Rules

How to play 531

Two players. Three moves. One table. The rules take a minute and end most dinner debates for good.

Set the place and time

Enter a city and choose an area. In Lisbon that is one of 24 districts. Set the day, the time and any diet rule. 531 maps every restaurant around you that fits.

5 · Player one picks five

Player one picks five cuisines from the twenty most mapped near you. Five is enough to be generous and few enough to mean something.

3 · Player two keeps three

Player two cuts the five to three. This is the veto, used once and in full view.

1 · Player one picks one

Player one picks the final cuisine from the three that survived. Both players have now shaped the outcome.

★ 531 commits you to a table

531 draws one restaurant of that cuisine whose mapped hours fit your time, and shows it. If it turns out to be closed, you get one redraw. Then you go.

Why it works

Open choice paralyses. Alternating, limited turns do not. It is the same logic as a draft in sport or a coin toss before a match: a fair procedure ends the argument faster than better information.

Questions

Can one person play alone?

Yes. Play both turns yourself. The constraint still helps.

Can we play on two phones?

Yes. With a free account you can link one other person and take turns on your own devices.

Who owns 531?

531™ is owned by SYF Consulting LLC.

Find Peace