A la carte (1989)

In one of his sillier games, Karl-Heinz Schmiel casts the players as semi-psychotic cooks attempting to hone their culinary skills. Each player receives a miniature pan and a hotplate. Then each turn you can either attempt to turn up the heat, season your dish, or attempt to steal another cook's recipe in the making. Heating your hotplate is a random affair with a die, and could raise the heat on everyone's plate. Spicing the dish is heart of the game and done by up-ending small bottles filled with little colored wood pellets. When the pellets tumble out of the bottle (sometimes, if they do), the number of pellets can't exceed two, because over-spicing the dish ruins it and you have to throw it in the trash!

The 2009 version includes some changed rules, a new victory condition, additional recipes and some new mechanics in comparison to the 1989 version.

Microbadges
A La Carte Fan
A La Carte - Top Chef

Components:

• 4 Stoves
  • 1 Plate
  • 4 Pedestals
  • 1 Adjusting Knob
  • 2 Plastic Rivits
• 4 Pans
• 4 Condiment Dispensers with Colored Lids
• 80 Condiments in 4 colors
  • 20 Lemon
  • 20 Pepper
  • 20 Paprika
  • 20 Herbs
• 25 Salt Crystals
• 20 Artfully Weird Dishes
• 4 Delicious Crepes
• 13 Coffee Cups
• 3 Cooking Spoons
• 1 Coffee Tray
• 4 Trays for Finished Dishes
• 1 Trash Can
• 2 Sinks
• 9 Star Tokens
• 1 Heating Die
• 1 Rule Book