Cryptid Cafe
Cryptid Cafe Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 15 Cryptid Cafe server meeples
- 5 Customer decks (15 cards in each deck)
- 30 Event cards
- 5 Manager cards
- 5 Change My Order cards
- 5 player boards
- 1 Chef Kraken board
- 24 Waterzoeil tokens
- 24 Croque-Monsieur tokens
- 24 Baba au Rhume tokens
- 24 Kaputtcino tokens
- 24 Beuv'noire tokens
- 35 coins of value 1
- 35 coins of value 5
- 1 First Player card
- 1 Round Tracker card
- 1 Tracker marker
- 1 AI die
- 2 AI player decks (5 cards in each deck)
- 1 rulebook
Setup
a. Place the Chef Kraken board on the table, within reach of all players. In a 5-player game, use the side of the board where each preparation station has four ranks.
b. Make piles of each type of coin and dish, and place them near the Chef's board.
c. Give each player one of the five Customer decks, three server meeples, a server board, a Manager card, a Change My Order card, and finally five coins of value 1 (or seven coins of value 1 in a 5-player game).
d. Each player randomly draws two Event cards and adds them to their Customer deck. Unused Event cards return to the box.
e. Each player shuffles their Customer deck and places it face down to the left of their server board.
f. Each player draws two Customer cards from their deck and places them above the green markers of the Customer Satisfaction Track, at the top of their server board.
g. Make sure the Round Tracker card is visible to all players and place the Tracker marker on the first line.
h. The game begins with the person who most recently went out to eat at a restaurant. Give that person the "Poix et fiel" First Player card.
Player board layout
At the top of the player board is the Customer Satisfaction Track. Satisfaction increases from left to right: green means a customer is very satisfied, red means far less so.
Served customers go here, on the left side of the player board, under the "Served" label. Lost customers, who left before receiving their order, go on the right side of the player board, under the "Walkouts" label.
The area of the player board representing a serving tray is where you store your dishes and your tips.
Preparation stations
There are five preparation stations: Kaputtcino, Baba au Rhume, Beuv'noire, Croque-Monsieur, and Waterzoeil.
Each preparation station has three ranks where players take turns placing their servers. The ranks are marked "3", "2", and "1" to indicate the quantity of dishes your server can collect when occupying that rank. The rank marked "3" is the front rank, and the rank marked "1" is the back rank.
Customer card anatomy
The top of a Customer card shows their order. This shows the dishes and quantities needed to correctly serve this customer. The card also shows the icon of its Cryptid Type. See "Bonuses" below for more on Cryptid Types and bonuses.
The bottom of a Customer card shows the tip left by that customer, based on their satisfaction level or their "Lost Customer" value (black marker). The colored wood-grain pattern in the background also indicates the Cryptid Type.
Game Overview
Each round consists of four phases:
- Send servers.
- Share tips and collect dishes.
- Serve Cryptid customers.
- End-of-round cleanup.
If you are starting a solo or 2-player game, read through these four phases, then see "Solo and 2-Player Rules" below for the additional rules to apply.
Number of rounds
- Solo, 2-player, and 3-player games are played over 9 rounds.
- A 4-player game is played over 8 rounds.
- A 5-player game is played over 10 rounds.
Phase 1: Send Servers
The first player sends a server to a preparation station of their choice, and to whichever rank they wish, either "3", "2", or "1". However, they do not collect dishes at this time; that will happen during Phase 2: Share Tips and Collect Dishes. It is then the turn of the player seated to the left of the first player to place a server. Play continues this way, clockwise, until every player has placed all three of their servers.
Note that a player cannot send more than one of their servers to the same preparation station.
In the rare case where a player is unable to place a server at a station, that player may instead take a dish token from a station that is not blocked by an Event card and on which they do not already have a server.
Once all servers have been placed, move on to Phase 2: Share Tips and Collect Dishes.
Phase 2: Share Tips and Collect Dishes
Now that all servers are placed, it's time to share tips and collect dishes. Resolve the stations from left to right, starting with the Kaputtcino cup and ending with the Waterzoeil bowl. Resolve each station by performing the following two steps in order:
- Share tips
- Collect dishes
Share tips
To share your tips with Chef Kraken, your server must occupy the lowest rank of a preparation station (which does not necessarily mean rank "1"). For your server to move up in rank, you must give the Chef one coin per rank gained, returning it to the supply. So, to move your server from "1" to "3", you must share two coins with the Chef. Each player may only move one of their servers up in rank per round, even if several of their servers occupy the lowest rank of different stations. Also, your server can only move up in rank if at least one other server occupies a rank higher than its own.
When you share a tip with the Chef, your server moves up in rank and pushes the other servers down one rank. The new occupant of the lowest rank can no longer change position during this round.
Collect dishes
Once tip-sharing is complete (or skipped, or even impossible), each server collects a quantity of dishes equal to the number shown on the rank it occupies.
Once the first station is resolved, move on to the next station and repeat the same steps. Once all dishes have been distributed, it's time to move on to Phase 3: Serve Customers.
Phase 3: Serve Cryptid Customers
Players now serve their customers using the dishes acquired during Phase 2: Share Tips and Collect Dishes.
The orders placed by Cryptid customers appear in the upper part of their cards. To serve an order, you must return to the supply the quantities and types of dishes that match the customer's order. When a customer's order is served successfully, you receive a tip from them based on their position on the Customer Satisfaction Track.
For example, take a Yeti whose satisfaction marker is on orange. If their order is served at that moment, the player receives the tip of 5 coins shown on the orange space of the Yeti card.
Served customers are removed from the track and placed under the "Served" label of the player board.
You may serve several customers each round, as long as you have the dishes requested. Any unused dish tokens are kept from round to round.
If one or more players decide to use a "Change My Order" card, resolve its effect before beginning to serve customers (see "Event and Specialty Cards" below).
Once all players have finished serving their customers, it's time to move on to Phase 4: End-of-Round Cleanup.
Phase 4: End-of-Round Cleanup
Once all players have served their customers, preparations for the next round begin. First, the customers remaining on the Customer Satisfaction Track move to the right. Players must move either ALL of their Customer cards one space, or ALL of their Customer cards two spaces.
Why would you move your customers two spaces to the right? Well, it makes room for new customers! Needless to say, some of them may not appreciate that...
Customers move at the end of every round, even during the very last round. Do not close up any gaps between customers that may have occurred during the serving phase.
Customers who move past the last space of the Satisfaction Track are now Lost! Move those customers under the "Walkouts" label of the player board. These disgruntled customers will cost you some tips at the end of the game, affecting your final score (see "Bonuses and Final Scoring" below).
It is now time to welcome new customers. To do this, each player draws from their Customer deck a number of new customers equal to the number of empty green spaces on their Customer Satisfaction Track. If an Event card is revealed, it will be active during the next round (see "Event Cards" below).
Finally, move the round marker down to the next line. Discard any Event card that was active during this round (see "Event Cards" below). Players keep all unused dish tokens. Pass the First Player card to the next player clockwise and repeat Phases 1 through 4. The game ends when the 8, 9, or 10 rounds are complete, depending on the number of players (see "Number of Rounds" above).
Once all rounds are complete, it's time to find out who is the legendary server of the Cryptid Cafe! Move on to Final Scoring.
Event and Specialty Cards
Specialty cards
Each player starts the game with the same two Specialty cards. These can be used at certain points in the game to help players better meet their customers' needs. These cards can only be used once per game.
Manager card — Lets a player swap the positions of two of their Customer cards. It can be played at any time.
Change My Order card — Lets a player change one of their customer's orders by copying the order of a customer (not yet served) belonging to another player. They can then serve their customer and score based on the value and position of the other player's customer. This does not change the customer's type for the purpose of earning bonuses during Final Scoring. This card can only be played at the start of Phase 3, and must be announced before players begin serving their customers. If more than one player plays their Change My Order card, resolve them in normal turn order. Once all played Change My Order cards have been resolved, players (even those who used a Change My Order card) continue serving their customers normally.
For example, Player 1 decides to change their Bunyip's order to copy that of Player 2's Mothman. Player 1 then serves their Bunyip the Mothman's order (5 Beuv'noires), scoring a tip based on the value and position of the Mothman on Player 2's board. Since the Mothman is on a green space, Player 1 receives 3 coins. Player 1 then moves their Bunyip card under the "Served" label of their player board.
Event cards
There are two types of Event cards.
- A preparation station is closed and your servers cannot collect the corresponding dish for the entire round.
- All customers must move 2 spaces to the right on the Customer Satisfaction Track at the end of the next round.
Event cards appear randomly when new customers are added to player boards during Phase 4: End-of-Round Cleanup. A revealed Event card will be active during the next round. If several Event cards are revealed, only the card revealed by the player closest to the first player (in turn order) will take effect. The other revealed Event cards are discarded, leaving only one active Event card for the next round.
For example, Player 2 and Player 4 both reveal an Event card. Player 2's Event card takes effect and Player 4's card is discarded. There is not necessarily an active Event card during every round of the game.
During the last round of a game, any Event cards drawn are ignored and discarded.
Bonuses and Final Scoring
Bonuses
There are three different Cryptid Types. These are represented on the Customer card by an element icon (at the top) and by a colored wood-grain pattern (at the bottom).
The three Types are:
- Airborne Cryptids
- Terrestrial Cryptids
- Aquatic Cryptids
At the end of the game, you can earn bonus tips if you have served several customers sharing the same Cryptid Type. A set consists of at least three served customers sharing the same Cryptid Type. Each set earns the player three bonus coins, plus one additional coin for each additional customer of that Cryptid Type.
For example, Player 1 served four Terrestrial Cryptids, two Airborne Cryptids, and three Aquatic Cryptids. They earn seven bonus coins at the end of the game: four for the Terrestrial set and three for the Aquatic set.
Final Scoring
Congratulations, you've finished your shift at the Cryptid Cafe! Now, let's find out which player earned the most tips and can be crowned Legendary Server!
- Add up all the tips still in your possession.
- For each Lost Customer, add up their "Lost Customer" value and subtract the result from your tip total.
- Subtract 1 coin from your tips for every 2 unused dish tokens (rounded down). For example, if you have 5 leftover dish tokens, you must subtract 2 coins (2.5 rounded down) from your tips.
- Finally, add the bonus coins from your Cryptid sets.
Finally, compare the total tips of all players: the player with the most tips is declared... the Legendary Server!
Breaking ties
If there's a tie, use the following criteria, in order, to determine the winner:
- The player with the fewest Lost Customers (regardless of their value) wins the game.
- The player who wasted the fewest dishes wins the game.
- The player who served the most customers wins the game.
Solo and 2-Player Rules
Solo and 2-player modes follow the same four phases as a game with more players, with a few key differences.
Setup — solo mode only
Setup is done normally (see "Setup" above), with two exceptions:
a. Add the six Event cards to your Customer deck.
b. Shuffle the two AI decks, "AI Player 2" (red deck) and "AI Player 3" (green deck), separately, and set them aside face down.
Setup — 2-player mode
Normal setup (see "Setup" above), but with one essential difference:
a. Shuffle the "AI Player 3" placement deck and set it aside face down.
Phase 1
Instead of human players taking turns placing their servers, two AI players will simulate human players. You will be competing against "AI Player 2" (red deck).
In a 2-player game, only AI Player 3 is used, and it does not score points.
You will play first, then follow these steps during an AI player's turn:
- Draw a card from the red deck (AI Player 2) to determine which preparation station AI Player 2 will send their server to.
- Then, roll the AI die to determine the rank their server will occupy at that station. If the rank is already occupied, place the server on the next-highest value.
- Continue alternating your turns and the AI's turns until both the AI players and you have placed all of your servers.
Phase 2: Share Tips and Collect Dishes
Once all servers have been placed, resolve each preparation station completely normally (see "Phase 2" above). If an AI player occupies the lowest rank, roll the AI die to determine the number of ranks the server will move up.
- Blank = none
- One symbol = 1 rank
- Two symbols = 2 ranks
AI players do not need to share tips with Chef Kraken to do this. If an AI player occupies the lowest rank of several preparation stations, it may move up in rank at each of those stations. AI players do not collect dishes.
If you move up in rank, the coins that would normally go to the Kraken are given to AI Player 2 instead. They will be counted toward AI Player 2's total at the end of the game. Ignore this rule in 2-player mode.
Phase 3: Serve Cryptid Customers
Follow this phase as you would in a normal game (see "Phase 3" above). AI players do not have customers, so skip this phase for them.
Phase 4: End-of-Round Cleanup
Follow this phase as you would in a normal game (see "Phase 4" above). When you lose a customer, the supply gives AI Player 2 as many coins as shown on the green tip of the customer you just lost.
Final Scoring
Finally, solo and 2-player games are played over 9 rounds. Score your points as usual (see "Bonuses and Final Scoring" above), with one exception: in solo mode, unused dishes cost you more points, and those points are collected by AI Player 2 instead.
- Easy — Subtract 3 coins from your tips for every 2 unused dish tokens (rounded down).
- Hard — Subtract 4 coins from your tips for every 2 unused dish tokens (rounded down).
- Epic — Subtract 5 coins from your tips for every 2 unused dish tokens (rounded down).
AI Player 2's score in solo mode
- Add the coins gained from shared tips, then subtract wasted dishes and the value of lost customers.
If you have more tips remaining than AI Player 2, YOU WIN THE GAME; otherwise... try again.