Chai: High Tea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Component List
• Ability Tearoom Boards
  • 1A. Masala Chai
  • 1B. British Afternoon Tea
  • 2A. Gongfu Tea Ceremony
  • 2B. Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony
  • 3A. Japanese "Way of Tea" Ceremony
  • 3B. Maghrebi Mint Tea
  • 4A. Yerba Mate
  • 4B. Horchata
  • 5A. Turkish Tea
  • 5B. Russian Samovar Tea
  • 6A. Tibetan Butter Tea
  • 6B. Kashmiri Pink Noon Chai
• Optional: Add Dice to any Game Mode
• Official FAQ & Extended Rules
  • Top-5 FAQ for Chai: High Tea
  • Component List
  • Chai: High Tea Extended Rules
    • General Notes
    • Ability Tearoom Boards
    • Adding High Tea Dice
      • Normal Rules
      • Solo / Chaiwala Co-Op / Solo Dice

Setup

Each tea merchant receives a random ability tearoom at the start of the game. Players can use the face up ability once on their turn and if used, the ability tearoom card is flipped over.

Component List

• 6x double-sided ability tearoom boards
• 1x pantry resource die
• 1x market resource die

Ability Tearoom Boards

1A. Masala Chai

Take a base tea token from another player's teahouse and add it to your own teahouse. This base tea token can be used to complete an order.

1B. British Afternoon Tea

Roll the market die, and take 2 flavour tiles of the faceup value shown on the die from the market bag.

2A. Gongfu Tea Ceremony

Pick any cup, and look inside at the base tea tokens. Take 1 and move it to a different cup (without looking inside that cup).

2B. Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony

When fulfiling a customer card at the end of your turn, you may choose a faceup tip token that has already been flipped over.

3A. Japanese "Way of Tea" Ceremony

Draw 2 customer cards from the customer deck. Reserve a customer to your teahouse, and place the other facedown on top of the customer deck.

3B. Maghrebi Mint Tea

Say which dice you want to roll (it can be both), and how many times. Pay a copper coin per die roll to the bank. Take the faceup value shown.

4A. Yerba Mate

Use another player's faceup ability shown on their ability tearoom. After use, flip over your tearoom, not theirs.

4B. Horchata

Shuffle the customer pool cards back into the customer deck and draw new ones. This ability tearoom can only be used at the start of your turn.

5A. Turkish Tea

Roll the market die. Swap 1-3 matching flavour tiles with a horizontally or vertically adjacent tile. The same tile may move multiple times.

5B. Russian Samovar Tea

Swap one of your reserved customers with a reserved tea customer in another player's teahouse. Pay that tea merchant a copper coin.

6A. Tibetan Butter Tea

Roll the pantry die, and take 1 token with the faceup value shown on the die from the pantry bag.

6B. Kashmiri Pink Noon Chai

Take a flavour tile from the market and add it to your teahouse. Replenish the tile you took with a tile drawn from the market bag.

Optional: Add Dice to any Game Mode

Increase the difficulty! Roll one or both (harder) dice at the start of your turn. The faceup values cannot be purchased in the pantry or market. You can also include the dice in the solo/co-op variants.

Official FAQ & Extended Rules

From the official "Chai: High Tea FAQ & Extended Rules", updated 10 December 2020. Text reproduced as printed.

Top-5 FAQ for Chai: High Tea

Q: How do I add High Tea to Chai? A: During setup, as an additional step, randomly deal out one expansion ability tearoom board to each player, A-side up. Return any unused ability tea rooms to the box.

Q: When can I use my ability tearoom board? A: You may use your ability tearoom board every turn. Once per turn, use the ability on the face-up side of the tearoom board. This can be done before or after your turn's main action ("Visit the Market," "Visit the Pantry," or "Reserve & Use Ability"), unless otherwise stated ("4B - Horchata" must be done at the start of the player's turn).

Q: What happens when I use my ability tearoom board? A: Complete the action on the face-up side of the ability tearoom board, then flip the ability tearoom board over.

Q: Can I play High Tea without the connoisseur variant? A: When playing with the expansion we encourage players to use the "Connoisseur" variant to increase difficulty, but if you choose not to, remove ability tearoom board 2A/B from the game during setup.

Q: Can I play High Tea with the other rulesets of Chai? The ability tearoom boards can be used in normal retail and deluxe modes, including solo play, but cannot be cannot be added to the Chaiwala Co-Op or Solo Dice modes. However, you may add the two expansion dice to any game mode, with more detail on pg. 5.

Component List

• Component totals in deck box:
  • 6 double-sided ability tearoom boards
  • 1 pantry resource die
  • 1 market resource die
• 1 Chai: High Tea rulebook
• 1 Cardboard insert

Chai: High Tea Extended Rules

General Notes

1. When all players are familiar with the ruleset, the expansion increases playtime from 10 mins/player to 15 mins/player.
2. If the owner has a deluxe Kickstarter edition copy, one of the two card wells is designed to hold the expansion deck box. The expansion rulebook may be tucked into the base game rulebook.
3. Players are encouraged to help each other be mindful of the new tearoom ability rules, and purchasing restrictions if using the expansion dice.
4. Playing with the expansion is a great way to become familiar with a new tea culture! Steep some delightful Kasmiri Pink Noon Chai or some Maghrebi Mint while perusing facts online.

Ability Tearoom Boards

• 1A - Masala Chai: Take one base tea token from any other player's teahouse and add it to your own. You now own this tea token, which can be used to fulfill an order of that colour for free. If another player wishes to use that tea token to fulfill an order of that colour, they must pay you one copper.
• 1B - British Afternoon Tea: Roll the market resource dice and take 2 of the shown flavour tile type from the market (flavour tile) bag. This is not a blind draw as the player may look into the bag. If the tiles are not in the bag, the player may take them from cups. Still, if none of that tile is available, the dice is rolled again for free.
• 2A - Gongfu Tea Ceremony: Pick any teacup and look inside at the base tea tokens inside the teacup. You must take one tea token of any colour from that teacup and place it into another teacup, without looking inside the new cup.
• 2B - Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony: During the turn this tearoom ability is used, when fulfilling an order the player may take an already revealed tip instead of revealing a new tip. Flavour tiles and pantry tokens are placed in the cup of the already revealed tip. Using this ability does make the round last longer, as it does not reveal a new tip, which is how the round progresses. Using this ability does not give two tips, as no new tip is revealed.
• 3A - Japanese Way of Tea Ceremony: Draw 2 customer cards from the customer deck. Choose one to reserve and place the other facedown on top of the customer deck. The reserved card is placed face down in the "Connoisseur" variant.
• 3B - Maghrebi Mint Tea: Declare how many times you wish to roll each resource dice. For each roll, pay one copper coin to the bank. Take the faceup tile or token shown on the dice from their respective bags, looking through the bag to find the item. You may roll as many times as you wish to pay for, including zero if you do not wish to one one dice at all. Declare and pay before stating to roll. If you would take more the maximum amount for flavour tiles or pantry tokens while rolling, immediately discard down to the maximum amount between rolls, but roll as many times as copper paid. If the tile/token is not in the bag, the player may take one from a cup, and if there still isn't any available then that ingredient cannot be claimed and the dice is rolled again for free.

Adding High Tea Dice

Normal Rules

1. At the start of your turn, before choosing an action, roll one or both of the resource dice. Whatever flavour tile/ pantry token shown may not be taken from the market board/pantry board this turn. Pick if you wish to roll one or both dice before rolling them.

Solo / Chaiwala Co-Op / Solo Dice

1. For human players in all 3 rulesets, the expansion dice function normally.
2. When playing with the chaiwala, the chaiwala does not roll the resource dice on their turn as they do not require resources to fulfill customer cards.
3. When playing with the solo dice, the AI player does not roll the resource dice on their turn to create restrictions, as all flavour tiles and pantry tokens they receive are considered wild.