Cheers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Seating
• The Object of the Game
• Secret Recipe
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Offer a Drink (Play a Card)
  • Give Away a Drink (Move a Card)
  • Throw Up (Discard and Draw Again)
• Claim Victory
• Tie
• Alternatives
  • Master & Apprentice
  • Masquerade
  • Odd Number of Players
  • Duel Mode

Contents

• 50 Ingredient Cards (the big icon is the ingredient, and the small icon is what it can CHEERS with)
• 60 Recipe Tokens
• 12 Team Tokens (only used in Masquerade)
• 15 Recipe Cards
• 6 Recipe Stands

Seating

After teaming up, please follow the seating plans below, to ensure teams take turns fairly.

(Diagrams: 4 players; 6 players (2 teams); 6 players (3 teams). Each seat is marked with its team letter, A, B or C, and the seats of a team are arranged around the table as shown.)

• 4 players
• 6 players (2 teams)
• 6 players (3 teams)

For first-timers, we suggest playing the 4 or 6 players modes. If there are 3 or 5 players (or only 2 players), please learn the basic rules before jumping to the section of alternative modes.

The Object of the Game

Work with your teammate and fill your Shaker with the ingredients of your Secret Recipe!

Secret Recipe

Each team elects a leader to draw their Secret Recipe.

For first-timers, each team draws a set of Recipe Cards.

For veterans, please refer to the following instructions:

• Everyone takes 10 Recipe Tokens (2 for each kind) and 1 Recipe Stand.
• Leaders group their Recipe Tokens to Group A and B. There should be 2 kinds in Group A and 3 in Group B. For example:
  • (Example diagram: Group A shows 2 kinds of tokens, Group B shows 3 kinds of tokens.)
  • (It doesn't have to be exactly the same as the example above. It's okay as long as there are 2 kinds in Group A and 3 in Group B.)
• After grouping, shuffle Group A and B face-down respectively, and then draw 3 tokens from Group A and 2 from Group B. Set the 5 tokens (Secret Recipe) into your Recipe Stand.
• Finally, leaders help all their teammates copy their Secret Recipe, and put the unused tokens face-down back to the box.

Note

• Do not peek at your opponent's Secret Recipe. Do not let your opponent see your Secret Recipe.
• Please make sure your team has the same Secret Recipe.

Hint It is worth keeping in mind that there should be only 3 - 4 kinds of ingredients in the Secret Recipe, and each kind has no more than 2 units. Players could take it into consideration when making strategic plans.

Setup

• Shuffle the Ingredient Cards and deal 3 cards to each player as their starting hand.
• Form a deck with the remaining cards and place them in the center of the table.
• In front of their Secret Recipe, everyone clears a space as their Private Shaker.

(Diagram: Starting Hand; Private Shaker, where you collect Ingredient Cards; Secret Recipe or Recipe Card.)

Ingredient Cards

• The big icon is the ingredient, and the small icon is what it can CHEERS with.
• Put all the ingredients of the Secret Recipe into your (or your teammate's) shaker to win the game.

Shaker A Shaker's volume is 6, which means if there are more than 6 Ingredient Cards in a shaker, its owner should discard a card from the shaker, no matter if it's the owner's turn or not.

How to Play

The game starts from who drinks alcohol or soda lately (or who wins rock-paper-scissors), and everyone takes turn in clockwise order. In your turn, you can do 1 of the following actions:

• Offer a drink (Play a card)
• Give away a drink (Move a card)
• Throw up (Discard and draw again)

Offer a Drink (Play a Card)

Play a card from your hand to a target player's shaker (including your shaker), and draw a card from the deck. If it triggers CHEERS, the target player should react at once.

How do I trigger CHEERS? When the small icon of the card you play, matches the big icon of any card in the target player's shaker, CHEERS will be triggered. Please say "CHEERS!" to tell your target to give away the cards.

(Diagram: the card you play; the card in the shaker; CHEERS!)

I got CHEERSed! What should I do?

• Give away the CHEERSed cards to two other players (one of whom should be your opponent.)
• If there are 2 or more cards in your shaker that matches the CHEERS conditions, choose only one from them to give away with the card that triggered CHEERS.

Note The small icon is no longer effective once it's put inside a shaker. Therefore, cards that are given away (because of CHEERS) will NOT trigger CHEERS.

Give Away a Drink (Move a Card)

Give away a card from your shaker to other's shaker. This action will NEVER trigger CHEERS.

Throw Up (Discard and Draw Again)

Discard all cards from your hand face-down, and draw 3 cards from the deck to your hand.

Claim Victory

When the ingredients in your (or your teammate's) shaker match your Secret Recipe, you can reveal your Secret Recipe and claim victory, even if it's not your turn. It is okay to put a bit more of what you need to the shaker, but if there're ingredients that aren't listed in the Secret Recipe, the drink is spoiled, and you won't be able to win until you get rid of the unwanted ingredients.

(Diagram: "O K" shows a shaker whose cards all match the Secret Recipe. "N G" shows a shaker containing an ingredient that is not in the Secret Recipe.)

Note Please ignore the small icon when the card is in a shaker. In addition, if there are more than 6 cards in your shaker or if CHEERS conditions are met, please discard a card or give away the CHEERSed cards before you claim victory.

Tie

In a 6-player game, there is a tiny chance where the deck is drawn empty. You can call it a tie and restart the game, throw another cocktail conference!

Alternatives

There are four alternatives of this game. We suggest that players master the basic rules before trying the alternatives, which are much more complex. In the following section, we'll only introduce the parts that are new or different to the basic rules.

Master & Apprentice

Each team leader plays as the master of their team, and the rest plays as an apprentice. Only masters know the content of their Secret Recipe, and they can't give hints to their apprentice by telling or gestures. The apprentice should observe the master's moves (how they offer or give away a drink, how they react when they are CHEERSed, etc.) and help their master win. As long as there are enough ingredients in the master's or the apprentice's shaker, the master can claim victory, no matter whose turn it is.

Masquerade

In Masquerade, players won't be able to know who their teammates are after teaming up.

For 6 players, we suggest shuffling 2-3 groups of Recipe Cards and dealing 1 to each player.

For 4 players, apart from the Recipe Cards, you may also refer to the steps below to team up:

• Take 2 different Team Tokens and place them face-up in the table center.
• Take 10 Recipe Tokens (2 for each kind), stack the same kind and shuffle the stacks. Group the stacks into Group A and B (2 stacks for Group A and 3 for B), and shuffle the 2 groups respectively. Draw 3 tokens from Group A and 2 from B, place them face-down beside a Team Token, and then draw another Secret Recipe using the method above, place them face-down beside another Team Token. For example:
  • (Example diagram: one Team Token with its 5 face-down tokens, and the other Team Token with its face-down tokens.)
• Take another 4 Team Tokens, 2 for Team A and 2 for Team B (in the example above, take 2 cherries and 2 olives), shuffle them face-down and deal 1 to each player.
• Everyone takes 10 Recipe Tokens (2 for each kind) and 1 Recipe Stand.
• Everyone closes their eyes. The first player opens their eyes, looks at their Secret Recipe and makes a copy to their Recipe Stand, and leaves the extra Recipe Tokens face-down. After they finish copying their Recipe, close their eyes again and tap or call the player left to them, so the next player can start copying their own Secret Recipe.
• After everyone has copied their Secret Recipe, they can clear the table and start the game.

Odd Number of Players

For 3 or 5 players, please refer to below to learn how to team-up and take turns:

• 3 players: Team A: 1 player; Team B: 2 players. Turn order: A → B1 → A → B2 → ...
• 5 players: Team A: 1 player; Team B/C: 2 players. Turn order: A → B1 → C1 → A → B2 → C2 → ...
• 5 players: Team A: 2 players; Team B: 3 players. Turn order: A1 → B1 → A2 → B2 → A1 → B3 → ... / A2 → B1 → A1 → B2 → A2 → B3 → ...

Members of the team with less players can draw 4 cards during Setup, and if they choose to Throw up (discard and draw again) in their turns, they can draw 4 cards. Besides, the team has an extra Shaker which everyone can offer or give away a drink to. When CHEERS happens in the extra Shaker, the team members can discuss how to give away the CHEERSed cards. They can't, however, give away the cards from the extra Shaker without CHEERS those cards.

Duel Mode

In Duel mode, in addition to player's Private Shaker, there is also a Share Shaker. Anyone can offer or give away a drink to the Share Shaker. When CHEERS happens or there are more than 6 cards in the Share Shaker, the inactive player gets to decide how to give away the CHEERSed cards or choose a card to discard. When you fill your shaker (or the Share Shaker) with the ingredients of the Secret Recipe, you can claim victory. There's a teeny-tiny chance where both of you win at the same time. You may start another round, or celebrate the precious moment!