Basically it’s a big franchised buffet restaurant that’s notorious for all the reasons big American restaurants usually are.
A few years ago, my friends and I devised a way to gamify Golden Corral:
Every player is tasked with creating a dish for another player. That will be their dinner for the evening. A player can refuse a dish, and then that dish is passed down the line to the next player. This can be done one by one, player wish, or you can do your dish all together. It’s more fun if you do one by one though, so you can watch the player’s reaction to the presented meal.
You have to make something crazy, but not necessarily gross… The way you lose is if you make something so disgusting that the other players refuse to eat it. If every player at the table refuses to eat your concoction, then you MUST eat it yourself. The best dishes are ones that are refused a couple of times, but then a player tries it.
That happened with a spaghetti concoction that had a nice glob of ranch hidden in the center.
Or French Toast with Catalina dressing…
And there you go. That’s how you gamify Golden Corral.
I can’t believe this piece is almost five years old. I still distinctly remember reading it when it was first written and feeling both intrigued and mildly ill.
Guess What I Want
One player writes down exactly what they want from the buffet. Other players go up to the buffet and try to get the right dish. Winner gets a point. If nobody gets it right, the winner is the most delicious option.
The Hard Sell
Put together the most delicious platter you can and try to trade it with someone else at your table. If they agree to trade, you get a point.
What’s Missing
Everyone puts together a full plate and then shuts their eyes. Nominated player then removes something from one of the plates. Whoever figures out what is missing first wins.