
- BGG rating
- 8.0
Cooks & Crooks: Fat Fry 5th Player expansion
- 2–5 players
- 2019

2019
Rules assistance for Cooks & Crooks
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Cooks & Crooks is a board game released in 2019 for 2–4 players, 20–40 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Andrés Novelo and Luis Muñoz and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Take That, and Open Drafting.
In Cooks & Crooks a group of international chefs compete in a cooking TV show, but unlike those ones, these chefs don’t mind playing dirty! They will try to obtain victory while sabotaging their opponent’s efforts by stealing their supplies, swapping ingredients in their ovens or even by adding a nasty ingredient to their recipes. To win, you'll have to prepare the most delicious dishes... but be careful! Other players may try to put in the proverbial fly in your soup, or worse! Try to obtain the best scores from the judges while at the same time trying to ruin other chefs dishes. When the bell signaling the round’s end rings, the player with the most amount of points will be declared the winner. May the most crooked chef win! —description from the publisher
Cooks & Crooks supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Cooks & Crooks is 20–40 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Cooks & Crooks for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Cooks & Crooks has a complexity rating of 1.4 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Cooks & Crooks belongs to these categories: Card Game, Fighting, and Humor. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Take That, and Open Drafting. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Cooks & Crooks are: Andrés Novelo and Luis Muñoz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Cooks & Crooks as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.