Burger Slam
Burger Slam Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 topping cards with 4 toppings (cheese, patty, tomato, and lettuce) in different combinations
- 16 special cards (pro variant only)
- 1 plate mat (wooden)
- 1 burger bun
Setup
Shuffle the 60 topping cards and deal them evenly to all players. Don't look at your cards, just place them as your personal deck face down in front of you. Place the plate mat in the middle of the table and put the burger bun next to it within easy reach of all players.
Playing the Game
The last player to have eaten a burger goes first. On their turn, they reveal the top card of their deck and place it on the plate in the middle of the table to start the burger.
How to reveal a card: To minimize your own advantage, always reveal the card facing away from you. The faster you reveal your card, the sooner you'll see for yourself what's on it.
Then the next player in a clockwise direction goes and reveals a card. Place every card on the burger so it covers the card before it as much as possible and only the top card is visible.
Keep playing until one player thinks that either:
- a Standard Burger is done ... A Standard Burger is done when there are at least 2 of each topping in the pile on the plate.
- ... or a Big Burger is done. A Big Burger is done when the same topping appears at least 7 times in the pile in the middle of the table. Which of the 4 toppings occurs 7 times doesn't matter, and neither does how often the other toppings occur.
Example: Freddy reveals his top card and places it on the plate. There are 2 cheese on the card. This is the start of the burger. Next, Maggie reveals her card, which shows 1 tomato, 1 lettuce, and 1 cheese. With this card, she covers Freddy's card. Then Wendy reveals a card – 1 tomato, 1 patty. Next, it's Freddy's turn again and he reveals a card with 1 patty and 1 lettuce.
Note: The yellow and red sauce symbols on the topping cards are only relevant for the pro variant. In the base game, simply ignore them.
If you think that either a Standard Burger or a Big Burger is done, grab the burger bun from the middle of the table as quickly as you can. Put it on the pile of cards to top off the burger and call out the type of burger you think is done – either a "Standard Burger!" or a "Big Burger!"
Example: After Freddy has placed his card, Maggie quickly grabs the burger bun and puts it down on the cards, topping off the burger and shouting: "Standard Burger!"
Everyone else now has two options: They can believe you or doubt you:
- If everyone else believes you, take all the cards from the middle of the table and place them under your card deck, face down. Don't check if you were right.
- If one or more of the other players don't believe you and want to doubt you, they must say so as quickly as possible. Only the quickest player to declare their doubts counts as the person who has doubted you.
Doubting and Checking a Burger
If you've been doubted by another player, check the cards in the burger. Take the pile without changing the order of the cards, turn it over, and start revealing the cards in the order in which they were played on the pile. Place them in a row from left to right, face up, and count the pictured toppings together.
- If your call was right and the burger contains all the required toppings, take all the cards from the burger and place them under your card deck, face down. In addition, the player who doubted you wrongly must give you the top 2 cards from their deck as a penalty. These also go under your deck, face down.
- If your call was wrong, the other player was right to doubt you. In this case, they get all the cards from the burger and place them under their card deck, face down. In addition, you must give them the top 2 cards from your own deck as a penalty.
- Note: If you don't have enough cards left in your deck, give them as many as you can as your penalty.
Example: Wendy isn't quite sure anymore how many toppings there are in the burger, so she decides to doubt Maggie's call. The cards in the burger are revealed one by one: There are a total of 3 cheese, 2 lettuce, 2 tomatoes, and 2 patties. Since there are at least 2 of each topping type in the burger, Maggie's call was correct, and the Standard Burger was indeed done correctly. Maggie takes all the cards from the middle of the table and places them under her deck. In addition, she gets the top 2 cards from Wendy's deck.
Once a burger has been done – correctly or incorrectly – the round ends. Place the burger bun back in the middle of the table. The player who took cards from the middle starts off the next burger by revealing their next card. Continue playing as described above.
The End of the Game
Keep playing until one player runs out of cards in their deck. This player can keep playing until the current burger is done, possibly grabbing the burger bun or doubting another player's call. When they would have to play a card on their turn, simply skip them.
If a player doesn't have any cards left when the burger is done, the game ends. This can also occur when someone must give away cards as a penalty. In this case, the game ends too.
Count the cards in your card decks. The player with the most cards wins the game! If two or more players have the same number of cards, they share the victory.
For even longer playing fun, play several games of Burger Slam and note down the number of cards you each have left after each game. The player with the highest total after several games wins.
Note: You can also use the backs of the 16 special cards as burger counters. Place all the special cards in a deck to the side, face down. After each burger is done, take the top special card and place it next to the deck, still face down. Whether the burger was done correctly or incorrectly doesn't matter. Using this method limits the game to 16 burgers. If a player runs out of cards before the final burger, the game ends earlier. If you all make it to the 16th burger or if the game ends early, the player with the most cards in their deck at the end wins the game. If two or more players have the same number of cards, they all share the victory.
Pro Variant
Have you already played several games of Burger Slam and feel like you've got the diner sorted? Here's the next challenge for you: the Pro Variant.
Pro Variant Setup
Before the game, shuffle the 16 special cards (2 cards with a gold star and 14 cards with a silver star) and put them next to the play area in a face-down deck. Leave space for 3 cards next to the deck.
Pro Variant Rules
The base game rules remain in effect, but here are some additional rules:
At the start of each round, reveal the top card of the special card deck and place it next to the deck. While a special card is face up, it changes or expands the base game rules.
- If it's a silver star card, place it directly next to the deck. If there is already a silver star card there, cover it with the new card. The effect on the covered card is no longer active.
- If the card shows a gold star, place it next to the space for the silver star cards on the right. If there's already a gold star card there, don't cover it but put the new card to its right. Card effects on gold star cards stay active for the rest of the game.
Gold Star Cards
Chili Ketchup
While this card is visible, all red sauce symbols on the topping cards are active. When you reveal a card showing a red sauce symbol while the Chili Ketchup Card is active, your card adds chili ketchup to the burger. This sauce is so hot that it "covers" the flavor of the card directly underneath it. The card directly underneath doesn't count anymore.
Hint: When you check a burger, reveal the cards in the order they were played on the pile, as usual. Make sure you don't change the order of the cards! Then flip over any cards that come immediately before cards with a red sauce symbol, going left to right. This makes counting the toppings on your burger much easier.
Example: Maggie reveals the cards in the burger in the correct order. Then she checks the cards left to right. As there's red sauce on the next card, she turns over the card with 3 patties. The 3 patties pictured on this card no longer count towards the burger. With the cards that are left, a Big Burger would not be done correctly.
Note: If a red sauce card makes you turn over another red sauce card whose effect you've already dealt with, don't reverse that effect!
Burger Sauce
While this card is visible, all yellow sauce symbols on the topping cards are active. When you reveal a card showing a yellow sauce symbol while the Burger Sauce Card is active, the card adds burger sauce to your burger. This sauce is so yummy that it "strengthens" the taste of the next card. All toppings on the card directly following this one count double.
Hint: When you check a burger, make sure you reveal the cards in the order you've played them. Then move all cards that come directly after a card with the yellow sauce symbol slightly up, going left to right. This makes counting the toppings on your burger much easier.
Example: Wendy reveals the cards in the burger. As the yellow sauce makes the toppings on the next card count double, Wendy pushes the card up a little. The 3 patties shown on the card now count as 6 patties. With these cards, a Big Burger would be done correctly.
Note: Sauces are not doubled. If a card with yellow sauce follows a card with yellow sauce, double the toppings on the second card, but not the sauce. However, the sauce on the second card still doubles the ingredients on the following card.
Example: Freddy, Maggie, and Wendy have played these cards in the burger and check them from left to right.
If both sauces are visible, both sauces are active at the same time.
Note: When checking a burger in this case, activate the red sauces first, then the yellow sauces.
If the card following a yellow sauce has been flipped over, that card's toppings are not doubled: don't push it up. A yellow sauce card that's been flipped over doesn't double the next card, either.
Example: Freddy, Maggie and Wendy have played these cards in the burger. In this round, both sauces are active. Checking the cards from left to right yields the following result.
Silver Star Cards
The Golden Spatula
A VIP visits your diner. This person finds correct orders especially important. While the Golden Spatula is active, you'll have to pay 4 penalty cards instead of 2.
Extra Topping
While an Extra Topping card is active, the topping shown is already on the burger at the start, so a Standard Burger can be done when there's only 1 topping of this type (and 2 of every other type) in the pile, while a Big Burger would be done with only 6 toppings of this type.
Burnt Topping
While a Burnt Topping card is active, the topping shown counts as burnt once in the burger, so a Standard Burger requires at least 3 toppings of this kind (as well as at least 2 of every other type) and a Big Burger with this topping is only done with 8 toppings of this type.
Wild Topping
This topping can be any topping that you want to add to your burger. When you top off the burger, you must declare which topping you want it to be.
Example: These cards are on the burger. Freddy tops off the burger: "Standard Burger!" and also declares that he wants to use the wild topping as a patty. With this extra patty, there are at least 2 toppings of each type in this burger, so he has made the right call. If he had picked a different topping for the wild one, the burger would not be done correctly.
Kid's Menu
While the Kid's Menu card is active, you can also call out a Kid's Menu order in addition to the usual Standard or Big Burger. A Kid's Menu burger is done when there are at least 2 of any 3 toppings on the burger and one topping is completely missing from it at that moment. Grab the burger bun, as usual, and call out "Kid's Menu!" when topping off the burger.
Example: Freddy, Maggie, and Wendy have played the following cards in the burger. As there are no tomatoes on the burger, but all other toppings are present at least twice, Maggie tops off the burger: "Kid's Menu!"
Note: If a topping is turned over because of the red sauce, it doesn't count as being present in the burger. You can still have a Kid's Menu burger that's done at this point.
Big Combo
While the Big Combo card is active, you can only do Big Burgers. If at any point a Standard Burger would be done, you can't top it off. If a player tops off a Standard Burger, doubting them is automatically correct.
Standard Combo
While the Standard Combo card is active, you can only do Standard Burgers. If at any point a Big Burger would be done, you can't top it off. If a player tops off a Big Burger, doubting them is automatically correct.