Rival Restaurants: Review
Introduction:
Rival Restaurants has players fulfilling basic and gourmet recipes in pursuit of reaching 20 points (known as ‘popularity’) first. As each completed recipe will produce rubbish, if this garbage isn't maintained throughout the game the player will lose one point per garbage at the end of the game. The game is a mix of the chaotic energy that comes from both real-time and negotiation games. Every round the main phase will last for one minute and players can buy at the location they have picked, as well as barter with any other player to gain the recipes/money they need.
Game Anatomy:
Recipes:
There are two types of recipes; basic and gourmet. Each recipe will tell the player the following:
- the ingredients needed (highlighted to show the location they are from)
- the garbage that is produced after the recipe is finished and scored
- the cuisine type which can award bonus points if it matches the location’s cuisine bonus
Each player can only hold one basic and one gourmet recipe at a time. The player is able to fulfill one recipe a round (unless using upgrades) and will draw the top recipe as a replacement when one is fulfilled.
Garbage:
Garbage is gained after the players have cooked and fulfilled a recipe, naturally. However, this garbage will stay here until the player removes it through barter or by paying $100 per garbage at the island. When a player fulfils a recipe they will lose one victory point gained from the recipe for each garbage they currently have. This can result in negative points gained from completing a recipe.
Ingredients:
There are 24 standard recipes spread across five different locations. These cover carbs, fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy. The first three food types cost $100 per piece, with meat and dairy at the chop shop and dairy king locations costing $200 per piece.
Special Ingredients:
The sixth ingredient location is the mystery mart and contains five special Ingredient;
- Chocolate which can be sold on the island for $500 (however does cost $300 to buy)
- Tofu which can replace one meat when filling a recipe and will reduce the garbage gained by one
- Secret sauce that awards one additional point for a basic recipe but can only be used once
- Wine that awards one additional point for a gourmet recipe but can also only be used once
Upgrades:
There are five upgrades that can be bought at the island. These cost between $200 and $600. They will allow the player to peruse two recipes and pick one after completing a recipe (for both the basic and gourmet recipes separately). The double cooktop allows both recipes to be cooked in a round, lastly there is social media advertising and celebrity endorsement which will both increase the money the player gains each round by $100 each. Each player can only do each upgrade once.
Locations:
There are six ingredient locations displayed around the board. These have several ingredients displayed at a time and a cost per face-up or face-down ingredient displayed beside the location.
There is also the middle location named ‘The Island’. The island is used to remove garbage, pay for upgrades, and purchase action cards.
Chefs and Restaurants:
Each chef has a unique ability which will modify how the user will play. Each chef also has their own standee. Additionally, the restaurants are also unique.
A restaurant is where a player will keep track of their points as well as any upgrades they have. The restaurants contain special one-off benefits or ongoing benefits (stated as "from now on") that will activate when a player has reached 3, 7 and 12 points. There are preferred cuisine types in restaurants that will grant that player one more point when filling that type. This is shown by the display board on the restaurant art.
Action Cards:
Action cards can be gained by spending $300 at the island or through Barter. These are game changing abilities that will themselves explain when they can be played (during money and move, or buy and Barter). Only one action can be played per round.
Player Pieces:
Each player will have a movement wheel which will be used to determine the location they are moving to each round. There is also a popularity slider to keep track of the points and a cost guide (information sheet).
Setup:
Market Board:
- Line up the upgrade tokens next to the corresponding upgrade colour and cost
- Shuffle the action deck and place the garbage tokens on the locations on the island
- Shuffle the market decks and place these in their corresponding locations, filling the counter for each location
- Place money to the side
- Seperate and shuffle the two recipes decks
Player Setup:
- Deal two chefs to each player and find the standee for the one chef they choose.
- Each player gains an action card (face-down) , and one basic and gourmet recipe face-up.
- Each player gains a movement wheel, popularity slider (placed on 0) and a cost guide.
- Give each player a random ingredient face-up. Place the ingredients near the recipes and any leftovers will be placed under a players restaurant so everyone can see their spare Ingredients.
How To Play:
Rival Restaurants is played over continuous rounds until one player has reached 20 points. At the end of the round in which the 20 points has been reached, the player with the most points wins. On a round there are three phases where all the players will play simultaneously; Money and Move, Buy and Barter, and lastly, Cook and Counter.
Money and Move:
The money part of this phase is that each player will gain $300 dollars (unless increased through upgrades), whereas the move portion allows each player to select the location they would like to go on their movement dial. The red background being the location the player would like to visit. When everyone is ready the locations will be revealed then everyone will place their player on one ingredient on the location they chose. For the island it is simply placing their standee at the location itself. If a player has placed their chef on the same ingredient as another player a bidding war will commence.
In a bidding war both players have a choice to simultaneously bid the amount they want to spend to get that crucial ingredient. If there is a tie, players can chose to take more garbage then the opponent, as well as pay the bid cost, to gain the ingredient.
Buy and Barter:
This phase lasts for one minute wherein players can spend money to purchase items at their location for them or other players. The other action players can do in this phase is barter with each other.
To barter, a player can trade with another for a multitude of items, including; ingredients, recipes (keeping the number at one basic and one gourmet), money, garbage, upgrades, action cards and purchases on other players’ behalf. Due to this players can ultimately gain ingredients from multiple locations at a time. Deals can be made in other phases between players but cannot be acted on until this phase has commenced.
Cook and Counter:
Players can cook one of their recipes (both if upgraded) by spending the required ingredients. The player will gain points equal to the recipe and cuisine bonus, although, any garbage tokens the player has will reduce the point value achieved. The player will now gain the garbage shown on the recipe, flip the recipe face-down and draw a new recipe of that type. Lastly, points are gained on the popularity track which activates any new relevant abilities.
Once all the players have cooked, all locations will restock its counters. This is done by discarding the right-most ingredient (it is now expired) and shifting the other Ingredients along, replenishing any empty spaces afterwards.
Final Thoughts:
- Good mix of gaining an enhanced engine through upgrades and benefits from the players location.
- Garbage not being removed will result in less points when a recipe is fulfilled.
- Fun mix of chef powers.
- Action cards can be more or less relevant based on the player, since players have to actively go to the island to purchase.
- Focused two-player mode with players using more chefs.
- Bartering is key to gaining what is needed but may be stressful for some players.
Rival Restaurant brings the heat as players compete to gain 20 points as fast as possible. These points are gained from fulfilling recipes after enough ingredients are collected. The challenge is that each player can only go to one location each round. To get enough points players will have to manage their money, prevent garbage from stacking, and make plenty of deals with opponents to get multiple things achieved each round. This game is chaotic in the best way. Not only are players having to make fast decisions against a one minute timer (main phase of the game), they also have to wheel and deal with others to get the right ingredients for their recipe at an optimal cost. The barter system in this is great where nearly anything is allowed. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, as well as a good level of strategy that is brought on with the custom abilities of the chef and the restaurants. If you enjoy negotiation games and have no issue with more pressure, I can easily recommend Rival Restaurants as a fun, heated recipe-fulfilment game.
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