each Food Piece that is touching the Plate.
Balanced Eater (B13): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each different Food Group on your Plate.
Roy G. Biv (B14): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each different color on your Plate.
Singular Eater (B15): Score 2 Bonus Stars for each food whose Food Group appears most frequently on your Plate.
Noah's Plate (A1): Score 4 Bonus Stars for each touching pair of Food pieces from the same Food Group on your Plate.
Pantone Pair (A2): Score 4 Bonus Stars for each touching pair of Food pieces of the same color on your Plate.
Picky Eater (A3): Score 5 Bonus Stars for each Food Piece touching exactly one other Food Piece on your Plate.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after 7 rounds (you will have played through the whole deck of Food Cards). At the end of the seventh round, scoring begins.

Score Food Cards: Add up all the Stars on your Food Cards, double checking that only Food that is still stacked on your Plate is being counted.
Score Character Cards: Choose one of the two Character Cards to reveal to the other Players and score the Bonus Stars for that Character. Add these to your score.
Tallest Plate of Food: Determine who has the Tallest Plate of Food by using the ruler on the side of the inner box. Award 5 Bonus Stars to that Player.

The Player who scored the most points is the winner and is crowned the BUFFET BOSS.

In the event of a tie, the Player who has the Tallest Plate of Food is the winner. If a tie persists, the tied Players share the victory.

Example: Player 2 was able to stack 7 Food Pieces on their plate. They collect 22 Stars and 11 Bonus Stars. Since their Plate is not the tallest, they score 22 + 11 = 33 points.

All-You-Can-Eat (Solo & Cooperative)

Aim of the Game

In the solo/co-op version of the game, all Players work together to stack every piece of food from the Buffet Line onto their plates! Leave no food behind!

Take your time and stack carefully - if even one piece of food is dropped, the game ends immediately!

Game Set-up

First, decide which level you would like to play at: Snack, Meal or Buffet. Shuffle all 42 Food Cards together.

Choose the following number of Food Cards according to the number of Players and the selected difficulty level:

Number of Players	1	2	3	4	5
Snack	6	12	16	20	24
Meal	8	15	20	25	30
Buffet	10	18	28	35	42

Shuffle the selected cards and place them facedown within reach of all Players. Character Cards are not used in Solo or Cooperative play.

How to Play

Set up the game as described in the Lunch Buffet rules with the following changes:

1. Prepare the Buffet:

After laying out the Buffet Line for the round, Players may discuss and choose who will play first. Play continues clockwise.

2. Select Food:

All Food must be taken from the Buffet Line; there is no throwing Food in the Waste Bin in this version. One player will need to take 2 Food Pieces. Players may freely discuss who will take the extra Food.

End of Game

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT ends in one of two ways:

Defeat: As soon as one Food Piece falls off a Plate the game immediately ends in defeat.
Victory: All Players successfully place all the Food Pieces on their plates! Congratulations, you are all BUFFET BOSSES!