'Yakuza Kiwami 2' Cabaret Club Grand Prix Guide: Platinum Hostesses, Hand Symbols and More

The Dragon of Dojima returns in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and the latest entry in the Sega franchise delivers a fresh spate of minigames to distract Kiryu from taking on his new rival, Ryuji Goda. Among the best of them is Cabaret Club Grand Prix, a revamped version of Yakuza 0's compulsively playable timesink. If you've found yourself in the weeds wrangling moody customers or just need a refresher, this guide will cover all the basics of running the club, managing staff and helping your Platinum Hostesses look their flyest.

Hostess basics and essential info

• Hostesses are ranked in four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Higher-ranked women have higher earning potential and stamina. As you advance in the league, you'll come to primarily rely on Platinums and Golds, but you'll need those Bronze and Silver gals while Four Shine is on the rise.
• You'll see five different colored bars beneath each woman's photo. The first is HP, which indicates how quickly a hostess will tire and how many clients she can deal with on a shift. The other four bars are traits: Talk (blue), Party (orange), Love (pink) and Skill (green). Each of these are linked to a client preference and will diminish during a shift, just like HP.
• Customer moods range from Angry (dark blue frown) to Happy (pink smile). Moods are influenced by choice of hostess and level of service (your responses to requests and trouble).
• Each hostess is ranked in four looks-based categories (Sexy, Elegant, Cute and Funny). C-rank is the lowest, and S-rank is the highest. Clients will have a preference in this category as well.
• You can send out a maximum of eight hostesses per round. (One league will limit you to six for story reasons.) Even though there's only six tables, it's worth assigning one or two spares to suit varying tastes.
• Don't worry about salary when choosing hostesses. Even early on, it's a drop in the bucket compared to profits.
• Let a hostess have the night off if her mood falls to green or worse. Women with moods of orange or pink will be less likely to become exhausted or argue with clients.
• Regular hostesses max out at level 30. Platinums can go to level 40.
• Several women will join Four Shine via substories. Don't judge a book by it's cover; the unlikeliest candidates can turn out to be some of your powerhouses!

Competition essentials, tips and pointers

• Guests come in five categories: Poor, Average, Rich, Tycoon and Request. More affluent clients are tougher to please, and will demand a closer match in terms of the hostess's personality and appearance. (Sometimes a perfect match is only enough to eke a green mood out of a Tycoon!) Poor and Average customers will be content without an exact match.
• Demanding and unhappy customers will diminish HP more quickly.
• Occasionally, at the end of a round, the Oil Baron will show up in your club. Mash Square for ten seconds for the chance to earn a large bonus on your total earnings. Bonus earnings are fixed, scaled to the difficulty of the league. Whether you're able to earn the bonus will depend largely on your team's trait points.
• Give your best girls a night off before challenging for the league title. Once you've cleared the first league take your Platinums and Golds off Tonight's Shift, and do a Fresh League match with your benchwarmers.
• You can, and should, switch girls between tables when necessary to keep clients happy. You won't lose money for doing so.

Fever mode: Let the good times roll!

• During a match, always keep an eye on the Fever Gauge. Press R1 when the first bar is filled to send one or two tables into Fever Mode, which sees clients spend a lot more money and restores hostess HP. The second bar will send four tables into fever mode, and (you guessed it) the third bar triggers all six. Usually it's not worth waiting for it to fill all the way, just wait for the first bar.
• If you do wait for all three gauges of the bar to fill, you'll see a special cutscene and all the tables will go into Fever Mode.
• If you have one or more tables with moody or unhappy customers, triggering Fever Mode can sometimes kick them up to Happy (pink smile) mood.
• During title matches, your opponents can use Fever Mode to clear several of your tables at once. You can't really avoid these setbacks, so don't let them fluster you.
• Switching hostesses between tables will NOT automatically end Fever Mode.

Spreading the word about Four Shine

• You can find Partner Shops scattered throughout Sotenbori as you navigate the city (indicated by a black Cabaret Club GP minigame icon). Purchasing these will bring more patrons to Four Shine and allow you to rise to the top of a league more quickly.
• Investing in Partner Shops will also earn EXP and Completion Bonuses. However, it's completely possible to rise through the ranks without investing in these at all.
• You can recruit hostesses directly from the Scouting section minigame menu, though recruiting becomes more expensive each time, and sometimes no one turns up.

Help, please! Hostess hand symbols deciphered

When 'Help Please!' pops up, press Triangle over that table to begin Personal Service. You'll see one of six hand symbols, but you'll only ever have to choose between four options. If you don't choose an option after a certain amount of time passes, it will automatically count as an incorrect choice.

A correct choice can restore a small amount of hostess HP, boost the guest's spend and/or improve mood by one level (if it's not already maxed out at pink). Choosing a wrong answer will cause you to miss out on those little bonuses, but won't have a negative impact otherwise.

• Making a circle with both hands — Refill ashtray.
• Circle with one hand — Ladies' glass.
• L-shape with thumb and pointer finger — Guest glass.
• Twisting both hands — Towel.
• Upside-down hang-loose / shaka sign / putting a lid on a pot — Refill ice bucket.
• Tip both hands open flat like a book — Menu.

Check, please! Wrapping up the client experience

After each customer's time runs out, you'll see one of two sets of options. Each consists of four choices. Here's what each does.

Ready for a check (Option 1)

• Give expensive gift—Spend 50,000 to earn more fans and improve guest mood.
• Gracious send off—Earn a few extra fans from word of mouth.
• Give girl a reward—Spend 30,000 to restore lots of HP for the hostess.
• Praise girl—Restore small amount of hostess HP.

Ready for a check (Option 2)

• Extend session?—Add time, can trigger fever mode. Only works with pink or orange mood.
• Give gift—Spend 50,000 to earn more fans and improve mood.
• Thank you very much—Improve guest mood and gain a few extra fans.
• Our apologies—Improve guest mood; use if mood is green, blue or dark blue.

In challenge matches where you're competing for earnings, stick to Praise girl or Gracious send off to avoid cutting into your profits. Of course, if one of your best hostesses has low HP and there's time to send her to another table, spending 30K to give her a reward is worth the expense. Also, always ask for the extension, unless the guest's mood is poor.

Trouble! How to handle cranky clients

If you've got any tables with a light or dark blue mood for an extended period of time, you'll likely have to defuse a tense situation. As with "Help, Please!," you'll see an assortment of four choices pulled from a pool of options. Press Triangle above the table to get a closer look. A correct response will improve the guest's mood and restore some HP. Guessing incorrectly reduced the hostess's HP and the customer will immediately depart.

"Sir, at this establishment..."

• No noise pollution—Man dancing around drunk, raising a bottle.
• No touching—Man seated, lunging toward hostess with hands out.
• No harassment—Man seated, berating woman looking at her lap.
• No photos—Man points flip phone at woman, who has arms crossed.
• No projecting—Always wrong.
• No dancing—Always wrong.
• No refills—Always wrong.
• No scouting—Always wrong.

Platinum styling tips: Helping hostesses look their best

• It should be possible to get S-rank in three out of four categories for each hostess.
• Focus on hairstyle and dress first. The combination of those two alone should get you two S-rank traits. Then use accessories like jewelry, glasses and nails to get that elusive third.
• Putting together the right combination to get as many S-rank traits as possible doesn't always make good fashion sense. Sometimes you'll need to pair a long hairstyle with big earrings, or sunglasses with a tiara. Worry more about the stats than what the outfit actually looks like.

Date Time! Getting to know your Platinum Hostesses

• As you advance through each league, more Platinum Hostesses will join the staff of Four Shine. Periodically, you'll see pink icons above each woman around the room. Start a conversation to take them out on a date and get to know them better. (They can be rather long, but try to pay attention.)
• You'll have to answer five questions, with the potential to earn a major EXP boost. Even if you don't nail Kiryu's dialogue, you'll still see a decent lift in their hostess level.
• You do not need to see all the dates, or any of them, to reach Max level with a Platinum.

Who's your best Four Shine hostess? Have any tips we didn't cover here? Let us know in the comments!