Guest Abilities FAQ
All guest abilities are optional! You never need to do one if you don’t want to. If you choose to do the ability, you must do it in full. Abilities are only ever relevant for seated guests. Guests’ abilities don’t have any effect while they are in your hand, or after you have sent them home.
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Pronunciation: LOW-la AL-vah-rez BRAH-vo
Álvarez Bravo’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
For each of your guests, take either a Compliment or Drama token from the Kitchen and place it on one of that guest’s empty appetites. Unlike the “Give Compliments or Start Drama” action, each guest can get a different type of token. Álvarez Bravo gets a token from her own ability.
All abilities are optional, so you may choose to skip this ability. But if you choose to use it, you must send each of your guests a Compliment or a Drama. As always, if you send a token to a guest who has no empty appetites, the token is trashed (returned to the Kitchen).
Jean Arp
Pronunciation: JON ARP (J as in mirage)
Arp’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever he goes home from the party (either when you choose to send him home, or the game ends).
When Arp goes home from the party, send his matching tokens to your Stash (as normal), and if he is Perfectly Content, take the Perfectly Content bonus (as normal). Then count the number of Wine tokens in your Stash and the number of Dessert tokens in your Stash (not on your guests). Compare these numbers to those of your opponents. If you have either more Wine or more Dessert than each other player, choose 3 tokens on your guests, return those tokens to the Kitchen, and have the Kitchen send those guests 1 of any token to replace each token returned.
The new tokens don’t need to end up on the same appetite as the ones that were returned. You can use this ability to swap non-matched tokens for matching ones, or matching tokens for different matching ones. You can even swap tokens for another one of the same type (if you’ve got nothing better to swap). Each guest must end up with the same number of tokens they started with (you can’t return 3 tokens from Guest A to the Kitchen, then have the Kitchen send Guest B 3 tokens).
You need to have more Wine or more Dessert in your Stash than each other player has in their Stash. You don’t need to have more of both. If you have fewer (or tied) Wine tokens and fewer (or tied) Dessert tokens in your Stash than each other player has in their Stash, Arp’s ability does nothing.
André Breton
Pronunciation: ahn-DRAY bruh-TAWN
Breton’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take a Wine token or a Food token from one of Breton’s neighbors, and give it to him. Breton can take a token regardless of whether it’s matching. If Breton has no empty appetites, you still take the token, but the token is trashed (returned to the Kitchen).
Claude Cahun
Pronunciation: CLOD cah-HOON
Cahun’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take any one token from one of Cahun’s neighbors, and give it to Cahun. Cahun can take a token regardless of whether it’s matching. If Cahun has no empty appetites, you still take the token, but the token is trashed (returned to the Kitchen).
Agustín Cárdenas
Pronunciation: ah-goos-TAN CAR-day-nahs
Cárdenas’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn, and only if you don’t have 3 seated guests. If you have 3 seated guests, his ability does nothing.
You choose which tokens Cárdenas receives. They can be different types. If he has two empty appetites, you must give him 2 tokens. If he only has one empty appetite, he gets 1 token.
Leonora Carrington
Pronunciation: luh-NOR-uh CARE-ing-ton
Carrington’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send Carrington a token from the Platter. This occurs whenever you take the “Serve a Guest” action on your turn, but it can also happen when you use certain guest abilities that can send Carrington tokens from the Platter (like the Nardal Sisters’ ability). Using Carrington’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
When Carrington’s ability happens, you trash (return to the Kitchen) a token from one of your guests. You usually want to trash non-matched tokens, but in rare cases you might want to use this ability to trash matching tokens. All abilities are optional, so you can choose not to do Carrington’s ability if you don’t want to.
Salvador Dalí
Pronunciation: SAL-vah-door dah-LEE
Dalí’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Choose 0, 1, or 2 tokens on your guests and trash them (return them to the Kitchen). You usually want to trash non-matched tokens, but in rare cases you might want to use this ability to trash matching tokens.
Ei-Q
Pronunciation: AY KYU
Ei-Q’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose up to 2 tokens on Ei-Q that don’t match the appetite they are placed on, and move them directly into your Stash. Non-matched tokens usually come from opponents’ guests sending Ei-Q Compliments or Drama, but you may also intentionally send Ei-Q tokens he doesn’t want in order to use his ability. You may choose to put a Food token on one of Ei-Q’s Dessert appetites, or vice versa, in order to use them for his ability.
Ei-Q cannot use his ability on matching tokens, so if you place a Dessert token on one of his Dessert appetites, his ability will cannot send that token to your Stash.
Max Ernst
Pronunciation: MAX ERNST
Ernst’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever he goes home from the party (either when you choose to send him home, or the game ends).
When Ernst goes home from the party, send his matching tokens to your Stash (as normal), and if he is Perfectly Content, take the Perfectly Content bonus (as normal). Then return him to your hand. In future turns you may take the “Play a Guest” action to seat him again as normal, but when he comes back you must take 2 Drama tokens from the Kitchen and place them on 2 of his appetites.
You may not seat Ernst again on the same turn you sent him home (although you may send him home and seat a different guest on the same turn, as normal).
Ted Joans
Pronunciation: TED JONES
Joans’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send any of your home if they are Perfectly Content. A guest is Perfectly Content if all of their appetites are filled with matching tokens. Joans’s ability happens whenever you use the “Send a Guest Home” part of the “Play a Guest” action. Joans’s ability also happens at the end of the game when all of your guests go home automatically—his ability happens for each of those guests. Joans’s ability happens when he himself goes home. Using Joans’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn).
When Joans’s ability happens, you choose a token from the Kitchen and place it in your Stash. The token is put in your Stash at the same time as a Perfectly Content bonus would happen (after moving the guest’s matching tokens to your Stash, but before resolving a Door Ability, if they have one). Remember that if the guest you sent home wasn’t Perfectly Content, Joans’s ability doesn’t happen.
Paul Klee
Pronunciation: PAWL CLAY
Klee’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever he goes home from the party (either when you choose to send him home, or the game ends).
When Klee goes home from the party, send his matching tokens to your Stash (as normal), and if he is Perfectly Content, take the Perfectly Content bonus (as normal). Then count the number of Food tokens in your Stash (not on your guests). Compare the number of Food tokens in your Stash to the number of Food tokens in your opponents’ Stashes. If you have more than each other player, choose any 3 tokens from the Kitchen and place them on 3 of your guests’ empty appetites. You can’t place them on Klee, since he’s gone home, nor can you place them on a new guest you are planning to seat this turn (because that guest doesn’t get seated until Klee’s ability is done). If your guests have fewer than 3 empty appetites among them, just fill the appetites they have.
If you don’t have more Food tokens in your Stash than each other player (including if you are tied), Klee’s ability does nothing.
Wifredo Lam
Pronunciation: wee-FRAY-doh LAM
Lam’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send a token to an opponent’s guest. This usually occurs when you choose the “Give Compliments or Start Drama” action, but it can also happen when you use certain guest abilities that send tokens to opponents’ guests. His ability happens even if the opponent’s guest doesn’t have an empty appetite to receive the token you sent. Using Lam’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
You take a Compliment token from the Kitchen, and give it to any one of your guests. Lam can send a token to himself with his ability. In the rare case that you use an ability to send multiple opponents’ guests tokens at the same time, Lam’s ability will count for each token sent to an opponent’s guest.
Jacqueline Lamba
Pronunciation: jah-KLEEN lawm-BUH (J as in mirage)
Lamba’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever she goes home from the party (either when you choose to send her home, or the game ends).
When Lamba goes home from the party, send her matching tokens to your Stash (as normal), and if she is Perfectly Content, take the Perfectly Content bonus (as normal). Then count the number of Food tokens in your Stash (not on your guests). Compare the number of Food tokens in your Stash to the number of Food tokens in your opponents’ Stashes. If you have more than each other player, choose 2 tokens from the Kitchen of any type other than Food and add them to your Stash. The tokens can be the same type or different.
If you don’t have more Food tokens in your Stash than each other player (including if you are tied), Lamba’s ability does nothing.
Mina Loy
Pronunciation: MEE-nuh LOY
Loy’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send a token to an opponent’s guest. This usually occurs when you choose the “Give Compliments or Start Drama” action, but it can also happen when you use certain guest abilities that send tokens to opponents’ guests. Her ability happens even if the opponent’s guest doesn’t have an empty appetite to receive the token you sent. Using Loy’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
You take a Drama token from the Kitchen, and give it to any one of your guests. Loy can send a token to herself with his ability. In the rare case that you use an ability to send multiple opponents’ guests tokens at the same time, Loy’s ability will count for each token sent to an opponent’s guest.
Dora Maar
Pronunciation: DOR-uh MAR
Maar’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take a Wine token or a Dessert token from the Kitchen, and give it to one of Maar’s neighbors (you can use this to give an opponent’s guest a token they don’t want). Maar cannot send a token to herself with his ability.
René Magritte
Pronunciation: ruh-NAY muh-GREET
Magritte’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Choose 1 of Magritte’s tokens and return it to the Kitchen. Choose a token from the Kitchen and place it on one of Magritte’s empty appetites. You can use this ability to a swap non-matched token for a matching one, or a matching token for different matching one.
Joyce Mansour
Pronunciation: JOYCE man-SOOR
Mansour’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever she goes home from the party (either when you choose to send her home, or the game ends).
When Mansour goes home from the party, send her matching tokens to your Stash (as normal), and if she is Perfectly Content, take the Perfectly Content bonus (as normal). Then count the number of Compliment tokens in your Stash and the number of Drama tokens in your Stash (not on your guests). Compare these numbers to those of your opponents. If you have either more Compliments or more Drama than each other player, take 3 Food tokens from the Kitchen and add them to your Stash.
You need to have more Compliments or more Drama in your Stash than each other player has in their Stash. You don’t need to have more of both. If you have fewer (or tied) Compliments tokens and fewer (or tied) Drama tokens in your Stash than each other player has in their Stash, Mansour’s ability does nothing.
Lee Miller
Pronunciation: LEE MILL-er
Miller’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send any of your guests a token from the Platter. This occurs whenever you take the “Serve a Guest” action on your turn, but it can also happen when you use certain guest abilities that send tokens to your guests from the Platter (like Kay Sage’s ability). Using Miller’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
When Miller’s ability happens, you take a Compliment token from the Kitchen and place it on one of Miller’s empty appetites. In the rare case that you send your guest multiple tokens from the Platter in the same turn/action, Miller gets 1 Compliment for each token sent. All abilities are optional, so you can choose not to do Miller’s ability if you don’t want to.
Virginia Mori
Pronunciation: ver-JIN-yuh MOR-ee
Mori’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send any of your home if they are not Perfectly Content. A guest is not Perfectly Content if any of their appetites is empty, or is filled with a non-matching token. Mori’s ability happens whenever you use the “Send a Guest Home” part of the “Play a Guest” action. Mori’s ability also happens at the end of the game when all of your guests go home automatically—her ability happens for each of those guests. Mori’s ability happens when she herself goes home. Using Mori’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn).
When Mori’s ability happens, you take a Food token from the Kitchen and place it in your Stash. The Food token is put in your Stash at the same time as a Perfectly Content bonus would happen (after moving the guest’s matching tokens to your Stash, but before resolving a Door Ability, if they have one). Remember that if the guest you sent home was Perfectly Content, Mori’s ability doesn’t happen.
Nardal Sisters
Pronunciation: nar-DAWL
The Nardal Sisters’ ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Choose a token from the Platter and place it on one of your guests’ empty appetites, and trash up to 1 token from you guests. You can do these two parts of the ability in either order (send a token then trash one, or trash one and then send one).
All abilities are optional, so you may choose to skip this ability. If you choose to use the ability, you must send a token from the Platter. You don’t have to trash a token from your guests if you don’t want (you can choose to trash 0). You can choose to send the token from the Platter to one of your guests who has no empty appetites; if you do so, the token is trashed (returned to the Kitchen) as normal.
Meret Oppenheim
Pronunciation: MEH-ret AW-pen-heim
Oppenheim’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Choose a token on one of your guests and another token on another one of your guests. Swap those two tokens. You can place the swapped tokens on different appetites than the original token. You can use this ability to swap non-matched tokens for matching ones, or matching tokens for different matching ones. You can even swap tokens for another one of the same type (if you’ve got nothing better to swap). Oppenheim can swap one of her own tokens.
Gisèle Prassinos
Pronunciation: JEE-zell prah-SEE-nos
Prassinos’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take a Wine token, Food token, or Dessert token from the Kitchen, and give it to any one of your guests. Prassinos can send a token to herself with his ability.
Sun Ra
Pronunciation: SUN RAH
Ra’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take a Food token or a Dessert token from the Kitchen, and give it to one of Ra’s neighbors (you can use this to give an opponent’s guest a token they don’t want). Ra cannot send a token to himself with his ability.
Man Ray
Pronunciation: MAN RAY
Ray’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you seat a guest. This occurs whenever you take the “Seat a Guest” part of the “Play a Guest” action on your turn. Using Ray’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
When Ray’s ability happens, you take a Compliment or Drama token from the Kitchen and place it on one of the newly seated guest’s appetites. All abilities are optional, so you can choose not to do Ray’s ability if you don’t want to.
Kay Sage
Pronunciation: KAY SAYJ
Sage’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Take 2 tokens from the Platter and place them on two of Sage’s empty appetites.
All abilities are optional, so you may choose to skip this ability. But if you choose to use it, you must take 2 tokens from the Platter (if there are 2 on the Platter). If there’s only 1 token on the Platter, take only that. You must place all of the tokens you take on one of Sage’s empty appetites. If she doesn’t have enough empty appetites, place as many as you can and the rest are trashed (returned to the Kitchen).
Philippe Soupault
Pronunciation: fil-LEEP su-POH
Soupault’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever he goes home from the party (either when you choose to send him home, or the game ends).
When Soupault goes home from the party, if he is Perfectly Content (all of his appetites are filled with a matching token), you choose 2 additional tokens from the Kitchen of any type and add them to your Stash. The tokens can be the same or different types. You also get 2 tokens for him going home Perfectly Content in the first place.
Yves Tanguy
Pronunciation: EVE tan-GEE
Tanguy’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Take 2 Food tokens or 2 Dessert tokens from the Kitchen. Send one to Tanguy’s neighbor on his left, and one to the neighbor on his right (you can use this to give an opponent’s guest a token they don’t want). The two tokens must be the same type (you can’t send one Food and one Dessert)
All abilities are optional, so you may choose to skip this ability. But if you choose to use it, you must send both neighbors a token. As always, if you send a token to a guest with no empty appetites, that token is trashed.
Dorothea Tanning
Pronunciation: dor-oh-THEE-uh TAN-ing
Tanning’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
You choose and take a Wine token or a Food token from the Kitchen, and give it to any one of your guests. Tanning can send a token to herself with his ability.
Toyen
Pronunciation: toy-YEN
Toyen’s ability is a Special Ability that happens whenever you send Toyen a token from the Platter. This occurs whenever you take the “Serve a Guest” action on your turn, but it can also happen when you use certain guest abilities that can send Toyen tokens from the Platter (like the Nardal Sisters’ ability). Using Toyen’s ability does not take up your turn (it happens in addition to your normal turn)
When Toyen’s ability happens, you take a Compliment or Drama token from the Kitchen and send it to one of Toyen’s neighboring guests (you can use this to give an opponent’s guest a token they don’t want). All abilities are optional, so you can choose not to do Toyen’s ability if you don’t want to.
Remedios Varo
Pronunciation: ray-MAY-dee-os VAH-ro
Varo’s ability is a Plate Ability: it happens when you choose the “Use Plate Abilities” action for your turn.
Varo does the Plate Ability of one of her neighbors of your choice. You can use this ability to mimic an opponent’s guest’s ability. When mimicking a guest’s Plate Ability, Varo substitutes her own name for that guest’s name in the ability.
Example: Kay Sage and Remedio Varo are neighbors. Kay Sage’s Ability says “Send 2 tokens from the Platter to Sage.” When you use Varo’s ability to mimic Sage’s ability, you take 2 tokens from the Platter and send them to Varo.
The Doll Keeper
The Doll Keeper’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever she goes home from the party (either when you choose to send her home, or the game ends).
When The Doll Keeper goes home from the party, give every guest a Drama from the Kitchen. Not just your guests, not just The Doll Keeper’s neighbors, but every guest! If a guest has no empty appetites, the Drama you send them is trashed (as normal). Your opponents choose which of their guest’s appetites the Drama is placed on, and you choose for your guests (as normal).
If The Doll Keeper’s ability happens when all guests are sent home at the end of the game, it does nothing (because there are no guests left at the table to send tokens).
The Radical Writer
The Radical Writer’s ability is a Special Ability that grants you a special power.
While The Radical Writer is seated, you may choose “Use Plate Abilities” as your action up to twice every course (normally you can only do this once per course). Each time still takes your turn.
Example: You have The Radical Writer, Sun Ra, and Dorothea Tanning seated. You choose “Use Plate Abilities” for your turn, and use Tanning’s and Ra’s abilities. Each other player takes a turn, but you’re still in the same course because the Platter hasn’t emptied yet. Normally you wouldn’t be able to choose “Use Plate Abilities” again until next course, but because you have The Radical Writer, you can. You choose “Use Plate Abilities” again, and use Tanning’s and Ra’s abilities again.
The Architect
The Architect’s ability is a Door Ability: it happens whenever he goes home from the party (either when you choose to send him home, or the game ends).
When The Architect goes home from the party, immediately choose one of the two guests who were his neighbors. That guest is forced to go home from the party as well. You usually want to do use this on an opponent’s guest. Both The Architect and the guest he sent home move their matching tokens to their players’ Stashes as normal, and get Perfectly Content bonuses as normal. The other sent home guest also gets to do their Door Ability, if they have one.
If you use The Architect’s ability on an opponent’s guest, if that opponent has a guest with a Special Ability that happens when they send a guest home (like Virginia Mori), the Special Ability happens now.
If The Architect’s ability happens when all guests are sent home at the end of the game, it does nothing (because there are no guests left at the table to send home).