How to Play Paris Pastries

Last Updated on April 8, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Paris Pastries is a strategic game set in Belle Époque Paris, where players take on the role of pastry chefs. They collect ingredients, master recipes, and serve customers, aiming to become the top chef in Paris. With 32 classic French treats to perfect, each game offers new challenges and opportunities. Here’s how to play:

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Overview

In Paris Pastries, players collect ingredients, master recipes, and satisfy eager customers while competing to become Paris’ premier pastry chef. With 32 classic French treats to master – from delicate croissants to colorful macarons – every game presents new opportunities to perfect your craft.

Game Contents

168 illustrated cards including:
84 Ingredient Cards
32 Recipe Cards
36 Customer Cards
16 Baking Tool Cards
Comprehensive 12-page full-color instruction manual

Baking Tools

There are two types of Baking Tools: Permanent and One-Time

The effects of the Permanent baking tools will last throughout the whole game, while the One-Time baking tools are single use and must be discarded after being played.

Note: you may choose to use the one-time baking tools anytime during your turn

Setup

Distribute the Baking Tool cards.

2-4 players: Each player receives four cards.
5 player game: Each player receives three cards.
6 player game: Each player receives two cards.

Regardless of how many baking tools you begin with, each player will select two baking tools that they will use throughout the game, and the others are discarded (this is where the strategy comes into play, as the baking tools you choose will determine which customers you go after).

Recipe Cards

Layout 5 of the recipe cards to form the “recipe row”. These will be the recipes that are available for the players to make during the game. Once a player completes a recipe, you will refill it from the remaining recipe cards stack.

Customer Cards

Directly above your “recipe row”, layout five Customer Cards. Each Customer has specific things that they like in their pastries. During the game you will try to capture customers by making pastries that have these ingredients in them.

Gameplay

Gameplay starts by collecting ingredients through what’s known as the Bakers Gambit. Each player takes the deck of ingredient cards and flips them over one by one. They can stop whenever they want, but make sure you stop before you get two duplicate ingredients. IF you get two duplicate ingredients, you “bust” and lose all but one of your ingredient cards (you can choose any ingredient you flipped over except for wilds). If you choose to stop before you bust, you get to keep all of the ingredient cards.

Wild Cards

Wild cards are the most power card in the game that can be substituted for any ingredient in a recipe. Note: only one wild can be used per recipe!

Turns

During your turn you can take one of two actions: You can make a recipe, or you can do the Bakers Gambit.

For your first few turns, you’ll probably want to do the Bakers Gambit as you acquire ingredients to complete recipes.

Completing Recipes

Each recipe takes three to five ingredients to complete and the ingredients are listed along the bottom. This is where your permanent baking tools come into play as they can be substituted for specific ingredients. For example: if you have the Marble Pastry Slab card, you don’t need puff pastry and can complete the recipe without that ingredient card

After you have complete a recipe, you capture any customers that love the ingredients in your recipe. For example, if you complete Meringue which has fresh fruit, vanilla, and eggs in it, you take any customers that like those ingredients. Take the recipe card and the customer cards and place them face down in front of you. The ingredient cards are discarded to be shuffled back into the deck.