Pizza Theory

About this board game

Pizza Theory is a 15-minute board game for 2–3 players, built around topping placement, hidden number choices, and changing control of the pizza. Designed for exactly three players, it offers simple actions but unpredictable results as each cook follows their own idea of the perfect pie.

To begin, each player takes a wooden pizza cutter, a die, and matching topping counters, then places two toppings on the spaces marked with an X. During each round, players take turns placing one topping on the board. A newly placed topping cannot be adjacent to any other topping belonging to that player.

Next, everyone secretly selects a number from 1 to 6 on their die. The numbers are revealed, and each player lays their pizza cutter across the matching space. Together, the three cutters divide the board into slices, producing one of 216 possible outcomes.

• In each slice, the player with more toppings than both opponents replaces those opponents’ toppings with their own.
• If two players tie for the most toppings, the third player’s toppings are removed without being replaced.
• A three-way tie leaves the slice unchanged.

A player whose topping count in a slice is at most one cannot have those toppings removed or replaced during that round. The first player to place all 16 of their toppings on the board wins, making every placement and secret cutter choice important.

With two players, the third color remains in use, and players take turns placing those toppings. If all 16 toppings of the third color reach the board before either player completes their own set, both players lose. Pizza Theory combines straightforward turns with shifting, hard-to-predict results.