Raid the Pantry

Raid the Pantry Rulebook

Table of Contents

64 Ingredient cards + 32 Action cards + 20 Dish cards + 4 Ingredient Distribution cards

Overview

Collect the Ingredient cards you need to make the dishes in your hand. Each completed dish scores you points and gets you a new recipe. Strategic use of Wild Cards and Action cards will help you earn the points required to win.

Preparation

Dish Cards

Shuffle and deal three facedown to each player. The remaining cards form a facedown draw pile.

Ingredient Cards

Shuffle and place the first three faceup in overlapping fashion. This forms the 'Rubbish Bin' of discarded Ingredients, which will grow during play. Then deal six cards facedown to each player. The remaining Ingredient cards form a facedown draw pile, 'the Pantry'.

Action Cards

Shuffle and place in a third facedown draw pile.

The youngest player goes first and play continues clockwise.

Taking a Turn

Begin

a) Take the top Action card OR

b) If you are holding lots of spare Ingredients, you can opt to throw two in the Bin and take the top Ingredient card from the Pantry.

In addition, if you begin your turn holding three or fewer Ingredient cards in your hand, you can take the top two Ingredient cards with your Action card.

Play Action Cards

If you draw an Action card with a whisk, it must be used immediately. Action cards with the canister symbol can be used whenever you choose, during this or a subsequent turn.

Some Action cards apply to all players (see below).

After you've used an Action card with a whisk, you may use any other Action cards you already hold.

Discard used Action cards into a faceup pile (not into the Rubbish Bin).

Cooking and Other Options

If you have the ingredients to complete one of your dishes, display the Dish card and its listed Ingredients faceup in front of you and take a replacement Dish card.

You can then make additional dishes, taking a new Dish card to replace each one completed.

At this point, you can also play Action cards from your hand to enable you to continue cooking.

If you hold an Ingredient card that anyone has a Wild Card standing in for, you may exchange that Ingredient for the Wild Card. You can put it in your hand or use it to make a new dish. (See 'Wild Cards'.)

Hang Up Your Apron

When you cannot cook, play passes to the player on your left.

Action Cards

Instructions for certain Action cards are set out separately below.
Action cards with the circular arrow symbol apply to all players. The player using the card acts on its instructions first, followed by the next player clockwise, and so on.
When all of the Action cards have been exhausted, their discard pile is shuffled for reuse and play continues.

The Rubbish Bin

Discarded Ingredient cards form the 'Rubbish Bin'.
The cards are placed faceup, overlapping, with the newest discarded Ingredient on top.
If at any point the Rubbish Bin exceeds 12 cards, the six newest Ingredients are left in place and the others are shuffled back into the pile in the Pantry.

A Player's Cupboard

Once you have collected the Ingredients to cook a dish, those Ingredients are safe in your 'Cupboard'. This means they can never be lost, for example via the Spoilt Food or Marketplace Action cards, and you can use them for additional dishes.
If you require any of these Ingredients for subsequent dishes, no additional Ingredient card is needed to represent them.

Wild Cards

A Wild Card can be used to replace any single ingredient, except the one required by an Instant Dish Bonus card. You must announce what the 'wild' ingredient is when completing the dish.
As with other Ingredient cards in your cupboard, the Wild Card can be used to complete more than one dish provided it is always replacing the same ingredient.
Should you later obtain the actual Ingredient the Wild Card is standing in for, you can lay down that Ingredient and put the Wild Card back in your hand.
Other players can capture your Wild Card by swapping it for the actual Ingredient during their own turn. Players can ask you to remind them which Ingredient the Wild Card is standing in for.

Salt

Salt is a Special Bonus card. Hold onto it and add it when you cook any dish requiring seasoning to claim a bonus point.

Action Card Details

Some of the Action cards require further explanation.

Marketplace

A way to exchange Ingredients among players.

The card indicates whether participation is mandatory or voluntary.

In turn all participants choose an Ingredient from their hand and place it faceup in front of them.
Then, again in turn, players choose which of the displayed Ingredient cards to take.

Since a player cannot select their own Ingredient, the last player might have to discard their Ingredient into the Bin.
If a player holds no Ingredients, they do not participate.

With Voluntary Marketplaces:

If no one participates in your voluntary marketplace, including yourself, you can take the top Ingredient card from the Pantry.
Should a single player decide to participate by laying down a card, but no other players follow, the single card gets discarded into the Bin.

Raid the Pantry

A way to get a specific Ingredient out of the Pantry.

You must first announce which Ingredient you want.
Then look through the Pantry to find it. There is a chance the card won't be in the Pantry, but rather in an opponent's hand. If you can't find your Ingredient, you are out of luck and can't try for something different.
Whether or not an Ingredient is located, shuffle and replace the pile.

Searching for Salt or a Wild Card is not permitted.

Fishing Expedition

A way to get an Ingredient if you think another player holds it.

Announce an Ingredient you want.
Any players holding that Ingredient in their hand must indicate so.
Take the Ingredient card from your player of choice. If no one has the Ingredient, you are out of luck.

Asking for Salt or a Wild Card is not permitted.

Dish Exchange

Every player passes one of the Dish cards from their hand to the player on their left.

You must pass before looking at the card you receive.
If you hold no Dish cards, you are passed over.

Spoilt Food

Ingredients get thrown into the Rubbish Bin.

All players in turn add two Ingredient cards to the Rubbish Bin in overlapping fashion.
Players holding no Ingredients are unaffected. If you have just one, you must put it in the Bin.
The Wild Card from the Action card supply does not count as an Ingredient, but the Salt Bonus card does.
Refer to Rubbish Bin details if the Bin exceeds 12 Ingredients.

Instant Dish Cards

If you have the required Ingredient, either in your hand or already in your Cupboard, claim a bonus point by laying down the Instant Dish card with the Ingredient. Otherwise it goes into the Action card discard pile and you may draw a new Action card. Wild Cards cannot be used for the required Ingredient.

Testing for Doneness: Winning the Game

Points are accrued throughout the game by cooking dishes. When a player reaches or surpasses the winning point threshold, they have won and play ceases. The winning point threshold varies according to the number of players:

2 players: 15 points
3 players: 13 points
4 players: 11 points

Scoring

Dishes are scored according to the point value on their card.
Cuisine bonus: Two dishes from the same cuisine score an additional point. Three from the same cuisine score two additional points and all four, three points.
The Instant Dish and Salt Special Bonus cards each add one point to a player's total.

For ease of keeping track of points during play, lay Dish and Bonus cards together in one row or column.

Scoring Example

A player has made these dishes:

Item	Points
Spaghetti Bolognese (Italian)	2
Orange Gelato (Italian)	1
Tacos (Mexican)	3
Duck (French)	2
Two Instant Dishes (Tempura & Greek Salad)	2
Cuisine bonus (for 2 Italian dishes)	1
Total Points	11

That is enough points to win a 4-player game.

Recommended Variation for Four Players

Overview

Two teams play the game, with partners sitting across from each other and sharing a joint Cupboard. One partner keeps the Cupboard and completed Dish cards for both. Partners may communicate as much as they wish.

The game is played in two rounds. A round ends when either the pile of Action or Ingredient cards is exhausted (unlike in the regular game when the Action cards get reshuffled and reused.) Points are tallied at the end of each round, with the winning team the one that scored the most overall.

Preparation

Identical to the regular game.

Instant Dishes

If one partner does not hold the required Ingredient and it is not yet in the shared Cupboard, they may ask their partner to supply it, in which case the team claims the bonus point. If the partner doesn't have the Ingredient, the card is placed faceup by the draw piles. Subsequently any player holding the Ingredient can claim the card and bonus point during their turn.

Scoring

To arrive at your team's score, simply total all of your point cards. There is no cuisine bonus when more than one dish from a particular cuisine is made.

About the Dishes

Most players will discover a mixture of familiar and exotic dishes in Raid the Pantry. Recipes have been simplified and tend to omit ingredients such as butter or oil and seasonings.

The Ingredient cards feature the names of the ingredients in seven foreign languages: French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

Cooking Tips

Knowing which ingredients are plentiful aids decision making, so consult the Ingredient Distribution List. The Ingredient cards also indicate how many of that particular Ingredient there are in the game. One-of-a-kind Ingredients are in capital letters on their corresponding Dish card.
Use the Voluntary Marketplace card to pressure opponents: they either lose an Ingredient card or you gain one. In games with more than two players, this may backfire: if you opt out, your opponents can simply swap Ingredients to prevent you getting a new one.
Instant Dishes and dishes worth one point are relatively easy to make and can be used to secure Ingredients in your Cupboard, which makes it easier to make more complicated dishes.