Food Truck Champion Rules

overview

In Food Truck Champion, you are the owner of a new food truck, out

to make a name for yourself. Hire staff, get fresh ingredients from the

marketplace, and serve dishes to gain popularity. At the end of the

day, the food truck with the most popularity wins!

When you complete an order, you receive a popularity token equal in

value to the number of ingredients on the order. The popularity token

also helps to upgrade your food truck!

At the end of the game, you’ll earn a bonus popularity point for each

order you’ve completed that has your food truck logo. You can also

earn bonus popularity points by collecting sets of your food truck’s

flavor profile.

Components

• 5 Food Truck Boards

• 5 Owner Cards

• 5 Starting Order Cards

• 95 Game Cards

• 24 Popularity Tokens (8 of each value: 1, 2, and 3)

• 6 Critique Tokens

• 1 Active Player Truck Token

• First Player Card

Setup

These are the setup instructions for a 3, 4, or 5-player game. After

reading these instructions, see “Two Player Rules” on page 11 for

2-player setup and rules.

Give each player a Food Truck board, and the matching Owner card

and Starting Order card with the

icon. Return unused player

items to the box. Each player places their Owner card face-down on

their Food Truck board, and places their Starting Order card face-up

to the left of their Food Truck board in their Plating Area.

Shuffle the Game cards and deal four to each player. These cards

form the players’ opening hands, which they keep secret.

Deal eight cards face-up to the center of the play area to form the

Marketplace. Place the remaining cards next to the Marketplace to

form the draw deck.

In a 3-player game, take six Popularity Tokens

of each value (1, 2,

and 3) and sort them into stacks face-up by value. For each stack,

insert a Critique Token at the middle and at the bottom of the

stack. In a 4 or 5-player game, use eight Popularity Tokens per stack.

Example: In a 4-player game, each stack would be: four Popularity

Tokens, then one Critique Token, then four Popularity Tokens, then

one Critique Token.

The player who most recently ate from a food truck goes first. Give

that player the First Player card and the Active Player Truck Token.

Now begin taking normal turns starting with the Active Player and

going clockwise. (See “How To Play” on page 7.)

Concepts

GAME CARDS

Each card has three sections: the Ingredient (at the left of the card),

the Order Ticket (at the center of the card), and the Staff Action (at the

right of the card).

Each card can only be used for one of its sections at any given time.

For example, you cannot use a card as both an Ingredient and Staff

Action at the same time.

Starting Order cards have a in the Order Ticket section.

INGREDIENTS

There are six Ingredient types: Fruit, Dairy, Grain, Seasoning, Meat,

and Vegetable.

A card is used as an Ingredient when it is in your Fridge (see page 6) or

on an Order Ticket.

ORDER TICKET

A card is used as an Order Ticket when it is in your Plating Area, in your

Completed Orders pile, or in your Awards area.

Your Starting Order card is an Order Ticket.

An Order Ticket has one, two, or three Ingredient icons. One Ingredient

card matching each icon is needed to complete the Order Ticket.

There are 5 Food Truck logos, each corresponding to a Food Truck board.

Each Order Ticket has a Food Truck logo on it. You gain +1 bonus

Popularity at the end of the game for each Order Ticket in your

Completed Orders pile and your Awards area with your Food Truck logo

on it.

STAFF ACTIONS

There are five Staff Actions: Driver, Cashier, Manager, Prep Cook, and

Exec. Chef.

Driver

: Move a card from the Marketplace to your Fridge as an

Ingredient.

Cashier

: Move a card from the Marketplace to your Plating Area as

an Order Ticket.

Manager

: Move a card from the Marketplace to your Hired Staff (p6).

Hired Staff can allow you take a bonus Staff Action in future turns.

Prep Cook

: Move an Ingredient from your Fridge to an Order Ticket

in your Plating Area.

Exec. Chef

: Play a card as an Ingredient from your hand onto an

Order Ticket in your Plating Area.

You can play a card from your hand to Lead or Follow a Staff Action

(see page 7).

The Driver, Cashier, and Manager Staff Actions can also be used to

replace a card already in the corresponding section of your Food Truck

with a card from the Marketplace.

Example: Luke uses his Driver Staff Action to replace a Grain in his

Fridge with a Fruit from the Marketplace.

FOOD TRUCK BOARD

During the course of the game you will be placing cards on, under, and

around your Food Truck board in various capacities. At the start of the

game, the Fridge, Hired Staff, and Plating Areas may each hold up to

two cards as indicated by the Popularity icons in color. There is no limit

to the number of cards that may be added to your Awards.

The Food Truck board is broken up into 5 different sections:

The center of the Food Truck board is where you place your Owner

card face-down at the beginning of the game, and in future turns

when you play it from your hand. This area is also where you play

Game cards from your hand to Lead or Follow a Staff Action.

To the top left of the Food Truck board is the Fridge. When taking an

Ingredient from the Marketplace with the Driver Staff Action, tuck it

under your Food Truck board here so that only the Ingredient is showing.

At the bottom left of the Food Truck board is the Plating Area. When

taking an Order Ticket from the Marketplace with the Cashier Staff

Action, place it to the left of your Food Truck board here.

To the top right of the Food Truck board is your Hired Staff. When Hiring

Staff from the Marketplace with the Manager Staff Action, tuck it under

your Food Truck board here so that only the Staff Action is showing.

You may have duplicate cards in your Hired Staff, and each one gives

you a bonus Staff Action if it matches the Lead Staff Action.

On the bottom right of the Food Truck board are your 4 Flavor Profile

icons and your Awards. During a Critique, you move one completed

Order Ticket to your Awards. You will receive +5 bonus Popularity at

the end of the game for each set of Ingredient icons on Order Tickets

in your Awards that match your Flavor Profile.

How to play

On your turn, you may take one of the following actions:

1. Market Research

2. Take Charge

3. Lead a Staff Action

MARKET RESEARCH

Draw two cards from the deck to your hand. If this leaves you with a

hand of more than six cards, you must discard down to six cards.

If the deck is ever empty, flip the discard pile to create a new deck.

Pass the Active Player token to the left, your turn has ended.

TAKE CHARGE

Pick up your Owner card from your Food Truck board and add it to

your hand.

Pass the Active Player token to the left, your turn has ended.

If your Owner card is in your hand, it counts towards your hand limit of 6

cards. After using your Owner card, flip it face down on your player board.

Your Owner Card can never be discarded to reduce your hand size.

LEAD A STAFF ACTION

Choose a card from your hand to Lead a Staff Action, announce the

Staff Action you are leading, and place the card in the center

slot of your Food Truck board. This begins an Action Round.

The card you play to Lead a Staff Action must come from

your hand. A card in your Hired Staff may not be used to

Lead. Your Owner card can be used as any of the five

Staff Actions by playing it from your hand to Lead

or Follow.

Starting with the player to your left, in turn

order, each other player decides whether they will

Follow (perform the same Staff Action as you),

conduct Market Research, or Take Charge.

A player may Follow by playing a Game card with a matching Staff Action

(or their Owner card) from their hand face-up to the center of their

Food Truck board.

A player may also Follow by having a matching card in their Hired Staff.

If a player Follows by having a matching card in their Hired Staff, that

player may also conduct Market Research or Take Charge.

When performed in the Action Round, the Market Research and Take

Charge actions are the same as if you were the Active Player, except

the Active Player token does not move.

If you played a Staff Action from your hand to Lead or Follow, all Hired

Staff on your Food Truck that match the Lead Staff Action give you free

bonus Staff Actions, making it possible for you to perform the same

Staff Action more than once on your turn.

Example: Nicole leads with a Driver Staff Action. You have a Driver in

your Hired Staff, so you may automatically Follow without having to

play a card from your hand. You then decide to play a card with the

Driver Staff Action from your hand as an extra Follow, allowing you to

perform the Driver Staff Action twice.

After everyone has chosen what to do in the Action Round, all Staff

Actions and card draws are performed in turn order.

If a player is Following by having a matching card in their Hired Staff

and decided to conduct Market Research or Take Charge instead of

playing a card, the Market Research or Take Charge is performed

before their free bonus Staff Action(s). When the Action Round has

finished, players move their played Lead/Follow cards (except

Owner cards) into empty spaces in the Marketplace. If all eight

Marketplace spaces already have cards, players put played cards on

top of existing Marketplace spaces, covering and blocking access to

the card(s) underneath.

After played cards have been moved to the Marketplace, fill any

empty Marketplace positions from the deck.

When taking cards from the Marketplace, players must take

cards off the top before they can take from cards underneath.

Any Owner cards that were played are flipped face-down

on their Food Truck boards. Owner cards are never

moved to the Marketplace or to the discards. Pass the

Active Player token to the left, your turn has ended.

Completing Orders

When the last required Ingredient is placed onto an Order Ticket

through a Prep Cook or Exec. Chef Staff Action, remove the Order

Ticket from your Plating Area (it no longer takes up a spot in that

section) and set it below your Food Truck board in a face-down

Completed Orders pile. Take all the Ingredients used to complete the

Order Ticket and place them in the discard pile.

Take a Popularity Token from the stacks with a value equal to the

number of Ingredients on the completed Order Ticket. If there are no

tokens of the proper value, you may take one Popularity Token of a

lesser value instead. If there are no tokens of a lesser value, then you

receive no token at all.

Flip the Popularity Token face-down and place it on one of the gray

Popularity icons on your Food Truck board. This expands the capacity

of the chosen section by one card, regardless of the value of the

Popularity token.

Critique Tokens

When a Popularity Token is taken from a stack and reveals a

Critique Token, set the Critique Token aside and finish the

rest of the Action Round.

At the end of the Action Round in which a Critique

Token was revealed, each player reviews the cards

in their Completed Orders pile and chooses one

for the Critique. (Note: If you have no completed

Order Tickets, then you do nothing for the

Critique.) The chosen Order Ticket goes face-up

underneath your Awards section.

You can look at your cards in your Awards section at any time.

Example: Nicole is playing as Bear Burgers, so her Flavor Profile is

Grain, Grain, Meat, Dairy. She has two Completed Orders to review for

the Critique: Pate en Croute (Meat, Fruit, Grain), and Holy Mole Salad

(Seasoning, Meat, Vegetables). Nicole chooses Pate en Croute for the

Critique because it contains more of her Flavor Profile ingredients, and

moves the Order Ticket under the Awards section on her Food Truck board.

Each complete set of Flavor Profile Ingredients that you collect in your

Awards section will earn +5 bonus Popularity at the end of the game.

Once all players have Critiqued one of their completed Order Tickets,

play continues as normal.

It is possible to reveal more than one Critique Token during an Action

Round. If this happens, go through the Critique process for each

revealed Critique Token.

End of Game

The end game triggers when 2 Popularity Token stacks are exhausted.

When the end is triggered, continue normal play until all players have

had an equal number of turns (this occurs when the Active Player

token is passed to the player holding the First Player card).

Scoring

At the end of the game, everyone flips their Popularity Tokens face-up

and totals up their Popularity Token values.

Then, take the Order Tickets in your Awards and count up sets that

match your Food Truck’s Flavor Profile. Each complete set earns you

+5 Popularity.

Finally, score +1 Popularity for each Order Ticket in your Completed

Orders pile and in your Awards section that shows your Food Truck logo.

The player with the most Popularity wins!

If there is a tie, the tied player with the most completed Order Tickets

that match their Food Truck logo is the winner. If there is still a tie, the

tied player with the most Popularity Tokens wins. If there is still a tie,

then all tied players share the victory.

Solo Rules

Solo player rules are available on our website at

www.dailymagicgames.com/food-truck-champion/

Food Truck Champion

Luke Turpeinen

Development by Isaias Vallejo

& David MacKenzie

Illustrated by Claire

Donaldson

Graphic Design by Dylan

Pharaoh-Whitney

Special thanks to our kickstarter

helper deluxe backers:

Andres Aguilar

David Chien

Joe Senese

Victoria Merina

Two Player Rules

There is some special setup in the 2-player game. Follow the regular

setup for steps 1 and 2. Then:

Deal six cards face-up to the center of the play area to form the

Marketplace. Place the remaining cards next to the Marketplace to

form the draw deck.

Take six Popularity Tokens

of each value (1, 2, and 3) and sort

them into stacks by value. For each stack, insert a Critique Token

after every three Popularity Tokens. Each stack should be: three

Popularity Tokens, then one Critique Token, then three Popularity

Tokens, then one Critique Token.

The player who most recently ate from a food truck goes first. Give

them the First Player card and the Active Player token. Take an

unused Owner card from the box and place it face-up to the right of

the Active Player, between both players. This represents a neutral

food truck Owner in the game and becomes the neutral stack.

Now begin taking normal turns starting with the Active Player and

going clockwise.

In a 2-player game, there is a neutral food truck Owner that takes a

turn every round, after the second player.

The neutral food truck Owner always takes the Lead a Staff Action

action and starts an Action Round. Draw a card from the deck and

place it face-up on the neutral player’s Owner card. The Staff Action on

the drawn card is the Lead Staff Action for the neutral player’s Action

Round. The neutral player does not actually take an

action, but the human players decide whether they

would like to Follow, conduct Market Research,

or Take Charge, then perform their chosen

actions as usual. When the Action Round

is complete, the neutral player’s lead card

does not go to the Marketplace but is

placed under the neutral player’s Owner

card, instead.

All other rules in Food Truck Champion

remain the same for a 2-player game.

Quick Play Guide

On your turn, choose one action:

1. Market Research. Draw two cards, then discard down to six cards if

necessary.

2. Take Charge. Draw your Owner card into your hand.

3. Lead a Staff Action. Play a card from your hand as a Staff Action

to begin an Action Round. In turn order, all other players decide to

either Follow, do Market Research, or Take Charge. Resolve all chosen

actions in player order. Hired Staff cards provide bonus Staff Actions if

they match the Lead Staff Action. Perform cleanup: move played cards

to Marketplace, and flip Owner cards as necessary.

If you completed an Order Ticket, take a Popularity Token with a

value = to the number of Ingredients on the Order Ticket. If there is a

Critique Token, set it aside. Perform Critique at the end of the Action

Round: move one Completed Order to Awards.

End game trigger: two Popularity Token stacks are exhausted. Players

take equal turns. Score Popularity Tokens, +1 for each Completed

Order or Award with your Food Truck logo, and +5 for each complete

flavor profile set in your Awards area.