Dinner in Paris Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Before the First Game
Setup
Goal of the Game
The Player Board
A Game Round
Pigeon Cards
Majorities
End of the Game and Scoring
Credits

Components

1 double-sided main board
4 player boards
48 Resource cards
24 Objective cards
24 Pigeon cards
8 Majority cards
8 translucent cubes (4 yellow and 4 white)
248 Terrace tiles (62 of each color)
72 Property tiles (18 of each color)
60 Roof units
18 restaurants of different sizes
1 sticker sheet
1 scoring pad

Before the First Game

Before starting the first game, prepare the restaurants that will be used in all your future games.

Assemble the Roof units onto each restaurant so they cover them entirely. Every Roof unit fits a stud.
Put the stickers on one or both facades of the corresponding restaurants.

For this purpose, you have:

10 "Friterie" stickers for 5 restaurants of size 2
4 "Crêperie" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 3
4 "Pizzeria" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 3
4 "Fruits de mer" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 3
4 "Grill" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 4
4 "Bar à vin" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 4
4 "Brasserie" stickers for 2 restaurants of size 5
2 "Restaurant gastronomique" stickers for 1 restaurant of size 5

The size of the restaurants is determined by the number of spaces they occupy on the board and the number of studs they have.

Setup

Place the main board on the center of the table, at equal distance of all players. For a 2-player game, players can use the 2-player side of the board if they want to, but it is not mandatory.
Shuffle the Resource cards and place them on the designated spot on the board; then, create a row of four cards face up. The empty space near this deck will be used as a discard pile.
Shuffle the Objective cards and place them on the designated spot on the board.
Shuffle the Pigeon cards and place them on the designated spot on the board.
Shuffle the Majority cards and draw one at random that will be placed face up on the designated spot on the board. Put the rest of the cards back into the game box.
Place the 18 restaurants near the board following ascending order so as to be visible to all players.

Every player receives:

1 player board;
1 translucent yellow cube, placed on the "1" space of the income track on their player board;
1 translucent white cube, kept near their player board;
52 Terrace tiles of their color placed on the empty spaces of their player board (the extra Terrace tiles will only be used if you lose any);
18 Property tiles of their color placed near their player board;
a hand of 4 Resource cards;
2 Objective cards: every player keeps one face down and puts the other face up near the Objectives deck.

Goal of the Game

In Dinner in Paris, players try to become the best restaurant owner in the new Parisian square by winning the most victory points at the end of the game. In order to do this, they will have to open their restaurants, build terraces, win majorities and complete objectives.

The Player Board

The player board gives players an overview of the following information:

The restaurants, classified by categories based on their size, including:

The necessary ingredients to open them
The income they generate every turn once they are open
The victory points they are worth at the end of the game

The four restaurant categories are:

1st category: Friterie (fry stand)
2nd category: Fruits de mer (seafood), Crêperie, Pizzeria
3rd category: Grill, Bar à vin (wine bar)
4th category: Brasserie, Gastronomique (gourmet restaurant)

The terraces of each category of restaurants, including:

The cost of each terrace
The income bonus they give during the game
The victory points they are worth at the end of the game

The income track summarizing the available income each turn.

A Game Round

The last person that ate at a restaurant will be the first player, followed by the rest of the players in a clockwise direction.

The game round has 2 phases:

The player performs action Draw a Resource card.
Then, the player must choose 2 of the 4 following actions:
1. Draw a Resource card
2. Open a restaurant
3. Build terraces
4. Complete a personal or common objective

If they want, players can perform the same action twice, except for the "Build terraces" action, which can only be performed once. Therefore, the player can draw 3 Resource cards on their turn, if they want to.

1. Draw a Resource Card

The player draws a Resource card from the row of face up cards or from the Resource deck.

There are two types of Resource cards:

Cards with one or more ingredients, used to open a restaurant. In the case of a multi-ingredient card, the player will choose one of the ingredients when using it.
Cards with a coin. This is a resource that you can use once during the "Build terraces" action to temporarily augment your buying capacity. The card doesn't augment your permanent income on the track. Discard it after play.
If this action is performed several times, replenish the row between actions.
A player can't have more than 7 Resource cards in their hand at the end of their action. However, it is possible, temporarily, to go over the limit and then immediately discard any card(s) in hand down to the limit.
If the row shows at least 3 similar ingredients, renew it by discarding all 4 cards and replacing them with 4 new cards.
Once the Resource deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.

2. Open a Restaurant

To open a restaurant, the player must discard the necessary ingredients (shown on their player board) from their hand. Then, they take the corresponding restaurant and place it on a row around the square. The building row is modified depending on the player count:

For 4 players, use the row closest to the edge.
For 3 players, use the second closest row.
For 2 players, use the third closest row (or the row closest to the edge if you are using the 2-player side of the board).

Afterwards, to mark ownership, the player places a Property tile of their color with the name of the restaurant on its roof. This restaurant will give the player a permanent income as indicated on their player board. Advance the yellow cube on the income track accordingly.

From now on, the player has this income available every turn and can use it to perform the "Build terraces" action. The restaurant will also award the player victory points at the end of the game.

Example: Max has a hand of 4 cards and discards two Flour and one Cheese card in order to build a Crêperie. He takes one of the two Crêperies available and places it on the main board, on the designated row for a 3-player game. Then, he adds a Property tile of his color on the restaurant's roof and advances his yellow cube one space on his income track. From now on, he has an income of 2 (1 initial income + 1 thanks to his Crêperie).

3. Build Terraces

With one action the player can build terraces on all the restaurants they have opened, limited by their available income.

Restaurants belong to 4 categories, each with a common pool of terraces.

If a player wants to build one or more terraces on a specific restaurant, they must take them from the reserve corresponding to that restaurant's category and choose the Terrace tile(s) at the far left of the line.

Each terrace space shows:

The cost for each terrace. During their turn, a player can place as many Terrace tiles as their income allows them in accordance with their cost. The more terraces of one category a player builds, the more expensive they will be.

The "Coin" Resource cards and the "2-coin" Pigeon cards allow players to augment, temporarily, their ability to purchase without modifying their income track.

The Income Track

During the "Build terraces" action, the yellow translucent cube indicating the permanent income available each turn doesn't move.

The white translucent cube allows players to track their expenses during this action. As they buy and place their terraces, players may move up their white cube starting on the same spot as the yellow cube (available income) to see in real time how much money they can still spend.

The victory points. At the end of the game, players will score the victory points shown below the last revealed Terrace space (rightmost empty space) of each restaurant category. If the last revealed space shows an income bonus, the player must take into account the victory points from the previous space.

An income bonus (only on some spaces). When a player builds a terrace with this symbol underneath its space, they are able to increase their permanent income by one on their income track. This additional income will be available next turn.

The number of available terraces for each restaurant category is limited and players will have to manage their terrace pools carefully during the game.

Rules of Placement

Any player that wants to build one or more terraces must follow these rules:

The first terraces must always be placed in front of a restaurant, connected orthogonally.
Terraces can't be placed on the construction row reserved for restaurants or on top of a decor element (fountain, band, street light, flower bed).
However, terraces can be placed on pigeons (see "Pigeon cards" below).
The terraces of the same restaurant must always be connected orthogonally.
The terraces of two restaurants cannot ever be orthogonally adjacent (but they can be diagonally adjacent), even if they both belong to the same player (except when a special effect on Pigeon cards allows it).
Providing that all the above rules are observed, a player can still build a terrace in front of another player's restaurant.

Example: Max has opened a Crêperie and a Bar à vin, and therefore has an income of 4 (the initial 1 + 1 for his Crêperie and 2 for his Bar à vin). In addition, he has a Coin Resource card in his hand that he decides to use during his "Build terraces" action. Consequently, this turn Max can spend up to 5. He builds 1 terrace in front of his Crêperie and 1 terrace in front of his Bar à vin. The total cost for both terraces is 5. Be careful! The terrace in front of his Crêperie cannot be adjacent to those of Alice's Friterie because she has already started building in front of Max's Crêperie.

4. Complete a Personal or Common Objective

At the start of the game, every player draws two Objective cards, chooses one of them to keep secretly, in hand (personal objective), and places the other one face up on the designated space on the board, next to the Objectives deck (common objective). This objective will be available for all players.

During their turn, a player can choose to perform the action "Complete a personal or common objective," if they have fulfilled the requirements of their personal Objective card or one of the common Objective cards on the board.

There are different types of Objective cards: number of terraces in an area or around a decor element, and terrace shapes.

Objectives that show a terrace shape can occupy a bigger space and be reoriented in any way.

During the game:

Once a player completes a personal objective, they place it face up in front of them. Then, they draw a new one and decide whether to keep it as a personal objective or, if they don't think they can complete it before the end of the game, place it on the board as a common objective for all players.
When a player completes a common objective, they take the card from the board and place it in front of them. The objective becomes unavailable for the rest of players and it is not replaced.

Scoring:

At the end of the game, every completed objective will award the amount of victory points shown on the card.
At the end of the game, every incomplete objective kept in hand will cost the amount of points shown on the card.

Example: Max has in his hand an Objective card with a terrace shape. On his first action, he builds the terraces allowing him to create a shape. On his second action, he places his Objective card face up in front of him. It will award him 4 points at the end of the game. Then, Max draws a new Objective card from the deck. He can choose to keep it as a personal objective or place it on the board face up as a common objective for all players. Max decides to keep it. If he doesn't complete it, he will receive negative points at the end of the game.

Pigeon Cards

Players that place a Terrace tile on a space containing a pigeon draw a Pigeon card that gives them either an immediate bonus or a bonus for a later round.

The activation of a Pigeon card is not an action. Discard it after play.

There are two different types of Pigeon cards and 4 copies of each card:

The card is played immediately:

Draw 2 Resource cards
Place a terrace on the same restaurant for free

The player keeps the card and may use it once in a later turn:

2 coins. This card works like a Resource card. It enables you to augment, temporarily, your purchase capacity but it doesn't augment your permanent income nor your income track.
You can draw an objective or complete a 2nd objective in your turn. If you draw an objective: you can decide to keep it as a personal objective or to place it on the board as a common objective. If you complete a 2nd objective: this bonus enhances the "Complete a personal or common objective" action and enables you to complete two in one action.
You can open a restaurant with one less ingredient. You cannot add up several similar cards to open one restaurant.
You can place terraces adjacent to other players' terraces and cover up to 2 terraces. This card can only be played on one restaurant. The covered terrace doesn't come back to the player but doesn't count towards majorities. It is forbidden to break the link between the terraces and the restaurant they belong to. Terraces of two different restaurants of the same player must always be separated.

Majorities

At the start of the game, players draw a Majority card showing 3 majorities that will apply during the final scoring.

There are 5 types of majorities:

Most terraces around a decor element (fountain, band, street light, flower bed). Players sum up all the terraces they have around these decor elements. Diagonal spaces count towards terrace majorities.
Most terraces in one of the areas of the board (Rue Nord, Rue Sud, Rue Est, Rue Ouest). An area corresponds to the half of the board on the side of one of the streets that surrounds the square. For example, "Rue Nord" area corresponds to the half of the board on the side of Rue Nord.
Most restaurants
Most money. Including the income track and the Resource and Pigeon cards showing a coin.
Most Pigeon cards. Players keep played Pigeon cards in front of them. Pigeon cards still in their hand at the end of the game will also count towards scoring.

Each majority will be subject to individual scoring that will vary depending on player count.

In order to be eligible to score majority points for terraces you must have placed at least one terrace around a decor element or in the specific area.

In case of a majority tie: tied players share the amount of points from their position and the one(s) below. Other players win the points corresponding to their respective positions.

Examples in a 4-player game:

If two players are tied for the 1st place, they sum the points from 1st and 2nd place and divide by 2, receiving 10 points each. 3rd and 4th players receive 4 and 0 points respectively (provided that they are eligible for this majority).
If all three players are tied for 1st place, they sum the points from 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and divide it by 3, receiving 8 points each. The 4th player will receive 0 points.

End of the Game and Scoring

The end of the game is triggered when one of the 3 following conditions is met:

Players placed a certain number of restaurants:
- 11 restaurants in a 2-player game
- 13 restaurants in a 3-player game
- 15 restaurants in a 4-player game
A player placed all of their Terrace tiles from 2 restaurant categories.
It is not possible to place more restaurants or terraces on the board.

Players finish the round and then proceed to scoring as indicated on the following table:

Victory points from restaurants. Players add up the victory points of all their restaurants.
Victory points from terraces built. Players score the victory points shown below the last unveiled Terrace space (rightmost empty space) of each restaurant category.
Majorities. Each of the 3 majorities is scored individually. Players score the points corresponding to their positions. In case of a tie, players share the amount of points from their position and the one(s) below.
Completed personal and common objectives. X points for completed objectives / -X points for incomplete objectives kept in hand, where X is the number shown on the card.

The player with the most victory points at the end of the game will be the winner.

In case of a tie, the player who has built the most terraces wins the game!

Credits

Designers: Les Trolls Associés
Illustrations: Alain Boyer
Graphic design: Emmanuel Chaspoul and Delphine Lafargue
Development: Funnyfox, Cédric Lefebvre
Translation & copy editing EN: Lis Díez Bourgoin and Jacob Coon (Board Game Circus)