Candy Time
Candy Time Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 56 candy cards. Each card shows halves of 4 candies or cookies, with each half turned toward the edge of the card.
- Plain lollipops come in strawberry, mint, lemon, or marshmallow flavour. Their halves are symmetrical.
- The special candy (the so-called Christmas cane) is not symmetrical; its two halves differ from each other. It is harder to join, but it can earn more points than the other candies.
- The cookie is symmetrical and has a surprise: the player may take an extra turn.
- 6 preference tokens (used in the advanced variant)
- 16 candy tokens worth 2 points each
- 1 rulebook
Goal
The players' goal is to score as many points as possible. Each plain candy is worth 1 point to the player who makes it; the special candy (Christmas cane) is worth 2 points.
In other words, a player must make at least one candy during their turn. The halves of other candies may also match.
Example: The player lays a card down. As a result of this action, they make a strawberry candy.
Setup
- Place all candy cards face down on the table.
- Now separate 26 random cards and arrange them according to the picture.
- Turn these cards face up so that all players can see the pictures. Place the remaining cards in a pile beside this template (all face down). These cards form the draw pile.
- Each player takes 3 cards from the pile and looks at their pictures, without showing them to the other players.
Now you are ready to play.
Drawing Lots
Find out who most recently ate a candy with anise or cinnamon flavour. As a reward for courage, this person starts the game. Play then passes clockwise.
How to Play
During each turn, a player places one of their cards on the table. The card can form a whole candy (or candies), or a cookie, together with one or more cards already on the table. It is not at all necessary for the pictures on every card you attach to match.
Receiving a Reward
After the player has placed their card, it remains on the table, and the player takes the card to which they just attached their own card, in order to complete the candy. If you formed one candy, take 1 card. Each card is worth 1 point and must be set aside separately.
Example 1: The player placed a card on the table so that a strawberry candy was formed; the other symbols do not match. They take 1 card.
Example 2: The player placed a card and as a result formed 3 candies: strawberry, mint, and lemon. They take 3 cards from the table.
Won cards are not used in the game. They must be set aside separately so they are not confused with the cards the players play with. At the end of the game, each player uses them to count their earned points.
Attention
During a turn, it may happen that a player does not win any card. This occurs when:
- The player has no cards.
- The player has cards, but none of them can be used to form a pair.
End of the Turn
At the end of the turn, the player must draw cards from the pile so that they always have 3 cards in hand (as long as cards remain in the pile). The next player then joins the game.
Christmas Cane
There is one candy made of two asymmetrical parts. When a player succeeds in forming it, they receive a special token that is worth 2 points in the final count.
The Christmas cane consists of two different parts (the upper and the lower).
Cookie
Forming a cookie brings the player a prize: an extra turn. The player may play one more card from their hand. Before the extra turn, the player does not draw a new card from the pile. However, first the card to which the cookie was attached must be taken, and only then is the next card added.
A cookie can also be formed during an extra turn, in which case the player earns the right to a second extra turn. In total, a player may take only two extra turns in one turn.
End of the Game
The game ends when all players have either played out their cards, or there is no card left that the players can attach to the cards on the table.
When the game ends, the cards each player has won are converted into points. Each won card gives 1 point, and candy tokens give 2 points each. Cards that could not be attached each give the player 1 point.
If there is a tie, the player who collected more cards (candy tokens are not added to the total) is the winner. If that does not settle it, the players share the victory.
Variant for Experienced Players
For experienced players we offer the following variant. We especially recommend it to all players who already have experience with more complex games, and to those for whom the basic variant seems not very demanding.
The course of play is similar to the basic variant, but differs in some details.
- The most important change is the scoring system. Players play and win cards as in the basic variant. But won cards are no longer set aside. At the end of the turn, the player begins to build the Candy Wall.
- After winning a card, the player lays it in front of themselves. Subsequent cards are attached one after another to the first. The symbols on the won cards must match the symbols on your wall (so that they can be added immediately).
Example 1: The player won two cards in their turn. At this moment there is only one card on their wall. Now the player attaches the two won cards with matching symbols so as to form candies.
Example 2: In the next round, the player won two cards. They add them to their wall so that all the symbols on the attached cards match.
Example of an incorrect move: You cannot place a card in this way, because not all the symbols on adjacent cards form pairs.
- Cookie and Christmas cane: In this version, if you added one of these two cards to the table, you may not take its half for yourself. The card you added, which together with it forms a whole treat, remains on the table (you do NOT take the card for yourself, as you do when you form a regular candy). The other cards won during this turn are taken by the player. As in the basic variant, forming a cookie allows playing an extra card, and the Christmas cane provides the special token.
Example: The player placed a cookie card on the table. They cannot take the cookie card to which they attached their half of the cookie. But they can take the lemon candy card and gain the right to an extra turn.
Scoring
Players receive 1 point for each candy they have been able to collect on their wall (including Christmas canes and cookies). The special candy token for the Christmas cane gives 2 points.
During the game, players also compete to have the most candies of a certain type (for example, mint or strawberry). After a player places a card on their wall, they check whether they are now the one who has made the most candies of that type. If so, they take the token with the corresponding symbol and place it in front of themselves.
This means that at that moment they have taken the lead in the rivalry.
If during the game another player forms more candies of this type on their wall, the preference token must be given to the new leader. In case of a tie, the token stays with the player who first obtained it. To take a token, you must collect more candies of a certain type than the player who currently holds it. At the end of the game, each such token gives its holder 2 points.
Example: Tymofii has two mint candies on his wall. Hanna until now had only one mint candy, but during her turn she formed another one. She managed to get the same number of mint candies as Tymofii. The preference token remains with Tymofii for now. On the next turn, Tymofii did not form any mint candy, while Hanna succeeded in forming a third. So she takes the preference token from Tymofii and places it beside her own wall.
Final scoring example: The player formed eight treats on their wall. They also hold the preference tokens for the most lemon candies and cookies, and one Christmas cane candy token (8+2+2+2). Their final result is 14 points.