Rules
Today’s Menu is a game for 8 to 12 players about predicting the crowd. You choose what to eat, then bet on how popular your choice was.
A round
- Every player secretly orders one of three dishes: jajangmyeon, jjamppong or fried rice.
- Every player also guesses how many players, themselves included, ordered the same dish. The
guess is one of five squares:
- 1 (only you): 5 points
- 2-3: 3 points
- 4-6: 2 points
- 7 up to one less than the whole table: 1 point
- everyone: 4 points
- When everyone has ordered, all guesses are shown, but not the dishes. Each player may move their guess once.
- The orders are revealed. A right guess scores its square’s points. A wrong guess scores nothing.
Winning
After 4 rounds, the player with the most points wins.
Our version
- The show had 11 players. Against the computer you choose 8 to 12 (default 11); online rooms take 8 to 12. The squares are the show’s, with the “7 or more” square stretched to the table size.
- On the show, players placed their boxes on the squares in the open and had one minute to move them. Here all first guesses are shown together, and everyone moves (or keeps) their guess once, in secret, at the same time.
- The show’s boxes had a false bottom, discovered by one player, that let a guess change after it was shown. It is left out: every shown guess is a real first guess.
- The show turned every 4 points into a garnet and sent the lowest scorer to the Death Match. Here the most points wins and ties share a place.
- Ordering has a 40-second timer and moving a guess 20 seconds. If ordering time runs out you get a dish by seat and a 4-6 guess; if moving time runs out your guess stays.
- The AI diners take turns at three tastes: the loner orders last round’s least ordered dish and likes the 5-point square, the crowd follower orders last round’s favourite, and the counter picks the dish and square with the best expected points. Easy AI orders loosely and guesses the most likely square whatever it scores; medium guesses by expected points; hard also reads everyone’s first guesses and moves its own. They only know what you would know.
- The “Typical crowd” helper reminds you how many orders a dish usually gets at your table size.
Sources: The Genius Grand Final episode guides (Wikipedia, recaps).
Strategy
Know the usual count. With 11 players choosing at random, a dish usually gets 3 to 5 orders, so 4-6 is the safe square. It only scores 2.
Habits split the table. Players who chase last round’s favourite pile onto one dish, and loners run from it. Use last round’s orders to guess this round’s crowd.
First guesses are clues. If many players guessed 7 or more, some dish is crowded and the others are thin. Move your guess with that in mind.
Long shots pay. Being alone scores 5 and being with everyone scores 4. A well-timed bet on a dish nobody wants can win the game.