Pressure Cooker Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Kitchen Inventory
• Prepping the Kitchen
• Let's Get Cooking!
  • Adding Ingredients to your Kitchen Board
  • Completing an Order
• The Orders
• Ingredient Tiles
• End of Round
• Scoring
  • Penalties for Illegal Tiles
  • Points for Completed Orders
  • Quality Bonus Points
  • Sink Tile Bonuses
• Clean Up the Kitchen
• Kitchen Closed!
• Kiddie Menu

Game Overview

Players will compete over three rounds, putting Ingredient Tiles together on their Kitchen Boards to complete the Orders placed in the restaurant. By completing Orders the players will earn points, and at the end of the game the winner will be the player who best managed his points by accurately serving orders to the entire restaurant. See Scoring for more info.

Kitchen Inventory

• 4 Kitchen Boards / Scoring Dials
• 4 Table Boards
• 54 Order Cards
• 4 Cookbook Boards (1 per player color)
• 1 Sink Tile
• 80 Order Up Tokens (20 per player color)
• 5 +50 Tokens
• 1 Timer
• 16 Rivets
• Ingredient Tiles: 9 Bacon, 9 Ham, 16 Beef, 17 Lettuce, 25 Bread, 10 Mushroom, 8 Butter, 13 Onion, 24 Cheese, 8 Pasta, 11 Chicken, 19 Tomato, 12 Egg, 14 Veggie, 7 Fish, 8 Appetizer Bonus (2 per player), 9 Green Pepper, 8 Dessert Bonus, 12 Drink Bonus

Prepping the Kitchen

Kitchen Board assembling instruction: Before the first game, assemble the Kitchen Boards by attaching the scoring dials to the Kitchen Boards using the included rivets as shown in the illustration.

TIP: If this is a player's first game, the player discards any cards showing a number in a cookbook. This will allow players to become familiar with gameplay using the more basic cards. Shuffle any discarded cards into the deck for use in the second and third rounds.

• Each player takes the following components in her chosen color: Kitchen Board, Cookbook board, 2 Appetizer Tiles, and 20 Order Up Tokens. With less than 4 players, return the remaining player components to the box.
• Place the Table Boards on the table within reach of all players, but not in the center of the table. The recommended set-ups are shown in the Two-, Three- and Four-Player Setup illustrations. (Note the seating arrangement of the players around the table, and the orientation of Kitchen Boards matching the layout of the table boards.)
• NOTE: Do not use the Blue Table Board in 2 or 3 player games.
• Place the Sink Tile to the right of the Table Boards.
• Players place their Kitchen Board, Cookbook Board, Order Up Tokens, and Appetizer Tiles in their play areas (the areas in front of them), making sure their scoring dials are all set to 0.
• The players shuffle the Order Cards. For each of the Table Boards, the player fills them with order cards top to bottom, so the first card flipped is placed in the #1 space, the second card in the #2 space and so on up to 3 Order Cards. However, if the numbers in the topmost white plate of the Order Cards total 16 or more, the players stop and move to the next Table Board. See Example.
  • Example (16 or more! Table is full!): Even though there is still room on the red Table Board for one more Order Card, players flip only two cards since the top-most white plates already total 16 or more.
• Shuffle the Ingredient Tiles face down in the middle of the table forming a large 'pool' of face-down tiles.
• Place the Timer within reach of all players. It is OK to have the timer in the middle of the tiles.
• Place all 50+ tokens off to the side.

Let's Get Cooking!

When all players are ready, one player yells, "PRESSURE COOKER!" and the round begins. Players simultaneously grab ingredient tiles from the middle of the table and add them to their Kitchen Boards in order to fulfill Order Cards.

Players grab tiles following these rules:

• A player may only use one hand to grab tiles.
• When a player grabs a tile, the player must bring it back to the player's play area before flipping it over to look at it.
• After looking at an Ingredient Tile, the player may choose to either add it to her Kitchen Board or place it face-up back into the middle of the table.
• Once an Ingredient Tile has been placed on the Kitchen Board, the player may not move it for the remainder of the round. (A player may always look through the tiles on her board, but cannot move or remove them.)
• A player may grab face-up or face-down Ingredient Tiles from the center of the table. If a tile isn't on a Kitchen Board, it's fair game.
• Players may not add Ingredient Tiles to completed Orders.

Adding Ingredients to your Kitchen Board

The object of the game is for players to add Ingredient Tiles to their Kitchen Board in order to match the Order Cards on the Table Boards.

The Kitchen Board shows four different work areas, each matching one of the Table Boards (red, green, yellow and blue). Each of these work areas has spaces for three different orders to be made. These three spaces correspond to the spaces on the Table Boards where the Order Cards are placed (numbered 1, 2, and 3). When working to fulfill orders on their Order Cards, the players place Ingredient Tiles in the corresponding spaces on their Kitchen Boards.

Example: Carrie is working on making the Taco in space 2 of the Green Table Board. When she picks up Ingredient Tiles that she wants to use for this Taco she stacks them on her Kitchen Board on space 2 of the Green Area. In this way it is always clear which Ingredients are being used for which Orders on the Kitchen Board.

NOTE: Players can work on and complete orders in any order. The players choose which orders to work on based on which Ingredients they draw and where they need to score points.

Completing an Order

When a player has collected all of the necessary Ingredient Tiles to fulfill an order, she can complete this order. To complete an order the player takes TWO Order Up Tokens. One is placed on top of the stack of Ingredient Tiles on her Kitchen Board to show that the order is finished. The other is placed directly onto the Order Card that was being worked on, and the player yells, "ORDER UP!!".

The Order Up Token is always placed on the topmost available white Plate on the card.

Example: Carrie has finished the Taco she was working on. She places an Order Up Token on the top of her Ingredient Stack for the Taco. She places the second Order Up Token onto the second white plate, as someone else had already finished this order and placed their colored Order Up Token on the first plate.

The Orders

Order Cards show the requested food order, the Ingredient Tiles needed to complete the order, the points that can be won by completing the order, a Quality Bonus, and a Quality Minimum.

Title: The name of the Order being placed.

Required Ingredients: Each Order Card will show which ingredients are needed to complete the order. These come in several different varieties:

• If an Ingredient is pictured on the card, it is a requirement for that order.
• If an Ingredient is pictured and crossed out, it may NOT be used for that order.
• A number in a Cookbook means the indicated number of additional ingredients MUST be used for that order. Valid Ingredients for each dish are shown on a player's Cookbook Board.
  • Example: This Burger requires 2 ingredients from the Burger section of the Cookbook board in addition to the Bread, Beef, and Cheese pictured.
• A number in a blue plate inside of a Cookbook means that this number of additional points may be earned for each optional ingredient that is added. These ingredients are NOT required, but can be added for additional points. (Numbers in Blue Plates always refer to bonus points.)
  • Example: Bread, Cheese, Beef, and Tomato are all required to complete the order. In addition, players may add other Optional Ingredients from the Pizza section of the Cookbook Board to the order and will earn an additional 1 point for each of these added ingredients.

Remember: A number in a Cookbook means that this number of Optional Ingredients MUST be added to an order before completing it. A number in a blue plate in a Cookbook means that the Optional Ingredients MAY be added before completing the order for the purpose of scoring extra points.

Points: The right side of each Order Card shows a set of three White Plates. These are points that the players earn for completing the Order. See Scoring for more info.

Quality Bonus and Quality Minimum: The Quality Bonus is the number shown in the Blue Plate. This is a bonus players can earn for completing the Order with the highest quality ingredients. The number in the notepad is the Quality Minimum. In order to earn the bonus, a player's total Quality must meet this minimum number. See Scoring for more info.

Ingredient Tiles

Ingredient Tiles show a picture of the Ingredient that can be used in the various Orders. In the bottom right corner of the tile in the notepad is the Ingredient's Quality. This is a number that is generally between 1 and 4, but occasionally there will be a spoiled Ingredient with a -1.

Some of the rarer Ingredients also have a Bonus Point associated with them. This is shown in the lower left corner in a Blue Plate.

There are 3 special Ingredient Tiles: Appetizers, Drinks, and Desserts. These are differentiated by the text on the tile, and the napkin and checkered background.

• Appetizers: Each player starts with 2 Appetizer Tiles. These tiles do not need to be used. When used, these tiles MUST be the FIRST tile added to an Order. Appetizers double the Quality of the entire completed Order. Only one Appetizer is allowed per Order. While Appetizers give players a large increase in their order's quality, there is also a risk to playing them. If a player does not finish an order that she has started with an appetizer, then she will lose points. See Scoring for more details.
• Drinks: Drinks can be added to any incomplete order at any time. They increase the Quality of an Order by 1. A player may add as many Drinks in an Order as she would like. (Free Refills!)
• Desserts: These tiles MUST be the LAST tile added to an Order before it is Completed. Desserts increase the Quality of an Order by 3 or 4. Only one Dessert is allowed per Order.

End of Round

When a player has reached the minimum requirements (see below) she may decide to start the timer, yell, "Pressure Cooker!" and end the round. Once the timer has been started the other players have one more minute to work on their orders. The player who started the timer is done playing for the round. She cannot continue adding tiles to her kitchen board once she starts the timer. Once the timer runs out the round is over, and all players must stop working on their orders. Players then move to scoring the orders.

The minimum requirement for ending the round varies depending on which round you are playing:

• Round 1: A player must have at least 3 completed orders.
• Round 2: A player must have at least 4 completed orders.
• Round 3: A player must have at least 5 completed orders.

TIP: A player may choose to continue working on orders and not start the timer even though she has met the minimum requirements.

Scoring

Each Table Board is scored separately and always in the same sequence, as shown on the Kitchen Boards: Red, Green, Yellow, Blue. Players should keep in mind that a player's final score is determined by their lowest color score.

Beginning with the Red Table Board, score the Order Card in the number 1 slot, followed by the Order Card in the number 2 slot, and finally the Order Card in the number 3 slot (if any). For each Order Card, players score their points on the Scoring Dial matching the color of the Table Board currently being scored.

When scoring an Order Card, first check that all players have complete orders. If a player has an incomplete order, her Order Up token is removed from the Order Card (and any tokens below her slide up into the now open plates), and her ingredient tiles for this order are returned to the middle of the table. A player's order is considered incomplete if:

• the player's order is missing any required ingredients.
• the player's order included an ingredient that was marked as not allowed.
• the player's order included an ingredient that was not necessary for the order.
• the player's order has an appetizer that was not played as the first tile in the order, or a dessert that was not played as the last tile in the order.

Penalties for Illegal Tiles

Appetizer Penalty: If a player has an Appetizer in an Incomplete Order, then the player loses points equal to the Quality Bonus for that Order. The points are taken from the Scoring Dial matching the color of the Table Board that the Order Card is on. This includes orders that a player thought was complete, but the incorrect tiles have made incomplete.

Incomplete Orders: If a player's incomplete order contains only tiles that were required or allowed, then the tiles are simply returned to the middle of the table with no penalty. If a player has any tiles included that were not a part of the order, or any duplicate tiles (other than Drinks or required duplicates), then all other players receive two points per incorrect tile, which they can score on any one of their scoring dials. This includes orders that a player thought was complete, but the incorrect tiles have made incomplete.

Completed Orders: If a player's Order contains any duplicates of tiles that were a part of the order, the duplicate tile with the highest Quality is thrown back into the middle, and all other players receive two points per duplicate tile, which they can score on any one of their Scoring Dials. However, the Order is still considered complete, and the player still scores points as usual.

Points for Completed Orders

Once it is determined which players completed an Order, points are scored. Players score points on their Scoring Dials equal to the number on the plate where their Order Up token is. They are scored on the dial matching the color of the current Table Board being scored. Players who completed Orders also receive the Bonus Points shown on any Ingredient Tiles that they used (number in a Blue Plate on the Ingredient Tile).

A maximum of three players can score points for an Order Card. If a fourth player were to finish an Order she can put her Order Up Token on the Ingredient list on the Order Card. She will not score any points for this order (including any bonus points) unless one of the other three players completed the order incorrectly, which would then move her into a scoring space.

Example: All four players have placed Order Up tokens on the Fish Sandwich.

The white player has made the order correctly and receives 7 points (6 for the Order Card and 1 for the bonus point on the fish Ingredient Tile).

The grey player's Order is also complete, and receives 5 points (4 for the Order Card, and 1 for the bonus point on the fish Ingredient Tile).

The black player has somehow forgotten the key component of a Fish Sandwich: FISH! She removes her token from the Order Card and the tan player moves his token up to the now open scoring plate.

The tan player has accidentally added an extra cheese to her sandwich, so she must discard the higher valued cheese. All other players score 2 points on the dial of their choice for this discarded tile. However, tan's order is still complete, so she scores 3 points (2 for the Order Card, and 1 for the bonus point on the fish Ingredient Tile).

Quality Bonus Points

Players next determine if anyone will receive the Quality Bonus. All players who Completed the Order add up their Quality numbers from the Ingredient Tiles used (the number in the notepad), taking into account any Appetizer, Drink, and/or Dessert Tiles used.

The player with the highest Quality receives the Quality Bonus shown on the Order Card, provided that she also meets or exceeds the Minimum Quality shown on the Order Card. If there is a tie, the bonus is split evenly between all tied players, with any remainder going to the tied player who finished the order first. If there are not enough points for all tied players to receive at least 1 point, then nobody receives the bonus.

Example: Three players have completed the Chicken Sandwich and have already scored their Order Points. They are now ready to determine who will score the Quality Bonus.

• The white player has a quality of 12 ((3+1+1+2-1)x2).
• The black player only has a quality of 9 (3+1+3+2).
• The tan player has a quality of 12 (3+1+1+1+1+2+3).

White and tan are tied at 12, which exceeds the quality minimum of 11 for this Order. They each receive 1 point, with white also receiving the additional leftover point for finishing before tan.

NOTE: In a 2 player game, if there is a tie in Quality, the entire bonus goes to the player who finished the order first.

Once an Order Card has been scored, clear the table by placing all of the Order Tokens that scored onto the Sink Tile (anywhere on the tile), and move on to scoring the next Order Card in sequence on the Table Board. Once all Orders have been scored on a Table Board, move to the next Table Board in sequence and score it in the same way. Continue until all Orders have been scored.

Sink Tile Bonuses

Next, move to the Sink tile and award the following bonuses:

• Fastest Cook: The player who started the timer and thus ended the round earns an 8 point bonus for being the fastest chef. These points can be added to any Scoring Dial that the player wishes. If it is found that this player did not meet the requirements to end the round, then she does not receive the bonus, but instead loses 5 points. This includes a player who thinks that they have met the requirements, but is later found to have incomplete orders and no longer would meet those requirements. (Reminder: The end of round requirements are listed in the "End of Round" section on page 4.)
• Most Completed Orders: The player who completed the most orders receives a 3 point bonus. This can easily be determined by counting the tokens of each player on the Sink Tile. These points can be added to any Scoring Dial that the player wishes. In the case of a tie, no player receives the bonus.

NOTE: If at any time a player scores more than 50 points on a single dial, she should take a 50+ token and place it below that dial. This will remind her at the end of the game to add 50 points to the total shown on her dial.

Clean Up the Kitchen

After scoring, players take their Order Up Tokens and Appetizer Tiles back, and return all Ingredient Tiles to the middle of the table. Re-mix all of the Ingredient Tiles face-down in the middle of the table. Discard all Order Cards from this round, and turn up new Order Cards in the same manner as Setup.

Each round is played in the same manner, with the only difference being the number of Orders that must be filled before ending the round (see End of Round).

Kitchen Closed!

The game ends after the scoring of round 3 is complete. Players look at their scores on each of their Scoring Dials. Each player determines which of the 3 or 4 (depending on the number of players and boards used) is her lowest score. This becomes her final score. In other words, the player's lowest score of all her dials is her final score. The other dials are not considered for the player's final score. A player must serve the entire restaurant!

Example: Nick's final scores are as follows: Red - 22, Green - 36, Yellow - 17, Blue - 28. Since Yellow is his lowest score, 17 is his final score. The other numbers for the other dials are not considered.

The player with the highest final score wins!

In the case of a tie, the tied players look at their second lowest Score Dial and this becomes their Final Score. If still tied, they look at their third lowest dial, and so on. If all 4 dials are ties, then the tied players rejoice in their shared victory!

Kiddie Menu

Tip for games with younger players: It is recommended when playing with younger players that the Cookbook Boards be removed from play. When adding Order Cards to the Table Boards simply discard any cards that show a Cookbook as these will not be used. After each round, reshuffle the used cards back into the deck before turning up cards for the next round.