Abuela Co. Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Stoves, Burners, and Bonuses
• Pantry
• Game Objective
• Game Mechanics (Beginner Mode)
  • Actions
  • Cooking Examples
  • Errors in Cooking
• Card Elements
  • Water
• Interaction Cards
• End of Game
• Scoring
• Advanced Mode
  • Community Stove
  • Free Action
  • Exact Placement
  • Exact Drawing
• Con Más Sazón Mini Expansion
  • Recipe Deck Setup
  • Free Action
  • Community Stove
  • New Pantry Mechanic
  • Timer
  • End of the Game
  • Seasoned Stove (Enhanced Actions)

Components

147 cards:

• Basic ingredients (17, 13, 10, 10, 10 of the five types)
• Special ingredients (8, 3, 3, 3, 3)
• Interaction ingredients (2 of each of 5 types)
• Help cards (5)
• Stoves (Side A), Community stove
• Processed foods (5, 3, 3, 3, 5, 3, 2, 2)
• Recipes

Game Setup

Remove all the "Con más Sazón" expansion cards marked with the expansion label.

• Recipe Deck: Place the recipe cards of each color face-up in the center of the table. Only one side of each recipe is used.
• Processed Cards: Separate them by type and place them face-up.
• Pantry: Draw 6 ingredient cards and place them face-up in the center as the common pantry. (If there are 3 or more identical ingredients, shuffle and redraw.)
• Individual Stoves: Each player receives a stove at random and places it in front of them, using Side A.
• Starting Hand: Deal 6 ingredient cards to each player.

Stoves, Burners, and Bonuses

Each stove has 4 burners for managing ingredients and processed foods. The stove color represents a grandmother specializing in certain dishes, granting +2 extra points for each recipe cooked that matches the stove's color. However, all recipes are available to any grandmother.

Pantry

The pantry always contains 6 available ingredients. If there are 3 or more identical cards, you must discard them (up to 3) and replace them immediately. Repeat this as necessary. All interaction cards are considered the same type.

Game Objective

Cook recipes and process ingredients to accumulate victory points and become the best cook.

Game Mechanics (Beginner Mode)

Key Rule: Each player may have a maximum of 6 cards in their hand at any time.

On their turn, each player must perform 2 complete actions. They may repeat the same action twice if desired. The available actions are:

Actions

• Placing Cards: Place up to 3 ingredient or processed cards on the burners of your stove, another player's stove, or the community stove.
  • Only one type of basic ingredient per burner.
  • Special ingredients and processed foods (with points) can be placed on any occupied or empty burner.
• Drawing Cards: Draw up to 3 cards from the ingredient deck.
• Taking from the Pantry: Select one card from the pantry and add it to your hand.
• Exchanging with the Pantry: Exchange 2 ingredients from your hand for 2 ingredients from the pantry.
• Removing Cards from Burners: Take one card from a burner on your stove (or the community stove if in play) and add it to your hand or discard it.
• Lighting the Stove: Cook the ingredients on your four burners, turning them into processed foods or recipes. You may choose what to cook and what to leave for future turns.
  • To cook, you must have the exact ingredients or processed foods on the same burner.
  • Cooked ingredients are discarded, and processed foods return to their pile.
  • Cooked processed foods go to your hand.
  • Completed recipes go to your play area.

Cooking Examples

Player A uses the "Light the Stove" action and cooks the following: 3 rice grains => Cooked Rice (goes to hand). 2 cows => Milk (goes to hand). Meat, potato, and flour => Empanada (goes to play area).

All cards with a score (positive or negative) are the only ones that can be placed in any occupied or unoccupied stove.

Errors in Cooking

• A single type of basic ingredient cannot occupy two different burners.
• Different types of basic ingredients cannot be placed on the same burner.

Card Elements

Ingredient, Processed and Recipe cards show: an icon, points, the number of cards in the game (ingredients), and for processed foods and recipes the quantity of food needed for cooking.

Water

Water is a special ingredient that copies any basic ingredient in the same burner. However, for water to work, there must be at least one basic ingredient on the burner.

Example: If you have 1 corn and 2 water on a burner, water copies corn, counting as 3 corn to cook flour.

Interaction Cards

These cards are considered ingredients and allow different effects on yourself or other players. To use them, place them on the stove of the player you wish to affect. During your turn, you may play one or multiple interaction cards, but only one interaction card per player may be active per turn. Interaction cards only affect ingredients (never processed foods). Once their effect is applied, they are discarded. The affected player can always choose which cards to discard or affect.

• Open Salt Shaker: Affected player must discard 2 ingredients from their hand.
• Cup of Coffee: Affected player cannot cook or place cards on their stove for one turn but may perform other actions.
• High Heat: Affected player must discard 2 ingredients from their stove.
• Sugar Cup: Affected player must give you 2 ingredients from their hand.
• Calentado: Affected player must take 2 ingredients from the discard pile. They may not take another "calentado" card.

An interaction card's effect may not apply or apply partially if game conditions prevent it.

End of Game

• 3-4 players: The game ends when a player obtains 3 recipes. The current round finishes, and one final round is played.
• 2 players: The game ends when a player obtains 4 recipes. The current round finishes, and one final round is played.

Scoring

• Recipes: Points from cooked recipes.
• Bonuses: +2 points for each recipe matching your stove color.
• Processed Foods and Special Ingredients: Points from these cards in your hand, stove, or play area.

Tiebreaker: Most cooked recipes wins. If still tied, the player with more negative points wins.

Advanced Mode

This mode increases strategy and introduces new mechanics while keeping all basic rules.

Community Stove

A communal stove is introduced that all players can use. The ingredients and processed foods placed on this stove are available for any player to use in their preparations.

During your turn, the communal stove functions as if it were your own stove. However, you can only cook on one stove at a time (either yours or the communal one) per action.

Free Action

At the beginning of your turn, you may discard an ingredient of your choice from the pantry and immediately replace it with a new card from the ingredient deck.

Exact Placement

You must place exactly 3 cards on the burners of any stove (your own or the communal one) when performing this action.

Exact Drawing

You must draw exactly 3 cards from the ingredient deck when performing this action.

Con Más Sazón Mini Expansion

To play Abuela Co. with an extra touch of flavor, add the cards from the "Con más Sazón" mini expansion during game setup, marked with the expansion label, and follow the basic rules with the following modifications:

Recipe Deck Setup

Select 3 random recipes of each color and place them face up in the center of the table, including the gray and purple cards. Return the 4 remaining recipes to the box.

For the first few games, we recommend including all the expansion recipes.

Free Action

At the start of your turn, you may discard an ingredient of your choice from the pantry and immediately replace it.

Community Stove

The community stove will be in play for both beginner and advanced versions.

New Pantry Mechanic

If the pantry contains 3 or more ingredients of the same type, they must be immediately moved to a burner on the community stove (maximum of 3). This process repeats every time the condition is met.

If the community stove already contains ingredients of the same type, the new ingredients are placed on the same burner.

Cooking on the Community Stove: Only one burner may be used per turn when performing the "Turn on the Stove" action.

If there is no available space on the community stove, the ingredients that should be placed there are discarded.

Timer

Some cards contain the timer symbol, meaning:

• Once placed on a burner, that card cannot be cooked in the same turn.
• It must wait a full round before using the "Turn on the Stove" action.
• During this time, no other cards may be added to the burner where it is placed.

End of the Game

The game ends when a player has a total of 8 or more food items.

Food items: Processed foods or special ingredients that are part of a recipe.

When this condition is met, the current round is completed, and one final round is played before the final scoring. The player with the most points wins.

Seasoned Stove (Enhanced Actions)

Each stove has a Side B, which allows enhanced actions that improve regular turn actions. Once an enhanced action is used, the stove is flipped back to Side A. Enhanced actions become available again whenever any grandmother cooks a recipe.

• Place Cards: Place up to 6 cards on your stove burners.
• Draw Cards: Draw up to 6 cards from the ingredient deck.
• Take from Pantry: Select 2 cards from the pantry and add them to your hand.
• Trade with Pantry: Exchange up to 4 ingredients from your hand for 4 ingredients from the pantry.
• Remove or Move Cards from Burners: Move 1 card from a burner on your stove to another burner. You may also remove up to 2 cards from your stove and either add them to your hand or discard them.
• Turn on the Stove: Cook the ingredients in all four burners of your stove and immediately place a processed food on the burner where you cooked it.