Schlacht am Buffet Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Idea and Goal
• Components
• Setup
• Course of Play
  • The buffet is open: laying out plates
  • The battle begins: playing cards and moving mice
  • Last mouse home: the last mouse goes home!
  • On we go: new card, new luck
  • Only two mice left in the race: one goes away empty-handed!
  • Need a refill? - Drawing cards
  • New round, new dishes
• End of the Game and Scoring
• Special Rules for the Game with Three Players

Game Idea and Goal

When all dishes have been distributed, whoever has scored the most points with their collected dishes wins.

Components

• 1 game board
• 110 mouse cards (10 each of the values -1, 0 - 9)
• 6 mouse figures
• 36 plate dishes (6 each of the values -1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the six kinds cheese, salami, sausage, pizza, chicken leg, salad)
• 6 mouse tiles (so that everyone knows who plays which colour)
• 1 start player tile

Setup

• Before the first game, carefully punch the pieces out of the frames.
• The game board is placed in the middle of the table.
• The mouse cards are shuffled. Each player is dealt 9 cards face down. The remaining cards are placed next to the board as a face-down draw pile.
• Each player receives a mouse figure and a mouse tile in one colour. Each player places their mouse on the start space ("40/0") of the board. Each player places their mouse tile in front of them. This way everyone can see during the game who plays which colour.
• The plate dishes are shuffled face down and placed next to the board.
• The youngest player receives the start player tile.

Course of Play

Note: The following describes the game for 4 to 6 players. The changes for a game with three players are at the end of these rules.

The buffet is open: laying out plates

• The game lasts several rounds. At the start of each round, some plate dishes are laid out face up.

  One plate fewer than the number of players is always revealed. In a game with five players, for example, 4 plates are revealed.

• The plates are laid out sorted by their numerical values from left to right on the place mats in the middle of the board. The high values come first, with the lower ones each to the right of them. For equal values, the ranking in which the dishes are shown at the top right of the board applies. Cheese is therefore the most valuable, salad the least interesting for the mice.

  Note: If fewer than 6 players are playing, some place mats remain empty.

Example of a buffet layout: In a game with five players, these 4 plates were revealed and laid out sorted by value from left to right: 4, 4, 2, -1. Since there are two dishes with the value "4", the ranking at the top right of the board applies: pizza is more valuable to the mice than salad. It is therefore placed first.

The battle begins: playing cards and moving mice

• Each player has 9 mouse cards in hand and simultaneously with the other players places 1 card face down.
• Then the player with the start player tile is the first to reveal their card and moves their mouse as many spaces as the number on their card indicates. With "0" they stay where they are; with "-1" they move back 1 space.
• Then their left neighbour reveals their card and likewise moves their mouse accordingly. In this way every player takes a turn, in clockwise order, until all cards have been revealed. The played cards are placed face up on a discard pile next to the draw pile.
• Any number of mice may stand on one space.
• Important: If a player whose mouse is on the start space has played a card with the value -1, they must move back one space behind the start space - onto space 39.

Last mouse home: the last mouse goes home!

• If one mouse stands alone furthest back, that player drops out of the current round and must take the plate that is worth the least. This one is at the far right of the row.

  Example: The blue mouse stands alone furthest back and must drop out of the round. Player Blue must take the chicken leg "-1" and place it in front of them. The leg was probably no longer quite fresh.

• The player places the won plate face up in front of them.

• They take their mouse off the board and stand it next to their mouse tile.

• Important: The player who drops out first in a round may put any number of their hand cards on the discard pile and immediately draw as many cards from the draw pile.

• If the player who dropped out had the start player tile, they pass it on to the next player in clockwise order who is still in the game.

• Attention: If on the rearmost space there is not just one mouse but two or more mice standing there, nobody drops out of the current round yet. The game continues for everyone.

On we go: new card, new luck

• All players who have not dropped out continue.
• They place a second card and, starting with the player with the start player tile, everyone reveals their card again and moves their mouse according to the card they played. Again the player who stands alone at the back must now drop out and take the currently lowest-value plate dish. They stand their mouse in front of them.
• Then all remaining players immediately place another card, reveal in turn and move their mice, etc.

Only two mice left in the race: one goes away empty-handed!

• The game continues like this until only two mice and one plate (the most valuable) are left in the race. The player whose mouse stands alone at the front after the next card played gets it. The second mouse goes away empty-handed.

  Example: After the last round, the yellow mouse stands alone furthest forward and receives the "4" pizza. For the violet mouse it was not enough. It goes away empty-handed.

• Here too, if both mice stand together on the foremost space, so that none stands alone at the front, cards continue to be played until this tie is resolved. If both players have no cards left in hand, they immediately draw 9 cards again from the draw pile and play on.

• Note: If a mouse would move beyond space "40", it simply moves on as normal.

Need a refill? - Drawing cards

• At the end of a round, every player (including the one who dropped out first) receives new mouse cards from the draw pile until they again have 9 cards in hand.

  Note: Since the players have used different numbers of cards, they now receive different numbers of new cards.

• When the draw pile is used up, the cards of the discard pile are shuffled and laid out face down as a new draw pile.

New round, new dishes

• In the next round all players take part again. The start player tile goes to the player who sits to the left of the winner of the last round.

• New plates are laid out face up - again one plate fewer than the number of players.

• Everyone puts their mouse back on the start space.

• Important: If a player receives a plate with a dish of a kind of which they already have one in front of them, they must place the new plate on top. The dish lying underneath thereby becomes invalid. Each player has at most one dish of each kind face up.

  Note: Therefore it is no catastrophe to receive a dish with the value "-1" early, since in the course of the game you can receive the same dish with a higher value. But even a "5" dish believed to be safe can still be covered in the last round by a lower-value dish of the same kind.

End of the Game and Scoring

• When there are no longer enough plates in the supply to lay out new dishes, the game ends after the current round.
• Now each player adds up the values of their dishes.
• For each player, only the dish lying on top in each kind is scored.
• Whoever has the most points wins.
• In case of a tie, whoever has the more valuable dish wins. If there are also equal values here, the ranking at the top right of the board decides.

Example of a scoring: The player has reached a total value of 10 points. Their most valuable dish is the chicken leg with value 5. (Dishes shown: 4, 2, 5, -1, 1 - with an earlier covered dish not counted.)

Special Rules for the Game with Three Players

With three players each round consists of two parts:

• At the start of each round, 5 plates are revealed and laid out according to the usual rules.
• In the first part of the round, the three lower-value plates (starting from the right) are at stake.
• The course is as in the normal game. However, here every player receives a plate. As usual, the player who drops out first may exchange any number of cards.
• Once all plates have been distributed, the three mice are put back on the start space.
• In the second part, the two remaining plates are at stake. The players continue with their remaining hand cards. They therefore do not receive new cards yet.
• The player who drops out first in the second part receives the lower-value plate. They may no longer exchange cards now. The other two players continue playing until only one player stands furthest forward on the track. This player receives the most valuable plate. The second player goes away empty-handed. Afterwards all players refill their hands to 9 cards and the next round begins.

(Illustration: plates 5, 4, 2, 2, 1; the two highest, 5 and 4, are "Part 2", the three lowest, 2, 2, 1, are "Part 1".)