Head Waiter

Head Waiter is a duel minigame found in Mario Party 5.

Gameplay
Players take turns tossing a Mini-Bowser bomb, similar to the bomb in Bowser's Bigger Blast, back and forth amongst themselves.

The timer on the bomb starts at nine; players may count down either one or two numbers in an effort to avoid being the one to decrease the counter to zero. The player who does so causes the bomb to explode in their character's hands, which results their opponent to cover their ears while the bomb explodes. Then the minigame announcer will alert the player that a winner is announced. If they don't dock a number within the time limit of five seconds, then it will give out the same result as mentioned above.

Once the timer reaches below five, the numbers displayed change to question marks. At this point, the only way to tell whether the player's opponent has docked one or two numbers off the counter is to listen for the specific sound each option makes. When the timer hits X, the bomb explodes and the minigame ends. When the Bowser Head explodes, the character holding it will fly to the game screen, which tilts because of the "impact", thus breaking the fourth wall.

On extremely rare occasions, the game may briefly reveal the current number on the bomb, or even reset the bomb counter.

Controls

 * – Decrease Counter by 1
 * – Decrease Counter by 2

In-game text

 * Rules – "Pass the Mini-Bowser bomb back and forth until it explodes. Try not to be the one holding it when it goes off."
 * Advice – "The counter eventually disappears, and this is where the strategy begins!"