Carroll County Cake Swap Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Ingredients
• Setup
• Game Play
  • Taking a Card
  • Card Placement
  • Clearing Your Platter (Submitting Your Cake)
• Class Requirements
• Action Cards
• Winning

Overview

Stack cake layers from largest to smallest, bottom to top. The size of each layer is indicated by the number of pieces of fruit on top (1-5).

Score points for ribbons based on the number of layers, cake flavors (chocolate or vanilla), and frosting flavors (strawberry, orange, banana, kiwi, blueberry, wild).

The first to 31 points wins! (Varies for 5 and 6 player games. See "Winning.")

Ingredients

• layer cards (60)
• character cards (6)
• action cards (18)
• ribbon cards (18)
• reference cards (6)
• judging stands (6)

Setup

1. Shuffle the layer cards and place them face down in a stack in the center of the table.
2. Lay out the judging stands in numerical order. Match each class of ribbon to the judging stand with the same name. Place white ribbons on the left, red in the middle, and blue on the right of the stand.
3. Everyone selects a character card.
4. Give everyone 1 Swap, 1 Swipe, and 1 Squeeze card. Place these below your character card.
5. Everyone draws a layer card from the top of the deck to see who goes first. The player whose card has the biggest layers of cake (both sides combined) goes first. If there is a tie for first, redraw until the tie is broken.
6. Place the cards you just drew face up close to the center of the table, spread out so that all can see and reach them. These are your drafting cards.

Game Play

On your turn:

• Take a card and place it on your platter or on the table
• Clear your platter (optional)
• Use action card(s) (optional)

You may do these in any order. You must complete one action before beginning the next. (You cannot take a card, clear your platter, and then place that card on your platter.) Once you have finished your turn, play continues with the person to your left.

The game ends as soon as someone reaches the required number of points (see "Winning") or at the end of the person's turn who takes the last card from the draw pile.

Taking a Card

Either draw a layer card from the draw pile, or take one from the table (face up drafting cards) that someone has already drawn and passed. If you draw a card you do not want to play, pass it, placing it in the center of the table so it is visible to all (do not stack these cards). You may have any number of passed cards in this drafting area.

Example: Player 1 draws a card from the pile and plays it on her platter. Player 2 draws a card from the pile but doesn't want to play it, so he passes it, placing it in the drafting area in the middle of the table. Player 3 may choose to draw a card from the pile, or draft the card that Player 2 passed, etc.

Card Placement

When playing a card to your platter, obey the following rules:

• Bottom-Up Rule: Cards must be placed from bottom (largest) to top (smallest). (Exception – see Squeeze action).
• Size Rule: Any layer that you play on your platter must be smaller than the layers below it (taking into account only the layers on the bottom edges of the card, not those upside down). You may skip sizes (e.g., go from a 5 to a 3). You may not have two layers of the same size.
• Rotation: When you place a layer on your cake, you may choose the orientation of the card (i.e., rotate it), as long as you obey the other rules. You may not rotate a layer that has already been placed on your cake.

Clearing Your Platter (Submitting Your Cake)

At any point during your turn, you may clear the cake from your platter. If your cake has at least 3 layers, you may submit it for judging and take the appropriate ribbon. The color of ribbon you get is determined by the number of layers in your cake:

• 3 layers = white
• 4 layers = red
• 5 layers = blue

The number on the ribbon indicates how many points it is worth. (The rulebook does not print a point table; the value of each ribbon is shown on its ribbon card artwork. The rulebook's own example shows a blue Showcase ribbon worth 15.)

Once you have submitted your cake, remove it from your stand, and place the cards in a stack face down on top of the judging stand. Take the appropriate ribbon and place it in front of you. Each ribbon can only be won by one player.

You may choose to clear your platter and not take a ribbon. This may happen if another player takes the ribbon you were attempting to win and there are no ribbons remaining that your cake qualifies for. Or, you can use it to adjust your strategy. Place your cake layers back in the box. They may not be reused.

The following section explains the requirements for each class.

Note: White frosting with mixed fruits is wild and may be declared as any of the frosting flavors when you submit your cake. Only the frosting type is wild, not the cake flavor (chocolate or vanilla).

Class Requirements

The class requirement pages carry no printed heading; the class names below are the printed ribbon classes.

Honorable: any combination of cake types and frosting flavors. Attributes: minimum of 3 layers.

Premium: each frosting flavor must be different (or wild). If two or more layers with wild frosting are used, each one can be used as a different flavor. Cake type doesn't matter.

Prestigious: all cake types must be the same (all chocolate or all vanilla). Frosting flavor doesn't matter.

Gold Standard: all frosting flavors must be the same (or wild). Wild can be used multiple times. Cake type doesn't matter.

Signature: all cake types must be the same, and all frosting flavors must be different (or wild). Wild can be used multiple times.

Showcase: all cake types must be the same, and all frosting flavors must be the same (or wild). Wild can be used multiple times.

Action Cards

Each player gets 1 Squeeze, 1 Swipe, and 1 Swap card to start the game. On your turn, you may use one or more of these action cards to break the normal rules. When you use a card, flip it over. It may not be used again for the rest of the game.

• Squeeze: Place a wider layer beneath already placed layers on your platter. Example: Player 1 started with a 4 layer, but now sees a 5 layer she can use. She drafts the card from the table, and uses her Squeeze card to slide the 5 under the 4, moving the other layers up.
• Swipe: Allows you to take a card from the top of another player's cake. You may do this before or after you draw or draft your normal card. The layer taken must be placed on your cake immediately. When swiping, you may rotate the card and use either side as long as you follow the other placement rules.
• Swap: Trade a layer of your cake with a layer you drew or a layer from the drafting area (or from another player's cake if used with Swipe), obeying the placement rules. Place the layer you removed from your cake back in the drafting area. You must swap this card with the top layer of your cake, unless you also use the Squeeze action.

You may use multiple action cards in the same turn in combination.

Example: you may swipe a card from the top of another player's cake, squeeze it into the center of your cake, and swap out an existing layer in the same spot.

Winning

The game ends as soon as someone reaches the required number of points (see table below). If the last card is taken from the draw pile and no one has the required point total, the game ends at the end of that player's turn. The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the ribbon worth the most points wins.

Players	Points to Win
2	31
3	31
4	31
5	25
6	21