The base box of Critter Kitchen includes a solo opponent, McDogald’s. You play your own restaurant through the same seven-round arc, while a Manager deck and separate mouse, lizard and boar decks direct the rival chefs. This is a distinct mode with its own item priorities and scoring shortcuts. Learn the normal round and shopping order first.
Set up as a two-player game
Use the two-player locations and normal Critic, Challenge and Rumor setup. Put out the Critic’s matching Critic’s Choice card, then give McDogald’s the starting stars printed next to that Critic. Set up its Kitchen Board, three chefs, matching Critic Plate, chef hat at the front of the priority track and its separately shuffled Manager, Mouse, Lizard and Boar decks. Keep its Critic’s Choice ingredient priorities visible. For your own restaurant, the rulebook says Location cards and the shield are unnecessary in solo because you can place your chefs directly.
Give the automa its assignments
Each round you place your chefs at locations openly. Reveal a Manager card for McDogald’s and carry out its direction; then reveal a card for each of its mouse, lizard and boar still in the kitchen, in that order. If it has a zous-chef, use the deck matching that chef’s carrying capacity. Each chef card points to a location by a condition. If another McDogald’s chef already occupies that location, move to the next eligible one following the card’s arrow and priority instructions. Discard the drawn decks’ cards at round end, as the solo rules direct.
This is not a human opponent secretly choosing the best visible ingredient. The automa’s location and item choices follow cards and the Critic’s Choice priority. Resolve the locations left to right with the usual speed queues and tie procedure. For each McDogald’s pick, select the available item matching the leftmost applicable priority for the current day (one, two or three). Use the printed ingredient order when choices tie.
Track its ingredients and challenge stars
McDogald’s retains the highest-valued ingredient of each type on its Critic Plate, setting lower copies aside. Matching spice goes with that type; allspice is saved for an unspiced ingredient at the final meal. Challenge ingredients and matching spices can place star markers above the printed Challenge requirements as specified by the solo rules. After rounds three and six, McDogald’s collects its marked challenge stars rather than preparing three ordinary meals. It ignores the human refrigeration limits; do not discard its ingredients because its inventory exceeds five or ten.
McDogald’s returns collected soup and bisque to supply. A Rumor pickup gives it a day-dependent star award and an appropriate token marker; it does not privately inspect the Rumor card as you do. A zous-chef it acquires works the following round, and its card abilities apply where relevant.
Resolve the final critic fairly
McDogald’s uses its best ingredient of each type, one matching spice where held, and its saved allspice on the highest-valued unspiced course, following the printed tie order. The automa ignores Critic rule changes when selecting items and preparing its own critic plate, but Fanatic rumor effects can still modify its final course quality. For the most-soup comparison, draw one item from the token bag and use that item’s value as its soup total; a spice, allspice or rumor counts as zero for this purpose.
Check all-seven-courses and best-of-each-course stars as usual, awarding tied individual stars to both sides. McDogald’s uses the solo rulebook’s printed Rumor star schedule, regardless of which rumors it collected, and then calculates final course quality. To win solo, you must score more stars than McDogald’s; a tied star total is not a solo win.
What should you prepare for a first solo game?
Keep the Manager and three chef decks separate, place the Critic’s Choice card beside the opponent and give each chef a clear spot on its board. At every pick, scan the current day’s priority row from left to right. This avoids accidentally applying a human preference to an automated choice. The scoring guide covers the shared challenge and critic concepts; the rulebook’s solo section governs all McDogald’s exceptions.
Explore Critter Kitchen: Overview · How to play · Strategy · Scoring · Solo · À La Cart expansion.
Sources and scope: Cardboard Alchemy’s English core rulebook (PDF), searchable rulebook transcription, and Lucky Duck Games’ retail product page, checked 4 October 2026. Rules describe the English retail base game; variant cards can override general procedures. Tactical examples are editorial analysis of the rules, not firsthand playtest findings.