Café
Café Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Objective
The game simulates the flow of the coffee beans (cubes).
Coffee beans (cubes) flow through four steps: A PRODUCE → B DRY → C ROAST → D DELIVER.
Players will spend action points producing coffee, drying it, roasting it and finally delivering it to coffee shops or storing it at their own personal warehouse.
Contents
4 INITIAL CARDS (each card divided into six square spaces)
- Coffee bean production square (action A)
- Action point square (the cup of coffee icon)
- Dry square (action B)
- Roast square (action C)
140 SMALL CUBES representing 4 different origins of coffee (35x each in yellow, brown, green and red)
4 BIG CUBES (white)
1 MASTER TOKEN
1 RULE BOOK
48 UNIQUE PLAN CARDS (each card divided into six square spaces)
- Ship square
- Empty square
- Action point square (cup of coffee)
- Coffee shop: can occupy one or two squares (action D)
4 COMPANY CARDS
- A table to help players track their action points (numbered 0 to 8).
- In the case of a lack of cubes, the x5 space serves to store cubes that, once placed here, will be equivalent to five cubes of that color in the warehouse.
Setup
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Place the small wooden cubes in 4 supply piles (yellow, brown, green, red) on the table, in reach of all players.
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Each player takes a Company Card and the associated Initial Card, which have matching backs. Each player places a white cube on the space with number 1 of the action points table.
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Each player takes one cube of each colour and places them below the matching coffee bean on the Company Card in an area known as the warehouse.
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Shuffle the Plan Cards and put the deck face down near the cubes piles.
- In a game with 3 players, remove from the deck the 8 cards with the star symbol on their back.
- In a game with 2 players, remove the 8 cards with a star symbol on their back plus another 8 cards chosen randomly (a total of 16).
- In a solo game, remove the 8 cards with a star symbol on their back plus another 16 cards chosen randomly (a total of 24).
Return the removed cards as well as the Initial and Company cards that will not be used to the box.
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The player who most recently had a cup of coffee will be the starting master and takes the master token.
Note: The solo game has the same rules of a 2-4 players game. Find a scoring scale in the Game End and Scoring section.
Note: Each player should place the Initial Card in front of them allowing space for cards to be placed in every direction from it. That area will be called the player's business area.
Game Round
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At the beginning of each round the master acts as follows:
- 1st: draws 3 Plan Cards from the deck and places them face up on the table;
- 2nd: in clockwise order instructs each player to take, or buy (see below) one Plan Card. The card is immediately replaced from the draw deck so that each player has 3 to choose from;
- 3rd: finally, chooses/buys one of the 3 cards and puts the 2 remaining cards onto the discard pile.
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Each player adds the chosen card to their business area (see CARD PLACEMENT).
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Each player performs between one (minimum) and eight (maximum) actions, (according to the number of visible cup of coffee icons in their business area) using the Company Card to track their moves (see GENERAL RULES).
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The round ends when all players have completed their actions. At this point the master passes the master token to the player on the left and a new round begins.
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The game is played over 8 rounds. The draw deck will be exhausted in the final round so tracking the number of rounds is done automatically.
BUY A PLAN CARD: if a card includes a cup icon then the player must pay one cube from their warehouse to take that card. If the card has no cup icon included the player takes it for free.
DISCOUNT: if the player already has 2 ships visible in their business area they do not pay for a Plan Card that includes a cup.
Note: If all available plan cards have a cup icon and the player does not have a cube in the warehouse to buy it or 2 ships in the business area, that player chooses one of the cards but does not add it to the business area (put it onto the discard pile). Then, the players perform the actions to which they are entitled, as usual.
Card Placement
Before performing any action, the players must add the chosen Plan Card to their business area. That placement has simple rules but it can make all the difference!
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All Plan Cards have six squares, even if two are combined to form a larger coffee shop.
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A new card must always cover 2, 3 or 4 visible squares of the business area (in the first round the business area is just the Initial Card).
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The new Plan Card must be placed on top of, not under, other cards.
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A new card may cover one or more cards. Squares already covered in previous rounds don't count as they are not visible.
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The new Plan Card may be rotated and placed in any direction.
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The new card may cover squares containing cubes, if so, the cubes are returned to the general supply.
Example 1 — Sequence of possible card placements: a) 2nd round: covering two squares. b) 3rd round: covering three squares. c) 4th round: covering four squares. d) 5th round: covering three squares.
Actions
The game has four possible action types, all performed in the business area of each player. To perform any action the players spend an action point.
Produce
The player takes one cube from the general supply and places it in a square with a bean icon of the matching color (A square). The square must be empty, no more than one cube per square it's allowed.
Example 2: Produce a yellow cube spending one action point.
If there is a cluster of orthogonally adjacent bean squares, with a single action point all squares in the cluster produce.
Example 3: Produce a yellow cube, a red cube and two brown cubes spending only one action point.
Dry
The player takes all the cubes of one color from one or more bean squares and joins them in a dry square (B square). The B square must be empty, it's not allowed to add cubes to a square already with cubes.
Example 4: Dry two brown cubes spending one action point.
If there is a cluster of orthogonally adjacent dry squares, with a single action point each square of the cluster dries one set of cubes of a color.
Example 5: Dry two brown cubes and one yellow cube spending one single action point.
Roast
The player takes all the cubes of one color from one or more dry squares and joins them on a roast square (C square). The C square must be empty, it's not allowed to add cubes to a square already with cubes.
Example 6: Roast three brown cubes spending one action point.
If there is a cluster of orthogonally adjacent roast squares, with a single action point each square of the cluster roasts one set of cubes of one color.
Example 7: Roast two yellow cubes and three green cubes spending one single action point.
Note: The red cube can also be roasted on a third roast square, but spending another action point.
Tip: remember that it is vital to have at least one B square and one C square, as the production works in a chain and without those spaces it will be impossible to execute actions B, C and even D, later.
Deliver
The players take all the cubes from all the roast squares they want to and deliver these either to one or more coffee shops in their business area (D space) or to their warehouse.
If a 2-square coffee shop is partially hidden it is NOT available to accept a delivery. Cubes placed on a coffee shop square remain there until the end of the game, unless the coffee shop is partially or totally hidden (in this case the cubes are removed to the supply piles). Cubes in the warehouse cannot be used to fulfil later coffee shop deliveries.
Example 8: Deliver one red and one yellow cube to a coffee shop and one yellow and three green cubes to the warehouse spending one single action point. In the warehouse were already a red cube, a yellow cube and two brown ones from previous rounds.
Each coffee shop card shows:
- The cubes that must be delivered to the shop (put the cubes on the coffee shop space).
- The victory points won at the end of the game if the coffee shop has been fully provided and is not partially hidden.
- The city and opening date of the coffee shop.
IMPORTANT: To avoid confusion players should always be aware of what type of action they are doing (A, B, C or D) and this is where the cluster effect applies. For example, if players are roasting (action C) they can optimize it if they have contiguous C squares. And notice that the same applies to action D, because the coffee shops are treated as if they are always contiguous between them and all of them contiguous with the warehouse (and that's why all cubes from C can be taken together).
General Rules
a) The number of visible cups in the business area after placing the Plan Card indicates how many action points players can spend in this round. But, at most, players will be able to perform 8 actions, even if they have 9 cup illustrations in the business area.
Note: On the Company Card players place the white cube at the number of available action points and, as they perform an action, they move the cube towards zero actions. Action points not spent are lost at the end of each round.
b) Players must always keep a cup visible in their business area (but keep in mind that the more visible cups, the more action points available).
c) A square can never hold cubes of more than one color at a time. This doesn't apply to coffee shops.
d) It's not allowed to add cubes to a square that already has cubes, even if they are all the same color. This doesn't apply to coffee shops.
e) A player can always clear cubes from a square by returning them to the supply piles. This does not count as spending an action point and can allow to immediately perform an action on the now cleaned space.
Note: In the first few rounds, it is advisable for each player to do the actions they are entitled to by showing others what they are doing. When players are used to taking actions, players may do so simultaneously.
Game End and Scoring
The game ends after all players have performed their actions of the 8th and final round. Players earn victory points for their fully supplied coffee shops and for the cubes stored in their warehouse as follows:
a) The colour with the fewest cubes earns 2 victory points per cube (0 if no cubes are stored).
b) The colour with the second fewest cubes earns 1 victory point per cube (0 if no cubes are stored).
c) Only two colours of cubes score, even if these 2, or more, have the same number of cubes.
The player with the most points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with more cubes on roast spaces. If the tie persists the player with the most cubes on dry spaces wins.
If a stubborn tie persists all tied players win and it is time for a cup of coffee!
Final Scoring of Coffee Shops
The fully supplied coffee shops (Tomar 1911 worth 4, Portalegre 1936 worth 3, Vila Real 1925 worth 2) grants to the player: 4+3+2 = 9 victory points. Coimbra coffee shop points are not counted because not all the demanded cubes have been delivered.
Final Scoring of Warehouse
Example 1 — Final set of cubes: yellow 4, brown (5+1=6), green (5+2=7), red (5+5+1=11).
Yellow is the color with the fewest cubes:
- 2vp x 4 cubes = 8 victory points.
Brown is the colour with the 2nd fewest cubes:
- 1vp x 6 cubes = 6 victory points.
In this example, the player would finish the game with 23 victory points (9+8+6).
Example 2 — Final set of cubes: yellow 0, brown 6, green 6, red 11.
Yellow is the color with the fewest cubes:
- 2vp x 0 cubes = 0 victory points.
Brown and green are equal with 2nd fewest cubes but only one of them can score:
- 1vp x 6 cubes = 6 victory points.
In this example the player would finish the game with 15 victory points (9+0+6).
Score Scale (solo game)
| Score | Rating |
|---|---|
| 0 to 14 | poor |
| 15 to 22 | average |
| 23 to 29 | good |
| 30 to 35 | very good |
| 36 to 40 | extraordinary |
| 41 and + | good luck with that! |
Advanced Variant
Experienced players can try this variant which adds an auction for the role of the master at the beginning of each round. The following changes are made to the rules.
Setup
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Remove from the deck the 8 cards with the star on the back, shuffle the Plan Cards and put the deck face down near the cube piles.
- With 3 players remove 8 more cards randomly (16 in total).
- With 2 players remove 16 more cards randomly (24 in total).
BUY A PLAN CARD: after the auction is closed, players pay no more cubes to take a card.
DISCOUNT: a player may use a ship to host a single cube used in an auction bid (even if the bid was more than one cube). The cube is placed on the ship square and remains there until the end of the game or until the ship is covered by a subsequent card. In either case, the cube returns to the warehouse and will be counted as any other cube to the final scoring.
Game Round
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At the beginning of each round the master draws, face up from the deck, a number of Plan Cards equal to the number of players plus one.
- 1a. Starting with the master and going clockwise each player can pass or bid to be the new master. If all players pass right away, the master will remain the same.
- 1b. The player's bid is made with cubes from their warehouses that are immediately lost to the general supply. If a player offers the same number of cubes or more than the player to their right, still in the auction, the player gets the master token.
- 1c. A bid must involve at least one cube; zero cubes means to pass. The players that pass cannot enter the auction again.
- 1d. The player with the master token at the end of the auction (when all players passed) is the new master.
- 1e. Starting with the new master and going clockwise each player chooses a card from the face up display of cards. There is no replacement of cards.
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The round ends when all players have completed their actions. At this point, the master removes the not chosen card and a new round begins.