Menu Masters
Menu Masters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 Store Boards
- 6 Chef Boards
- 124 Playing Cards
- 24 Chef Cap Pawns (4 each in 6 colors)
- 1 First Chef Token
- 48 Coins
Object of the Game
In Menu Master TM, players are chefs competing to collect the most stars by building menus with the freshest ingredients available on Market Street. The chef with the most stars at the end of the game wins!
Setup
Place the Store boards in the center of the table in the following order: Produce Stand, Butcher Shop, and Bakery. All stores should be easily accessible by the players.
Shuffle the Produce Stand, Butcher Shop, and Bakery cards separately and place these Store decks facedown at the top of the corresponding Store boards. Draw 3 cards from the top of each deck and place them face up on the individual store windows.
If playing with 4+ chefs, add the Supermarket Store board to the right of the Bakery. Draw 1 card each from the Produce Stand, Butcher Shop, and Bakery Store decks and place them in the windows of the Supermarket Store board.
Each player chooses a chef by taking a Chef board and the 4 Chef Cap pawns matching the color of the board. Each chef starts the game with 6 coins. 2 additional coins per player are set near the playing area to be used as a bank throughout the game. Return any leftover coins to the box. The player who most recently went grocery shopping receives the First Chef token.
Shuffle the Menu cards and deal 2 cards facedown to each chef. Chefs may look at their Menu cards, but should keep them secret from the other chefs. Place the Menu deck facedown above the Store boards, then draw 3 Menu cards and place them face up next to the Menu deck where they can be easily accessed by all chefs. These are community Menus that may be completed by any chef (see above image).
Playing the Game
Menu Master TM is played in a series of rounds. Each round consists of 3 steps:
- Place Pawns
- Purchase Ingredients
- Clean Up
During the game, chefs must carefully manage their money and plan their purchases to complete Menu cards.
Step 1: Place Pawns
Beginning with the chef who holds the First Chef token and continuing clockwise, chefs take turns placing 1 Chef Cap pawn at a time until each chef has placed all 4 of their Chef Caps. Each Chef Cap allows the chefs to either buy ingredients from a store or own a store for that round.
Buy an Ingredient: To buy an ingredient from a store, a chef places a Chef Cap in the store's center window. Other chefs may get in line by placing their Chef Caps underneath any Chef Cap(s) already in line, forming a stack. Chefs may have multiple Chef Caps in line, and there is no limit to how many Chef Caps may line up in a store.
Own a Store: To own a store, a chef places a pawn on the Store deck of the store they wish to own. Chefs who own stores will earn all coins spent there and will collect them during the Clean Up step. Chefs may own more than 1 store. Chefs may not share ownership of a store or get in line or buy ingredients from a store they own. Coins earned from an owned store cannot be spent until the next round.
Collect a Coin: Once per round, a chef may choose to use a Chef Cap to collect 1 coin from the bank instead of owning a store or buying an ingredient. The chef sets their Chef Cap on the coin received from the bank; they will not be able to use the coin until the Purchase Ingredients step of the next round. If there are no coins in the bank, chefs may not use this option.
After each chef has taken 4 turns to place all of their Chef Caps, the Place Pawns step ends and the Purchase Ingredients step begins.
Step 2: Purchase Ingredients
Chefs may now purchase ingredients from the stores where they have pawns in line. Chefs resolve purchasing ingredients in the following order:
- Produce Stand
- Butcher Shop
- Bakery
- Supermarket (4–5 chef game only)
The chef whose Chef Cap is on top of the stack in a store has the first opportunity to buy ingredients; it's first in, first out. The cost to purchase an ingredient is a number of coins equal to the number of pawns currently in the stack. Chefs may only buy 1 ingredient during a turn, but it may be any available ingredient from the store.
For example, if Zach (yellow) wanted to purchase an item from the Produce Stand and there were 4 Chef Caps total in the stack, he would have to pay 4 coins—regardless of whether the Chef Caps underneath his belonged to him or to other chefs.
Coins spent to purchase ingredients are placed on the store deck next to the store owner's pawn (if present). Store owners may not use these coins until the following round. After a chef purchases an ingredient, they place the ingredient in their basket (along the bottom side of their Chef board) and remove their pawn from the stack—lowering the cost of the ingredients in the store for the remaining chefs. If all 3 ingredients from a single store are sold, that store is sold out, and the remaining chefs in line may not buy any ingredients from that store this round.
Chefs may only have a total of 6 ingredients in their baskets. If they purchase a 7th ingredient card, they must build a Menu or choose an ingredient to discard from their baskets. Discarded cards are shuffled back into the appropriate store deck. Chefs may choose to remove their Chef Cap from a store without purchasing an ingredient on their turn.
Step 3: Clean Up
After each player has completed the Purchase Ingredients step, the Clean Up step begins.
- Chefs who chose to own a store pick up their Chef Cap and collect any coins spent at their store during the round.
- Any chefs who used their Chef Cap to obtain a coin from the bank pick up their Chef Cap and coin.
- In a 2-chef game, coins spent at stores not owned by a chef remain on the Store board. These will be claimed by the next chef who owns the store and collected after the next round's Purchase Ingredients step ends, just as if they were spent at the store during that round. In a 3–5 chef game, coins spent at stores not owned by a chef are returned to the bank.
- Restock the stores by replacing purchased ingredients with new ingredient cards from the corresponding store deck. If you are playing a 4+ chef game, restock the Supermarket so that it contains 1 ingredient each from the Produce Stand, Butcher Shop, and Bakery.
- Pass the First Chef token clockwise to the next chef.
Completing Menus
Chefs may complete 1 or more Menu cards on their turn. To complete a Menu, chefs must have all of the ingredients shown on the Menu in their basket. They may complete Menu cards from their hand and/or community Menu cards above the stores. When completing a Menu card, a chef:
- Announces they are completing a Menu.
- Shows the other chefs the Menu card as well as the ingredients being used to complete it.
- Places the completed Menu card on top of the ingredients used to complete it next to the Today's Special section of their Chef board.
If a chef completes a face up community Menu, it is immediately replaced with another Menu card from the deck. Chefs do not replace the secret Menu cards they were dealt at the beginning of the game.
Power Foods
Chefs are masters of innovation, trained to make the best of available ingredients. 2 of the same ingredient can be combined to create a Power Food. Power Foods can be used to fulfill any item from the same store on a Menu card.
For example, 2 broccoli cards can be used to fulfill a tomato on a Menu card, or 2 salmon cards can be used to fulfill a steak. When 2 of the same ingredients are combined to create a Power Food, only the card with the highest star value is added to the score.
Scoring and Winning the Game
When a chef completes 3 Menu cards, all chefs finish the current round and then tally their scores. Chefs tally their scores by adding together the stars on all ingredients used to complete their Menus. If a chef used a Power Food to fulfill an ingredient, add in only the highest star value from the 2 cards. Leftover ingredients in a chef's basket do not count towards a chef's final score.
For example, if a chef used a 2-star broccoli card and a 3-star broccoli card to fulfill another Produce Stand ingredient, the chef only adds 3 stars for that ingredient. If an ingredient card shows 2 ingredients, only add the star value of the ingredient matching the Menu card.
The chef with the highest total number of stars from their completed Menus is the winner! In case of a tie, the chef with the most coins win. If a tie still exists, the tied chefs both win and go into business together by opening a fusion restaurant!