FAQ
62 answered questions34 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Lookout Games or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Putting new dishes and drinks into the kitchen first — they can go straight onto your guests; only serving from the kitchen costs 1 krone. Ruling · Rule
- Taking a guest after the die — the guest comes first; only additional actions may come before, between or after. Ruling · Rule
- Boosting an action with a krone you earn during that same turn — you must hold it when you take the die. Ruling · Rule
- Taking a guest’s reward as soon as the order is complete — points and reward come only when the guest moves into a room. Ruling · Rule
- Moving back on the Emperor track before scoring — score your space first, then move back 3, 5 or 7. Ruling · Rule
- Removing occupied rooms for Emperor tile B — it takes unoccupied rooms; only the C tile takes occupied ones. Ruling · Rule
- Triggering die-number Staff (Laundress, Interior Architect…) through the 6 — a 6 is still a 6. Ruling · Rule
Showing 62 of 62
In what order do I take a guest, take a die and use additional actions? Official
The guest (optional) always comes before the die action. Additional actions can be taken at any moment of your turn: before the guest, between guest and die, and after the die. For example, you may serve a guest, move them to a room to free a table, then take a new guest, then take your die.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I take additional actions in the middle of my die action? Official
No. Finish the die action completely first. A reward you earn with an additional action cannot be used to continue the action you already resolved (for example, krones from a guest cannot pay for more rooms of a 3-action you already took).
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
When I pay 1 krone for an extra die, must I already have that krone? Official
Yes. You must have the krone when you take the die; you cannot use a krone earned later in the turn to boost the action you already took.
Source: BGG thread
How often can I pay for the extra die, and is it a real die?
Once per turn. It is a virtual die: it counts for your action only and nothing is added to the Action space. Other additional actions can be repeated as often as you can pay for them.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I pay for a virtual die on an Action space that has no dice left? Official
No. You must first choose a space with at least one die; only then may you add the virtual die. (The 6 is different: it copies an action using the number of dice on the 6, whatever is left on the copied space.)
Source: BGG thread
With the Staff Manager, may I hire a Staff card before preparing the rooms of my 3-action (to use a Florist at once, say)? Official
An early ruling said no, but Lookout later changed it for the revised rulebook: the Staff Manager may play its card before or after the action, so the Florist combo works. The designers agree.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
May I take a die and then not carry out its action? Official
Yes. You may take a die and ignore the action, or take less of it than the dice allow.
Source: BGG thread
How exactly does passing and re-rolling work? Official
A player who passes waits until every other player has taken both turns or also passed. Then the player with the lowest number still showing on their Turn Order tile takes all dice left on the board, puts one in the dustbin and re-rolls the rest. All players who still have a number showing then play in turn order from the new roll; anyone who passes again triggers another round of the same (one more die to the dustbin). Passing early does not force you to pass later.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
If I pass, can I still take a guest or additional actions?
No. Passing gives up the whole turn — guest, die and additional actions — until your turn comes back after the re-roll.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
When does a round end?
When every player has covered both numbers on their Turn Order tile, or when no dice are left on the Action board.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Do dishes and drinks from Staff, guests or Emperor tiles go to the kitchen first? Official
No — whatever the source, you may put them straight onto your guests' orders for free; the rest goes to your kitchen. Only moving items already in the kitchen costs 1 krone (for up to 3).
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I split the dishes and drinks I receive between several guests?
Yes, place them on any of your guests.
Source: BGG thread
Can I move an item from one guest to another, or take it back?
No. Once on a Guest card, an item stays there.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
With one die on action 1, can I take a cake instead of a strudel?
No. You may never take more cake than strudel (or more coffee than wine on action 2), so an odd number of dice always gives at least one more strudel (wine). Paying for a virtual die can make the count even.
Source: BGG thread
Is there a limit to how many items my kitchen holds? Official
No limit.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How much money can I have?
The money track runs from 0 to 20 krones. At 0 your marker sits off the track; you cannot hold more than 20.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Items I get in an Emperor scoring complete a guest's order — can I move the guest to a room at once?
You may put the items on the guest right away, but moving the guest to a room is an additional action and waits for your next turn.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Do the thick walls drawn on the Hotel board limit where I can build?
No. The walls only show the room groups. Any room orthogonally next to a placed room may be prepared, across those lines.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
With several dice on action 3, can a room I just prepared be the neighbour of the next one?
Yes, rooms prepared in one action can chain off each other.
Source: BGG thread
Do I score points for the rooms I prepare at the start of the game?
No points for preparing rooms, except a room placed on a space that prints points (top right of the board). Occupied rooms score at the end.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
When a guest moves into a room, what comes first — the occupancy bonus or the guest's reward? Official
Pay any cost, turn the room, then in any order you like: discard the guest, take the occupancy bonus, use Staff that trigger on that guest, and collect the guest's reward.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I score a group's occupancy bonus twice if I lose a room and fill it again? Official
No. The only tile that removes occupied rooms is the C tile, which acts at the final Emperor scoring; the A and B tiles remove unoccupied rooms. So a completed group can never be completed again.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
A reward lets me turn a room to occupied. Do I need a guest for it?
No. Just turn a prepared room of the colour shown (any colour if gray); no guest card is used.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I throw away a guest I have no room for?
No. A guest only leaves your café by moving into a room. Guests still there at the end cost 5 points each.
Source: BGG thread
Do I pay a once-per-round Staff card every time I use it?
No. You pay its cost once, when you hire it. After that you use it once each round for free (turn it over when used) — even on the turn you hire it.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Do game-end Staff cards in my hand score?
No. Only Staff you hired (played and paid for) during the game score.
Source: BGG thread
Can I hire more than one Staff card with a single 5 die?
No. Action 5 hires exactly one Staff card, with 1 krone off per die.
Source: BGG thread
Do Staff that trigger on a die number (Laundress, Interior Architect…) work when I use that action through the 6? Official
No. With a 6 you take a 6, not that number, so those Staff stay idle.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Does a Staff card that triggers on a die work on the turn I hire it?
No. A permanent effect starts after the card is in play, so a Detective hired with a 5 does not give steps for that same 5.
Source: BGG thread
How do the Checker, Restaurant Manager and Bootblack work?
Checker: with a 5 die, 2 more krones off the Staff card on top of 1 per die. Restaurant Manager: with a 1 or 2 die you get one extra item, still keeping strudel ≥ cake and wine ≥ coffee. Bootblack: with a 4 die you get both a step on the Emperor track and a krone for every die, instead of choosing; a virtual die counts too.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Does the Custodian pay for rooms turned by rewards, without a guest? Official
Yes, every room turned to occupied pays 1 krone, however it was turned.
Source: BGG thread
Does the Male Floor Housekeeper need a red guest?
No. It pays for any guest whose order has 4 items; a reference sheet that says "red" is a misprint.
Source: BGG thread
Which cards can the Secretary copy? Official
It copies another player's Staff card at the end of the game, so only game-end scoring cards give anything; a card that gives items or actions would give nothing then.
Source: BGG thread
A free-yellow-room Staff (Florist) and a guest who lets me prepare a room "paying the cost": what do I pay?
Nothing for a yellow room — the Staff card's effect still applies.
Source: BGG thread
Do we remove the A–D starter Staff sets after the first game?
No. Shuffle them back in; they are only a balanced start for beginners.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Do I get a guest's reward when I complete the order, or when they move into a room? Official
Only when they move into a room.
Source: BGG thread
Must I use a guest's reward? Official
No, rewards are optional, and you may take part of one. You may also leave a served guest in the café and move them later.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
If nobody takes a guest, does the queue still slide? Official
No — with no gap there is nothing to slide. When a guest is taken (by a turn or a reward), refill at once.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
What if the Guest deck runs out? Official
Shuffle the discarded guests into a new deck.
Source: BGG thread
Who chooses the starting guest first? Official
The player right of the start player (the highest number on the left of a Turn Order tile), then counter-clockwise.
Source: BGG thread
The Painter lets me prepare two rooms, one for 1 krone less. Must the discount go on the first? Official
No, you choose which of the two rooms gets the discount.
Source: BGG thread
The Medicinal Councillor lets me take two guests for free. Do I refill the queue in between?
Yes, refill after the first guest, then take the second.
Source: BGG thread
How does E. Gizia's bonus work? Official
You carry out the action of a space that still has a die, without taking the die. The first rulebook called it another turn; the revised one makes it a single action inside your turn that cannot be boosted and does not trigger Staff tied to taking a die. Using the 6 this way still costs 1 krone. Agree before play which wording your copy has.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
If a reward lets me prepare a free room in the first or second row and there is no space there, what happens?
The reward is lost.
Source: BGG thread
At an Emperor scoring, do I score before or after moving back?
Score first, from the space you are on; then move back 3, 5 or 7 spaces and check bonus or penalty. Your marker stays where it lands for the next rounds.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I choose which Emperor penalty to suffer?
No. Take the first option if you can fully take it; only if you cannot do you take the second (losing points).
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Emperor tile B: occupied or unoccupied rooms? Official
Unoccupied. Some printings show occupied rooms on the tile or in the text; the designer confirmed the B tile removes 2 unoccupied rooms and the C tile 2 occupied ones. Removed rooms go back to the supply.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
In which order do players take Emperor rewards and penalties? Official
If it matters, in the current round's turn order.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
The C tile lets me play a Staff card for free at the last scoring. Which effects work? Official
One-time effects happen, and game-end effects score. Once-per-round and permanent effects are useless, since no turns are left.
Source: BGG thread
Moving forward past space 13 of the Emperor track?
Your marker stops on 13 and every step beyond it is 1 point at once.
Source: BGG thread
Can I lose a Politics card I already claimed if I no longer meet it? Official
No. You only need the condition at the moment you place your disk.
Source: BGG thread
Can I claim a Politics card after the last Emperor scoring?
No. Claiming is an additional action on your turn, and no turns follow the last Emperor scoring.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can my score go below 0? Official
Yes, Emperor penalties can push you below 0.
Source: BGG thread
Do items on my guests score at the end?
No, only items left in the kitchen (1 point each).
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] May I send a dancer to a ballroom that has already been scored? Official
Yes — it still pays its row bonus and can empty a rehearsal room for its bonus; it just scores no more.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[Waltz] Does spending champagne from the kitchen on a dancer cost the 1-krone serving fee? Official
No. Paying champagne (or items for Staff effects) is not serving and costs no krone.
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] Only colored dice are left and I have no money to pay for them. What now? Official
You cannot take one, so you lose that turn.
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] Does Charlie Chaplin give his bonus for his own points, or for end-of-round points? Official
Neither. He does not trigger on the points for taking him, and celebrities leave before end-of-round scoring (such as Kaufman's).
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
[Waltz] Does Sigmund Freud let me skip a whole kind of item or one item? Official
One item. And he only lets you skip it while you have him, so move that guest to a room the same round.
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] Does E. Gizia let me take a celebrity? Official
No. You only gain a celebrity by taking a colored die, and E. Gizia takes no die.
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] The Danube Steamship Captain shows an "each time" symbol. Is he once per round? Official
Once per round, as the rulebook says.
Source: BGG thread
[Waltz] Does the Handmaid count steps from several guests in one turn? Official
No. Each guest moved into a room is its own action; you need 3 steps from one action (for example a 4-action, one guest with 3 steps, or a yellow group bonus).
Source: BGG thread