{"id":20259,"date":"2026-08-21T23:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T23:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/?p=20259"},"modified":"2026-08-27T15:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:20:15","slug":"all-you-can-eat-buffet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/blog\/2026\/08\/21\/all-you-can-eat-buffet\/","title":{"rendered":"All You Can Eat Buffet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Si je me souviens bien, c\u2019est Th\u00e9o qui a eu l\u2019id\u00e9e. Il m\u2019a envoy\u00e9 un email, ou peut-\u00eatre t\u00e9l\u00e9phon\u00e9, pour m\u2019annoncer qu\u2019il avait une id\u00e9e de jeu \u00ab \u00e0 la Bruno Faidutti \u00bb, et que ce pourrait \u00eatre l\u2019occasion, pour la premi\u00e8re fois, de faire quelque chose ensemble. J\u2019\u00e9tais bien s\u00fbr curieux d\u2019en savoir plus. La discussion a confirm\u00e9 que c\u2019\u00e9tait bien mon style de jeu, avec du \u00ab double-guessing \u00bb et pas mal de possibilit\u00e9s pour emb\u00eater les autres joueurs. M\u00eame le th\u00e8me propos\u00e9 par Th\u00e9o, le banquet des trolls, \u00e9tait dans mon genre. Vingt ans auparavant, Serge Laget et moi avions d\u2019ailleurs pos\u00e9 les bases d\u2019un jeu sur la cuisine gobeline, que nous n\u2019avons jamais termin\u00e9. Il y a cependant une grande diff\u00e9rence entre les gobelins et les trolls, puisque tandis que les premiers ont une tradition culinaire ancienne et sophistiqu\u00e9e, les seconds sont seulement r\u00e9put\u00e9s pour leur app\u00e9tit pantagru\u00e9lique mais assez peu s\u00e9lectif. La quantit\u00e9 les int\u00e9resse plus que la qualit\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nous avons discut\u00e9 les id\u00e9es de Th\u00e9o, et ajout\u00e9 quelques-unes des miennes. Je ne me souviens plus bien des d\u00e9tails, mais puisqu\u2019il y a des cartes app\u00e9tit et des jetons de nourriture, on peut supposer que chacun d\u2019entre nous est responsable de plus ou la moiti\u00e9. J\u2019ai juste un souvenir pr\u00e9cis, je sais que c\u2019est moi qui ai ajout\u00e9 les jetons alcool et \u00e9pices. C\u2019est un peu court comme r\u00e9cit de cr\u00e9ation du jeu, mais c\u2019est surrtout parce que tout est all\u00e9 tr\u00e8s vite. Nous avons imprim\u00e9 nos cartes, j\u2019ai test\u00e9 le jeu \u00e0 Paris et Th\u00e9o l\u00e0 o\u00f9 il \u00e9tait \u00e0 cette \u00e9poque, et tout a fonctionn\u00e9 comme pr\u00e9vu, moyennant de petits ajustements de score, d\u00e8s les premi\u00e8res parties.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Les joueurs sont donc cens\u00e9s \u00eatre assis autour d\u2019une longue table bien garnie, chacun esp\u00e9rant \u00eatre le premier \u00e0 se servir pour choisir le plat le plus app\u00e9tissant et roboratif. Chacun compte aussi bien boire, mais plus un joueur a bu, plus il a de difficult\u00e9 \u00e0 mettre les meilleurs parts dans son assiette. Viande, poisson, fruits, l\u00e9gumes, chaque type de nourriture score un peu diff\u00e9remment, et la tomate est bien s\u00fbr un joker, pouvant compter comme fruit ou comme l\u00e9gume. Le lait peut aider \u00e0 faire passer une cuisine trop \u00e9pic\u00e9e, le caf\u00e9 att\u00e9nue les effets de l\u2019alcool, et chacun a droit \u00e0 un g\u00e2teau pour son anniversaire \u2013 les trolls ont beaucoup d\u2019anniversaires, plus ou moins un par mois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tout cela s\u2019est pass\u00e9 il y a assez longtemps, en 2021, et nous avons imm\u00e9diatement trouv\u00e9 quelqu\u2019un souhaitant publier ce jeu, un nouvel \u00e9diteur fran\u00e7ais qui devait d\u00e9buter son activit\u00e9 l\u2019ann\u00e9e suivante. Nous avons r\u00e9cup\u00e9r\u00e9 les droits lorsqu\u2019il s\u2019est av\u00e9r\u00e9 que ce ne serait pas le cas. Quelques mois plus tard, au salon d\u2019Essen, j\u2019ai montr\u00e9 le jeu \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9quipe de Mojito Studio, qui travaillait alors sur une nouvelle \u00e9dition de Myst\u00e8re \u00e0 l’Abbaye<\/em>. Le voici donc, un peu plus tard qu\u2019initialement pr\u00e9vu, mais il n\u2019est jamais trop tard pour bien faire et bien manger.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Le th\u00e8me du jeu a un peu chang\u00e9, puisque les joueurs ne sont plus cens\u00e9s \u00eatre des trolls mais des humains. Autour d\u2019un bon repas, je ne pense pas que cela soit tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All You Can Eat Buffet<\/strong><\/span>
Un jeu de Th\u00e9o Rivi\u00e8re & Bruno Faidutti<\/span>
Illustr\u00e9 par Anna Meshchanova<\/span>
3 \u00e0 6 joueurs \u2013 30 minutes<\/span>
Publi\u00e9 par Mojito Studios<\/a>, 2026<\/span>
Boardgamegeek<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If I remember well, the idea came from Th\u00e9o. He phoned or emailed me, telling that he just had an idea for a game which \u201cfeels like a Bruno Faidutti game\u201d and that it could be a nice opportunity to start working together. Of course, I was curious, so we discussed the idea in more details and, indeed, it was my style of game, based on double-guessing and with lots of opportunities to meddle with other players\u2019 plans. Even Theo\u2019s theme idea, a troll\u2019s feast, was in my style. Some twenty years ago, I started working with the late Serge Laget on a game about Goblin Cooking, which we never finished. There\u2019s a big difference, though, between goblins and trolls \u2013 the former have a rich and imaginative high cuisine culture, the latter are interested only in eating, not in cooking.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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So we discussed Theo\u2019s ideas, I added mine. I don\u2019t remember which one was whose, but since there are two main elements in the game, Mood cards and food tokens, I bet each one of us more or less found half of the cards and half of the food \u2013 the only thing I remember for sure is that wine and spice were my ideas. If this design diary is really short, it is mostly because the design went very fast. We printed our cards, I playtested the game in Paris and Theo did it wherever he was at this time, and everything worked at once, requiring only a few scoring adjustments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s it. Players are sitting on a long table with lots of food, and they all more or less want to eat first, and to eat the same nice looking and nice smelling meal. They also all want to get drunk, but the more alcohol you get, the less efficient you are in getting the right food in your plate. Meat, Fish, Fruits, Vegetables, everything scores differently, and of course Tomato can score as fruit or vegetable. Milk can come in handy if you got too spicy food, coffee can mitigate the effects of alcohol, and you got a cake bonus for your birthday \u2013 trolls have lots of birthdays, more or less one every month.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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This was long ago, in 2021, and we almost immediately found a publisher for this game, a new French company which was due to start its activity the following year. When it didn\u2019t, and it later appeared it never will, we got the rights back. A few months later, in Essen, I showed the game to the Mojito Studio team, which was working on a new edition of <\/em>Mystery of the Abbey, and they decided to do it. So here it comes, later than we initially thought, but, as we say in French, it\u2019s never too late for good things.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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The game setting changed a little bit, since the characters are now supposed to be humans, not trolls.  When sitting at a dinner table, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that different.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All You Can Eat Buffet<\/strong><\/span>
A game by Th\u00e9o Rivi\u00e8re & Bruno Faidutti<\/span>
Art by Anna Meshchanova<\/span>
3 to 6 players \u2013 30 minutes<\/span>
Published by Mojito Studios<\/a>, 2026<\/span>
Boardgamegeek<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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