Critter Kitchen - ENG
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🐸 Una rana saggia sa quando dividere l’ordine… e quando aspettare il salto giusto.
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You send three chefs into town. One is fast and takes little, one is slow and takes everything. You return with the ingredients and find out the critic wants exactly what you gave your opponent.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A week of culinary contests with animal chefs and a relentless critic
Alex Cutler and Peter C. Hayward sign a worker placement game where speed counts as much as capacity. Sandara Tang's illustrations bring Bistro Bay to life: restaurants run by raccoons, foxes, cats, and other animals compete to impress a different critic each game. The game won the Mensa Select 2025, an award that recognizes intelligent and accessible design.
Each round you simultaneously place three chefs in town to gather ingredients. Fast ones arrive first but carry little, slow ones carry a lot but risk finding empty shelves. For seven rounds you face challenges that reward specific dishes, then you prepare a final banquet tailored to the critic's tastes. Each game changes: critics, rumors, and restaurateurs are modular.
What they say abroad
"Critter Kitchen is a delightful blend of strategy and chaos, where planning meets panic in the most satisfying way."
Critter Kitchen is a delightful blend of strategy and chaos, where planning meets panic in the most satisfying way.
— Meeple Mountain
A game that manages to be deep without ever raising barriers. You program simultaneously, collect what you can, discover that everyone wanted the same carrots. And you start over.
— FroGames
Critter Kitchen
The game includes official solo rules with an automa deck that simulates AI opponents. The experience is complete: you face the same challenges and the final banquet, but you lose the psychological reading of other players and the tension of simultaneous action selection.
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on rules, international reviews, and play sessionsYour arsenal
What you bring to the game
Three-speed chefs
Each restaurant has three chefs: one fast (arrives first, carries one ingredient), one medium, one slow (arrives last but carries three things). Speed is a hidden cost.
Random ingredients
Each round, new ingredient tiles end up in locations. Drawn randomly, but rumors tell you what the critic desires: collect accordingly.
Weekly challenges
In the first six rounds, you reveal challenge cards: "three different proteins," "five blue ingredients," "no dairy." Those who meet the requirements earn stars. The seventh round is the final banquet.
Capricious critic
Each game, draw a different critic: each has unique tastes, preferences, and victory conditions. Rumors spread around town give you clues about their desires.
Recommended sleeves 172 cards in 1 size ▼
If you play often, we recommend protecting your cards with transparent sleeves to make them last longer.
| Size | Quantity |
|---|---|
| 63.5 × 89 mm | 172 |
| Total cards | 172 |
🎲How to PlayThe rules in four steps▼
How to Play
The flow of each round
Seven rounds, identical in structure, vastly different in choices. Simultaneous programming, resolution by speed, ingredient collection, challenges.
Draw random ingredients and place them in the locations on the board. Reveal a challenge card (except round 7). Draw rumor cards: they give clues about the critic's tastes.
Simultaneously and secretly, place your restaurant's three chefs in locations. Fast chefs arrive first but carry little, slow chefs carry a lot but risk empty shelves.
Reveal destinations. Fast chefs act first: they take ingredients from locations, one at a time. Then medium, finally slow. If a location is empty, you return empty-handed.
Whoever has the ingredients required by the round's challenge can turn them in and earn stars. Challenges are optional: you can keep ingredients for the final banquet (round 7).
⏱️Your first gameThe chronicle, moment by moment▼
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The experience.
Setup and first readings
Reveal the critic of the evening, shuffle the rumor cards, distribute ingredients in locations. Choose your restaurant and your three chefs. Read the first challenge. Everyone looks at the board and realizes the market will be crowded.
First programming
Everyone places their three chefs in secret behind screens. You send the fast chef to the market for carrots, the medium chef to the farm, the slow chef to the city. You reveal. Two opponents sent their fast chef to the market. The carrots are gone. You get nothing.
The race for challenges
Around the fourth round someone completes a difficult challenge and earns three stars. You are halfway there. You change strategy: instead of chasing challenges, you start collecting for the final banquet. Rumors say the critic hates fish. Perfect.
The ingredient you can't find
Round six. You need a red protein to complete a two-star challenge. The butcher is empty, the farm too. Everyone programmed there. You end the round empty-handed and focus on the banquet: you have seven ingredients, the critic wants eight specific ones.
The final banquet
Round seven: no challenges, just the meal for the critic. You reveal your combination. You have seven out of eight correct ingredients, plus two bonus for variety. Someone has everything perfect but zero bonuses. You count the stars. You win by one star. Someone asks for an immediate rematch.
🐸Good to know beforehandThree honest things, from friends▼
Good to know beforehand
Three things to know
Blind programming
You place your chefs without knowing where others are going. When you reveal, you discover who blocked you. Memory is needed: who took what in previous rounds? Who is pursuing which challenge? The first games are chaotic, then you learn to read the table.
Random ingredients
Each round draws random tiles. Sometimes the board only offers vegetables, sometimes only proteins. You can't plan everything: flexibility is needed. Rumor cards help but don't guarantee: the critic wants fish, but if none comes out, you have to adapt.
Variable scaling
With 2-3 players it's a tactical duel where you read your opponent. With 5, chaos erupts: too many hands on the same ingredients, downtime between turns. The sweet spot is 3-4 players: enough competition, enough control.
🏆Victory and defeatWhat the ending rewards▼
How it ends
How to win and how to lose
The player who accumulates the most stars in seven rounds wins: six rounds of optional challenges plus the mandatory final banquet for the critic.
Victory
- Complete challenges in rounds 1-6 by delivering the requested ingredients: earn 1-3 stars per challenge
- In round 7, serve the critic a banquet that respects their tastes: each correct ingredient is worth stars, bonus for variety or combinations
- Add up the stars: whoever has the most wins (tie: the player with the most remaining ingredients wins)
Fatal errors
- Ignore rumor cards and collect ingredients the critic hates: zero stars in the final banquet
- Chase too many challenges simultaneously and arrive at round 7 without the ingredients for the critic: others overtake you
- Always send slow chefs to the most crowded locations: you return empty-handed and lose valuable rounds
Critter Kitchen is a worker placement game that rewards those who can read the table more than those who calculate the perfect move. Modular setup, never-the-same games, genuine theme.
📦In the boxComponents and materials▼
- Waterfront board
- 8 Location boards
- 16 Spice tokens
- 91 Ingredient tokens
- 7 Challenge cards
- 2 Spice tokens for turn 7
- 72 Star tokens
- 12 Gossip tokens
- 28 Gossip cards
- 12 Critic cards
- 1 Maitre card
- 10 Restaurant cards
- 1 Bag
- 1 Break token
- 1 Turn token
- 40 Soup tokens
- 7 Bisque tokens
- 12 Sous-chef cards
- 12 Sous-chef tokens
- 15 Chef pawns
- 5 Player Kitchen boards
- 5 Chef's Hat tokens
- 5 Player Restaurant screens
- 45 Location cards
- 5 Critic's Plates
- 15 Challenge Plates
- 1 McDogald's Kitchen board
- 12 Critic's Choice cards
- 14 Manager cards
- 30 McDogald's Chef cards
- Rulebook
💬Frequently Asked QuestionsQuick answers before checkout▼
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ about Critter Kitchen
What mechanics does Critter Kitchen use?
Simultaneous programming (you place chefs secretly), worker placement with asymmetric workers (each chef has different speed and capacity), contract fulfillment (challenges), hand management (you manage collected ingredients). Speed-based resolution creates tension: whoever arrives first gets the best.
Does it work well solo?
Yes, it includes official rules with an automa. You face the same challenges and the final banquet against simulated opponents driven by a deck of cards. The experience is complete, but you lose the psychological reading of other players: in multiplayer you guess where chefs will be sent, in solo it's mechanical.
How long does a game last?
Seven rounds in about 60 minutes with 3-4 players, including rules explanation. The first game might reach 75 minutes because it takes time to understand rumor interpretation and chef speed. With 5 players, add 10-15 minutes of downtime.
Is it suitable for newcomers?
Yes, if they play with a veteran at the table. The rules are simple (place three chefs, collect ingredients, complete challenges), but simultaneous programming requires one game to understand the timing. After the first round, everyone gets it. Accessible theme: cooking for a capricious critic appeals to everyone.
Is it available in Italian?
Yes, this is the Italian edition edited by Cranio Creations. Cards, rulebook, components: everything localized. Ingredients have clear icons, language dependence is medium (challenge cards and rumor cards have text).
The people behind the game
Who invented it, who designed it, who publishes it — and what else they've done.
Critter Kitchen is a strategic board game for 1-5 players aged 12 and up, lasting 60 minutes, designed by Alex Cutler and Peter C. Hayward. It uses simultaneous programming and worker placement with asymmetric speed chefs: you plan three moves at a time, collect ingredients, complete culinary challenges, and serve a final banquet to a whimsical critic. Each game changes thanks to modular critics, rumors, and restaurateurs. Winner of the Mensa Select 2025. Italian edition published by Cranio Creations. Available on FroGames.it.
Critter Kitchen - ENG
Frequently Asked Questions
The answers you're looking for, no beating around the bush.
📸Do the images match the actual product?
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📦Does the content of the box match what is indicated?
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