Panic Diner Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Game Play
  • How a Day in the Restaurant Goes
  • Washing the Dishes
  • Timer
  • Was the Day Good?
  • Success
  • Failure
  • Preparation for the Next Round
• Challenge Cards
  • Event Cards (15)
  • Important Guest Cards (5)
• End of the Game
• Harder Play

Components

• 1 game board
• 1 washer (the box lid)
• 48 double-sided food tokens
• 15 star tokens
• 7 award tokens
• 40 round visitor cards
• 20 square challenge cards
• 1 hourglass (90 seconds)

Goal of the Game

The week of hot evenings has arrived! Together the players must fulfil the visitors' orders and get through the challenge that the new day has prepared for them. But in the bustle, be attentive and do not forget to wash the dishes, otherwise there will not be enough clean plates for new dishes!

If you cope with all of the current day's orders and the guests remain satisfied with the service, you receive an award. You win if, at the end of the week, your restaurant keeps a good reputation.

Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table. Place the hourglass in the hole in the centre of the board.
2. Place next to the hourglass, in the designated spot around it, as many star tokens as there are players.
3. Shuffle the visitor cards and place them in a stack next to the game board, with the blank-plates side facing up.
4. Spread all the food tokens evenly around the game board so that all players can see them well and reach them easily.
5. Place the box lid apart from the game board. This is the dishwasher; you will place food tokens in it when plates need to be washed.
6. Shuffle the challenge cards and place them in a face-down stack next to the lid.
7. Place the remaining award tokens and star tokens next to the box.
8. Turn the top challenge card face up.
9. Each player takes 1 visitor card and places it in front of themselves, without turning it over.

Now you can begin the game!

Game Play

The game lasts 7 rounds. Each round is one working day in the restaurant. However, here the day lasts only 90 seconds, and not a second longer!

For the day to pass successfully, you must collect all the star tokens that lie around the hourglass on the game board.

But that is not all: each day also brings difficult challenges that will keep you on your toes. What awaits you in the current round is determined by the challenge cards.

1. Event cards with a red warning symbol change the rules of the game.
2. Important guest cards require you to fulfil the order of a special guest, not of ordinary visitors.

How a Day in the Restaurant Goes

Look at the challenge card that you turned face up during setup. Make sure all players have seen and understood what awaits them. Turn over the hourglass and begin!

Each player opens their visitor card.

All players simultaneously grab food tokens from the table, using only one hand. As quickly as possible, find the dishes ordered by your visitors. Talk to the other waiters (players) and help them if you find a dish ordered by their guests.

To fulfil an order, you must place the food tokens on the corresponding ordered dishes on your visitor card. When the order is complete:

• take a star token from the game board and place it in front of you;
• remove all the food tokens used in the order, and the visitor card (blank-plates side up), into the dishwasher (box lid);
• then take a new visitor card, place it in front of you, and get ready to accept and fulfil a new order.

Important: you can only fulfil the order on your own visitor card, not the orders on other players' cards. You may fulfil another player's order only if an event card requires it (see "Event cards" on page 31).

A day can end in two ways:

• time runs out: the players must immediately stop doing anything, OR
• all the star tokens have been taken.

Washing the Dishes

When an order is completed, the tokens and the corresponding cards are sent to the box (the dishwasher). The number of free tokens for orders in the centre of the table will become smaller and smaller. To return tokens to play, you must "wash" them.

The reverse side of the visitor card shows plates of certain colours. If the player who is "washing" dishes manages to collect tokens matching the colours of the plates on the card, they may return those tokens to the centre of the table, where they become available again for orders.

After washing, the visitor card is set aside and is no longer used in the current round.

Several players may wash at the same time. They may do this with both hands, without observing the requirements of event cards.

Important: until time runs out, you may continue to "wash" dishes even if you have already completed your order.

Timer

Attention! If the hourglass falls over during the game, set it back in place. If you knock the hourglass over, you lose one of your star tokens: return the token to the hourglass. Do not despair; continue the game and try to finish the day with a good result!

Was the Day Good?

Yes, if:

1. no star tokens remain on the table, and the requirements of the event card(s) were observed,

OR

2. the important guest remained satisfied and their order was fulfilled in the best possible way.

Success

Take an award token and place it cup-side up on the space of the game board that corresponds to the round just played. Return the star tokens to the board.

Failure

If at least one of the conditions stated above was not met, place an award token cup-side up with a crossed-out cup. Return the star tokens to the board.

If you did not watch the time and did not notice that the time had run out, you lose in this round. Place an award token with the crossed-out cup side up, and return the star tokens to the board.

Preparation for the Next Round

After the round ends, if you used food tokens for an important guest, return those tokens to the table with the other tokens. The important guest card is removed from the game.

Open a new challenge card and make sure all players understand the task.

Turn the hourglass over and continue the game from where you stopped in the previous round, opening a new challenge card.

Important: cards and tokens remain in the dishwasher, which makes the game harder.

Attention! Before starting a new round, check whether you have enough visitor cards in the stack. If there are not enough, take the cards from the stack of clean plates that you set aside, and form a new stack from these together with the remaining visitor cards.

Challenge Cards

Event Cards (15)

Event cards are the challenge cards that change the rules of the game. Each has a red warning symbol.

1. Valentine's Day. You may fulfil visitors' orders only together with another player, showering each other with compliments. Place 2 completed order cards together with the food tokens into the dishwasher.

2. Bartender. Choose a player: from now on you must call this player "the Bartender". Only this player may place drink tokens on other players' cards during the round. The Bartender must also fulfil an order from their own visitor card.

3. Head Chef. Choose a player: from now on you must call this player "the Chef". Only this player may place food tokens (except desserts and drinks) on other players' cards during the round. The Chef must also fulfil an order from their own visitor card.

4. Pastry Chef. Choose a player: from now on you must call this player "the Pastry Chef". Only this player may place dessert tokens on other players' cards during the round. The Pastry Chef must also fulfil an order from their own visitor card.

5. Happy Hour. To fulfil an order, add one more food token of a dish that is already in the order to your card.

6. Karaoke Night. Communicate with each other only by singing.

7. World Cup Final. Shout "Gooooal!" every time you complete an order.

8. Penguins. Take food tokens using only one finger of each hand.

Important Guest Cards (5)

Each card shows the important guest's order, listed with the number of tokens of each item.

1. Superman: French fries x4, Burger x2, Cola x1.
2. Alien: Sushi x4, Orange juice x2, Strawberry pie x1.
3. Ninja Turtle: Pizza x4, Donuts x2, Coffee x1.
4. Batman: Coffee x4, Teapot of tea x2, Chocolate fondant x1.
5. Human Torch: Jug of water x4, Cocktail x2, Ice cream x1.

Important: if the food tokens needed to fulfil an important guest's order are stuck in the dishwasher (there are not enough tokens, or no tokens of the required colour are available), try to fulfil the ordinary visitors' orders faster.

End of the Game

The game ends after 7 rounds. The working week is over, and it is time to sum up the work and check the reputation of the establishment.

To find out, count the award tokens lying cup-side up:

• 0–3 tokens: the service in your restaurant is poor, close the doors! You have lost. Try starting over from a clean slate and open a new restaurant under a new name. Maybe next time things will go differently…
• 4–5 tokens: you have a decent restaurant, but sometimes orders have to wait a very long time. You have won, but to open a high-class restaurant you still need to work a lot. Try your luck next week and see whether you can improve your result!
• 6–7 tokens: Excellent work! Congratulations! Thanks to the positive attitude and goodwill of your team, the guests left only positive reviews! A brilliant result!

Harder Play

If you are playing with experienced participants who already fulfil all orders with ease, make the game harder by adding additional difficulty levels. For each additional level, add more star tokens to the centre of the board than there are players taking part.

For example, if you play with four players at difficulty level 2, the goal of the round is to collect 6 tokens from the centre of the table (4 players + 2 additional tokens for the difficulty level).

If you play with three players at difficulty level 3, the goal of the round is to collect 6 star tokens from the centre of the table.