Pizza Chef: The Next Generation

Pizza Chef: The Next Generation Rulebook

Table of Contents

4 pawns (1 in each of the 4 colors)
32 pizza tokens (8 in each of the 4 colors)
96 toppings (including 13 mystery bags)
Game board (the village square)
First player token
26 missions
19 chef's notes
44 orders (including 4 orders for pizza fantasia)
4 score cards
4 overview cards

Game Overview

Earn money with secret missions.
Take orders from the villagers.
Use your maestro skills to take control of the game.
Earn tips with quick deliveries, revisiting houses, and not wasting your toppings.
Get paid for delivering your 8 pizzas.
Gather your toppings at the local market.

Goal of the Game

You aim to prove your worth as a loyal La Casa della Pizza employee. Honing all the perfected pizza skills you've mastered over the years, you try to earn the most money throughout the game. This will show the pizza chef that you are his most suitable successor - and with that, you get to wear the coveted apron that tells everyone you are the new pizza chef!

Setup

Place the game board at the center of the table.
Each player picks a color to play with and receives:
- 1 pawn in their chosen color (place it at the start of the score bar: the name board of the pizzeria),
- 8 pizza tokens in their color,
- 1 order for a pizza fantasia,
- 1 score and overview card.
Are there fewer than 4 players? Return the remaining pizza fantasia orders to the box.
Shuffle the 3 card decks and place them in their assigned spots on the game board (the pizzeria). Keep missions, chef's notes, and orders in separate decks.
Put the 13 mystery bags into one stack, with the paper bag facing up. Place them at the center crate on the market. Create 8 more stacks of 10 or 11 toppings each - distribute both background color and type of topping randomly. Place these on the remaining market crates, toppings facing up.
Choose which cards you will start with. Each player receives:
- 4 missions (you keep at least 1),
- 4 orders (you keep at least 1),
- 4 chef's notes (you keep 1).
Discard the ones you don't want to keep and reshuffle the decks.
Whoever ate pizza most recently gets to start. They receive the first player token.

You're all set. It's time to deliver some pizzas!

Game Flow

The player with the first player token kicks off the game; then everyone takes their turns in a clockwise order.

During each turn, you perform 2 actions. These can be 2 different actions or 2 of the same actions. Anyone can play a chef's note at any time.

Actions

Take (1 action): Draw 4 cards from the top of one of the decks. Keep at least 1 mission or order. Or keep 1 chef's note.
Gather (1 action): Choose 1 line of crates on the market and collect:
- all visible toppings with the same background color, or
- all the visible toppings of the same kind, regardless of color.
Discard (1 or 2 actions):
- Put 1 order on the discard pile, or
- return 1-2 topping(s) to the market, or
- discard 1 mission.
Restock (1 action):
- Discard all visible toppings with the same background color, or
- discard all visible toppings of the same kind, regardless of color, or
- collect the mystery bags from the market stall and all discarded mystery bags, shuffle the pile, and place the pile in the center crate.
Deliver (1 action):
- Place your order in front of you,
- discard the toppings you use,
- place your pizza token on the upper free pizza icon, and
- move your pawn according to what you've earned.

Action: Take

Draw 4 cards from the top of one of the decks in 1 action. Keep at least 1 mission or order. Or keep 1 chef's note.

The ones you don't keep are placed in the discard pile (see 'The Discard Pile'). You may hold an unlimited number of cards in your hand. However, incomplete missions and undelivered orders will cost you money (see 'End of the Game').

Take: Missions

Wanting to put your skills to the ultimate test, the pizza chef added secret missions to the mix. Prove you function under pressure by combining missions and to better serve the loyal pizza-ordering villagers. The pizza chef rewards each successful mission with 5 to 10 coins, depending on its difficulty level. (Each mission card shows the mission to achieve and the coins earned for completed missions at the end of the game.)
Money earned with missions will be paid out at the end of the game. Keep your missions hidden from the other players. And while playing, don't tell anyone you've completed a mission.

Take: Orders

Orders in abundance at La Casa della Pizza, from the Margherita in its pure bliss to the top of the toppings suprema. Each order contains all the information you need to prepare and deliver the pizzas to the hungry villagers. (Each order shows the delivery address, the amount of coins the villager will pay for this pizza, and the toppings you need to gather.)
Keep undelivered orders in your hand, preventing other players from sneaking a peak at them.
Collected all toppings? Time to deliver a pizza! (See 'Action: Deliver'.)

Take: Chef's Note

The pizza chef has been training you for years, showing you the arts of the pizza crust craft. As old as he is, he doesn't remember everything, turning his notebook into a hidden treasure of tricks. Impress the pizza chef by following in his footsteps; use the chef's notes you find to your advantage.
To ensure the pizza chef doesn't notice you took a leaf out of his book, wait at least 1 turn after retrieving a chef's note to use it. Until then, put it down in front of you without revealing its content.
Using a chef's note doesn't count as an action. You may use as many as you own. After waiting 1 turn, you are allowed to use the note whenever you like - even during someone else's turn! When using a chef's note during someone else's turn, be sure to wait until someone's action ends. Example: You can't play the chef's note 'mix 2 piles of toppings at the market' while someone is collecting toppings. You wait until they're done.
Each chef's note may be used only once. Discard after use.

Action: Gather

Choose 1 line of crates on the market and collect:

all toppings with the same background color or
all toppings of the same kind, regardless of background color.

A line is a horizontal row, a vertical column or a diagonal line of 3 visible toppings. 1 action always gets you 1 to 3 toppings. Note: You cannot collect toppings from a diagonal line of 2 toppings.

Some toppings (all mystery bags and a few of the standard toppings) have two background colors. You decide whether to collect or leave them, by counting them as red or green.

About the toppings

The old, charming Italian village square holds a welcoming yet chaotic market. Local farmers deliver fresh products from their farms, offering everything you need for the perfect pizza. Shop wisely: what you need might be snatched away before you know it.
In addition to the 8 piles of standard toppings, the market has a middle crate with mystery bags. These contain a surprise from the market owner (see 'Mystery Bags').
Each topping can be used once.
Gathered toppings are placed face up in front of you for all players to see. The amount of toppings you may keep is unlimited. However, other players could sabotage you by stealing, and a mystery bag could cause you to lose toppings. At the end of the game, unused toppings could cost you money (see 'End of the Game').

Examples

Luca can collect all the green toppings of the horizontal row and decide whether to grab the Mystery Bag. If he chooses 'red,' he only collects the mystery bag.
Isabella chooses a vertical column and wants 'all the same toppings.' She collects 2 mushrooms.
Romeo chooses a diagonal line and opts for 'everything in red,' collecting only 1 tomato sauce topping (after deciding to view the mystery bag as 'green').
Giulia cannot choose to collect the bell pepper and the mushroom, even though they're both red, because a diagonal line cannot consist of just two piles of toppings.

Action: Discard

Per action, you may discard 1 or 2 toppings or 1 order. Discarding a mission costs 2 actions, effectively ending your turn (unless you use a chef's note).

About the discarding

The pizza chef frowns upon inefficiency. You can still safe face - and money! - by discarding toppings, orders, or missions (see 'End of the Game').
Waste is not allowed at La Casa della Pizza. Toppings you no longer need will be returned to the market by placing each topping on a pile of choice (even on mystery bags). Do you return 2 toppings to the market? It's up to you whether to return them to the same or to 2 different piles. A mystery bag does not return to the market - use the discard pile for mystery bags next to the board.
Put your order or mission on the discard pile next to the game board (see 'The Discard Pile').

Action: Restock

Restocking the market costs 1 action, and there are 3 ways to do it:

Discard all visible toppings with the same background color (excluding mystery bags). If a topping has two background colors, you decide whether you'll discard it or not.
Discard all visible toppings of the same kind (i.e., all tomato sauce, regardless of background color), excluding mystery bags.
Collect the mystery bags from the market stall and all discarded mystery bags, and shuffle the pile. Place the pile in the center crate.

About the restocking

No more market toppings left to your taste? Luckily, there are restock piles available for each of the market crates.
Afraid to collect a spoiled mystery bag? In that case, you may restock the pile of mystery bags.

Action: Deliver

Once you've gathered every topping needed for your order, it's time to deliver your pizza! Delivering 1 pizza costs you 1 action and goes as follows:

Place your order open in front of you and leave it there.
Show the toppings and place them on the discard pile (see 'The Discard Pile').
Place one of your pizza tokens on the first available open pizza icon next to the delivery address (always working your way down from the top).
The villager pays. Count your earnings by adding any speed bonus to the price noted on your order. On the score tracker, move your pawn accordingly. This number is the sum of the pizza price and any speed bonus (see 'Tips & Bonuses').

About your delivery

The background color of the toppings is irrelevant to the delivery.
A maximum of 4 pizzas can be delivered to each house. With 4 available orders per address, it may seem as if there's no rush. However, keep in mind that someone might deliver their pizza to the wrong house and don't forget the pizza fantasia can be delivered to any house! (See 'Wrong Delivery' and 'Pizza Fantasia'.) This would prevent 1 or more orders from being completed for that address. So, make sure you don't wait too long to get your pizza delivered to those hungry villagers!

Example

Isabella delivers a 'Pizza prosciutto e funghi', placing her order in front of her. All toppings, including 1 topping of choice (see 'Mystery Bags'), are present. Isabella discards them after showing them to the other players. The pizza is ordered by a villager at house number 8. Isabella places one of her pizza tokens on the top empty pizza icon. The villager pays 7 coins: 4 coins for the pizza and 3 coins as a tip (speed bonus) because Isabella delivered the 1st pizza at this house. She moves her pawn 7 spaces forward on the score bar.

Wrong Delivery

You have the option of delivering a pizza to the wrong address. To do so, use a random order from your hand. Collect the toppings for the order but choose a different house to deliver the pizza to. Place the pizza token at the house of your choice.

You don't earn any money for this incorrect delivery (no pizza price and no speed bonus). The delivery does count toward your missions and stacking bonus (see 'Tips & Bonuses'). As usual, you keep the order from the delivered pizza so you can use it to prove missions achieved.

Pizza Fantasia

Each player has one pizza fantasia order card (see 'Setup'). This grants you the creative freedom to make up your very own pizza. Of course at the base of every good pizza, you use tomato sauce and mozzarella. After that, you choose which and how many other toppings you add on. There is a minimum of 1 (3 in total), and a maximum of 6 additional toppings (8 in total).

Can't get enough of one particular topping? Double up! For every topping other than the tomato sauce or mozzarella you have the option to add no more than two on your pizza fantasia. The only exception to this rule is the premium topping. For example, if you use a premium olive topping, you can't also use a standard olive topping. It's perfectly fine, however, if you want to serve your pizza fantasia with two standard olive toppings, or a multiple premium toppings.

You may deliver this pizza during the action 'Deliver'. You decide which house will enjoy this specialty of yours. Don't wait too long though, because you cannot deliver the pizza fantasia during the final round, or in the same turn you place your 8th pizza token.

The total number of toppings on the pizza equals the number of coins you'll earn. Since the fantasia pizza consists of at least 3 toppings (the tomato sauce, mozzarella and 1 topping of choice), you always earn at least 3 coins for this pizza. The maximum amount, consistent with the maximum toppings, is 8 coins. And don't forget the bonus you receive for using premium toppings! (See 'Mystery Bags'.)

After the delivery, you keep the pizza fantasia with your delivered orders. Discard the tomato sauce and mozzarella, but place the other used toppings on top of the pizza fantasia order. This may be needed at the end of the game, so you can prove you've achieved a mission. (for example, you topped the pizza with mushrooms for the mission 'Deliver 5 or more pizzas with mushrooms').

Example: After delivering his pizza fantasia, Romeo puts the tomato sauce and mozzarella on the discard pile. He places the other toppings on top of the pizza fantasia order, which he keeps with his other delivered orders.

Mystery Bags

A mystery bag is a surprise bag from the market vendor containing 1 or more ingredients. These ingredients are the leftovers from the market stall, essentially a sustainable package. The bag may contain ingredients still in good condition, but occasionally, you might be unlucky and discover a spoiled topping.

After gathering all your toppings during 1 action, turn the mystery bag over to see its contents. If the bag contains 1 or more good toppings, add them to your inventory. In the case of a spoiled topping, execute the corresponding move(s).

A mystery bag can contain different types of ingredients:

A. Topping of your choice: Upon delivery, you decide which topping the bag contains.
B. Double topping: You use the 2 different toppings for 1 pizza. When using this for a pizza fantasia, you earn 2 coins for this topping.
C. Premium topping: Upon delivery, earn 2 extra coins for each premium topping.
D. Spoiled topping: If a mystery bag has a spoiled topping, discard all matching toppings from your inventory, including those you've just collected.

Mystery bags are found in the middle crate. Each one has two background colors, leaving it up to you to decide whether or not you'll take it during the action 'Gather'.

About the spoiled topping

If you have 1 or more toppings that match the spoiled topping, you discard those toppings. Then you decide whether you would like to hang on to the mystery bag, or discard it (see the box below).

If you don't have any toppings that match the spoiled topping, you must keep the mystery bag. As long as you have it, you throw out all the matching toppings you collect from the market. Each time you throw out toppings, you may decide whether to keep the mystery bag.

Note: The content of the other mystery bags is immune to spoilage and may always be kept.

If you kept a spoiled topping but want to get rid of it, you can choose one of the following moves:

You discard the mystery bag (at the cost of 1 action, see 'Action: Discard').
Gather 1 or more toppings that belong to the mystery bag and discard these toppings together with the mystery bag (with this, discarding the mystery bag and the topping(s) will not cost you an action). For example: You collect 1 olive and 2 bell peppers from the market, adding both bell peppers and the spoiled bell pepper to the discard pile (keeping only the olive).
You use a chef's note to get rid of a topping.

Why would you hold on to a spoiled topping?

Keeping a spoiled topping can be helpful if you don't need an ingredient (for now). For example, if you're working on the mission to deliver pizzas without bell peppers, you can choose to keep a spoiled bell pepper in your possession. If you see a line containing valuable toppings but also a bell pepper that you don't need, every bell pepper you pick up while in possession of the spoiled topping goes directly to the discard pile. This way, you don't lose money at the end of the game due to an excess of bell peppers.

The Discard Pile

Toppings, missions, orders, and chef's notes are discarded throughout the game.

Toppings are placed face down on a discard pile next to the board, with the exception of the action 'Discard', where you return the toppings to the market (see 'Action: Discard'). Note: Discarded mystery bags are always placed in the discard pile.

Restock an empty crate immediately using 10 toppings from the discard pile. Make sure you don't see which toppings you've used to restock.

Place discarded mystery bags bag side up on a separate discard pile. Does the mystery bag crate need restocking? Shuffle the full discard pile and place the mystery bags back in the center.

Put discarded missions, orders and chef's notes on discard piles next to the board. When you run out of cards, shuffle the discards and replace the deck.

Illustration notes: Create separate discard piles next to the board. Toppings form random piles. Create a separate discard pile for mystery bags, consistently placing them paper bag side up. Discard standard toppings face-side down. Empty market crate? Immediately restock with toppings from the discard pile.

Tips & Bonuses

You can earn extra tips through speed, stack, and anti-waste bonuses, either immediately after delivery or at the end of the game.

Speed bonus

Earn tips immediately upon delivering pizzas! Hungry villagers appreciate speedy service, and the pizza icons on the board indicate the tip amount:

Deliver the 1st pizza to a house: 3 coins tip
Deliver the 2nd pizza to a house: 2 coins tip
Deliver the 3rd pizza to a house: 1 coin tip
Deliver the 4th pizza to a house: no tip

Stack bonus

Villagers appreciate their regular deliverer! You receive this bonus if you've successfully delivered more than 1 pizza to the same house. The order of delivery doesn't matter, just count how many pizza tokens of your color are at the house. You receive an additional tip at the end of the game:

2 pizzas delivered to the same house: 3 coins tip
3 pizzas delivered to the same house: 6 coins tip
4 pizzas delivered to the same house: 10 coins tip

Anti-waste bonus

The pizza chef prides himself on being an environmental enthusiast. He doesn't like wasting food. At the end of the game, he rewards a 5-coin bonus to each player who has no toppings left.

End of the Game

The final round starts as soon as a player delivers their 8th pizza. This player gets to finish their turn, as do the other players, until they reach the player with the first player token. Players who have delivered their 8th pizza may no longer take an order. Note: Did you deliver your 8th pizza just before the starting player would have their turn? In that case, the game ends as soon as you finish your turn.

Since you've been tracking your earnings and speed bonuses throughout the game, you might feel like you've got a good guess as to who might be winning. However, nothing is decided yet, for now is the time to take the score of everyone's stack and anti-waste bonuses (see 'Tips & Bonuses'), losses, and completed missions! Start at the first player to deliver their final pizza, then move clockwise.

Track your earnings on the score bar. Once you surpass 100, you continue counting during a second round (where 1 equals 101, 2 equals 102, and so on).

Completed missions

Each mission indicates the amount of money earned for completing it. Players add the specified number of coins to their pawn's position on the score bar.

Losing money

Failure to complete your work will cost you money. The following rules apply:

For each incomplete mission, you lose the coins you would've received had you completed the mission.
You lose 2 coins for each undelivered order. This rule does not apply to a leftover fantasia pizza, as it was not pre-ordered.
You lose 1 coin for each leftover topping. This rule also applies to mystery bags, excluding spoiled toppings. Double toppings on a mystery bag count as a 1-coin loss. Toppings for undelivered orders can be discarded without losing additional coins.

Example: At the end of the game, Luca still has these items. He loses 2 coins for the undelivered order. He loses 6 coins for the failed mission. No extra money is lost for the toppings meant for the undelivered order. Luca loses 2 coins for the toppings that were not meant for the undelivered order. Luca loses a total of 10 coins, moving his pawn back 10 spaces on the score bar.

The winner of the game

The player with the most money wins the game and becomes La Casa della Pizza's new pizza chef!

Tie? The winner is the player who delivered the most pizzas.
Still a tie? The new pizza chef is the player with the most successful missions to their name.
Same number of succeeded missions? In that case, the winner is the player whose missions earned them the most money.
Still a tie after this? Go find a good tailor, the pizza chef's apron will have to fit the both of you!

Pizza Challenge for 1 (Solo Mode)

Get promoted to pizza chef and improve your previous scores. Playing on your own is just as challenging!

Preparation

Set up the game as shown in Setup, with the following adjustments:

Remove the chef's notes with the pen and pencil and the mission 'Victory Slice' from the game.
Pick a colored pawn and place it at the starting point; this is your scoring pawn. Choose a second pawn, your action pawn, and put it on square 7, representing the number of actions you have left.

Changes during your turn

Since you're flying solo, we have a few extra rules to keep things interesting:

For every action you take, nudge your action pawn back 1 space on the board.
Delivering a pizza does not cost you any action, but actually gives you something. Each delivery is worth 3 actions, so go ahead and move your action pawn forward.
After collecting a chef's note, wait at least 1 action before you unleash its pizza power.

End of the game

You become the new pizza chef by achieving at least 4 missions and delivering all 8 pizzas. Keep track of your earnings with the scoring pawn, allowing you to monitor and enhance your personal high score. At the end of the game, add the amount of remaining actions to your final score. Your earnings don't determine whether you win or lose, but you can write down your final score to surpass yourself next time!

Note: If you've delivered your 8th pizza without completing your missions or if you run out of actions before fulfilling your missions or delivering all pizzas, becoming a pizza chef is not in the cards for you. (But don't hesitate to give it another shot...)

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the mission 'Deliver pizzas to 4 consecutive houses' include house numbers 1 and 10? No, it doesn't count, because the restaurant sits between these houses. To pass the mission, you need to deliver at 4 consecutive addresses.

Do I have to deliver to each address for missions requiring pizza deliveries to specific addresses? No, not at all. Let's take the mission 'Deliver at least 3 pizzas at houses 1, 3, and/or 5' as an example. You need to ensure you deliver at least 3 pizzas to these houses. Drop them all off at house number 1, spread them out evenly, or mix and match between houses 3 and 5; what matters is the total pizza count at the 3 houses combined.

Can I use the chef's note 'Ask a player for an order for a specific house or with(out) a specific topping' to request an order with tomato sauce or mozzarella? Yes, you can. Tomato sauce and mozzarella are considered toppings in the game, meaning you will get an order if you request one with those toppings. However, you have less chance of getting the order you need. For example, if you have a mission to deliver pizzas with olives, asking for an order with olives might be wiser. But every game is different, so do what fits within your plan!

For the missions to deliver pizzas with a specific number of toppings: do tomato sauce and mozzarella count as toppings? Yes, they do. For instead: if you deliver a pizza Margherita, which has 3 toppings, it counts for the mission 'Deliver at least 2 pizzas with exactly 3 toppings'.

Does the chef's note 'Take a topping from another player' also allow me to grab a mystery bag? Sure! These are also toppings, so you are free to snag a double topping, a spoiled topping, or anything else you find in mystery bags.

May I use a mystery bag with a double topping as 'single'? No. You must use both depicted toppings for the same pizza.

We have an empty crate and fewer than 10 toppings on the discard pile. How do we restock? Use all toppings on the discard pile to restock the crate. In case the discard pile has no toppings at all, restock by grabbing a few random toppings from existing piles on the market, making sure not to grab any of the visible ones (the ones on top of the piles).

At the end of the game I have toppings left that were meant for undelivered orders. Do I get an anti-waste bonus? No, unfortunately not. You only get this bonus when you have no toppings left at all.