Just Desserts

About the game

What is Just Desserts?

The guests are here, and they're hungry, so try to be the best waiter at this café by making sure that all the guests get their Just Desserts! In this card game, each player starts with a hand of three dessert cards while three guest cards are placed in the center of the table; each dessert card shows 1-3 tastes that it satisfies, such as chocolate, fruit, or pastry, while the guest cards show what they crave as well as what they refuse to eat. On a turn, you draw a dessert card, add a guest card to the table from the deck, then take one of three actions: Serve (and claim) one or two guests by discarding one or more dessert cards to give them what they want (while avoiding what they don't want); if you give a guest their favorite item, you get tipped with an extra dessert card. Draw one more dessert card. Dump as many dessert cards as you want, then drawing that many cards from the deck. At the end of your turn, discard guests from the table so that only one guest of each "suit" is still waiting to be served — but the guest heading out the door (on top of the discard pile) can still be claimed by any waiter. If at any time you've served three guests of the same suit or five guests of different suits, then you win! Just Desserts includes game variants that allow you to steal guests from another waiter by sending more sweets their way, to force other waiters to each give up one guest, and to hold a surprise party to claim a guest out of turn.

How it plays

Mechanics

On the shelf

Categories

Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

• How do setup and the first turn work in Just Desserts?
• When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
• How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?