Ramen (2018)

In Ramen, players compete to cook the most valuable bowls by collecting fresh ingredients and assembling them into complete ramen dishes. Each round begins with a shared offer of ingredient cards, and everyone secretly chooses a card from their hand to compete for them.

Cards are revealed simultaneously, and special effects may trigger. Low-value ingredients can be used to swap cards, while others allow players to change the global ingredient preference order, altering which ingredients are considered most valuable for the round. After resolving effects, players take turns selecting ingredients from the offer, starting with the strongest revealed card.

Collected ingredients must be added to ramen bowls following strict rules: each bowl can contain only one of each ingredient type, requires at least three cards to be considered valid, and can include shōyu cards for additional value.

The final round is triggered when each player has only one card left in hand. In this round, players still determine turn order as usual, but also keep the card they revealed, potentially adding even more ingredients to their bowls. Any shōyu cards gained are added at this point.

Once all ingredients are placed, tips are awarded based on ingredient preferences. For each ingredient type, the player with the lowest total value of that ingredient across their valid ramen bowls receives the corresponding tip, representing customer appreciation for balance rather than excess.

Final scoring combines several elements:

• The number of valid ramen bowls multiplied by the size of the largest bowl

• The total value of tips collected

• Bonus yen for high-value ingredients

• Penalties for unused or incomplete ingredients

The player with the most yen wins the game. In case of a tie, the player who gained fewer yen from tips is declared the winner.