Chocolatiers
Chocolatiers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 36 Box Tiles
- 51 Chocolate Cards
- 8 Score Tiles
- 15 Wild Chocolates
If you are missing any components, please email us at [email protected].
Game Setup
Shuffle the Chocolate cards and deal 3 Chocolate cards face-down to each player. These cards form the players' opening hands, which they keep secret from the other players.
Deal 6 Chocolate cards face-up to the center of the play area to form the Chocolate Tray. Set the rest of the cards face-down next to the Chocolate Tray. This is the Chocolate deck.
Give each player 3 Wild Chocolates. Place unused tokens back in the box.
Shuffle the Box tiles and create a face-down stack. Draw and place 5 Box tiles face-up in a row next to the stack. This is the Box tile line.
Arrange the Score tiles face-up above the Box tile line.
Gameplay
The player who last ate chocolate will go first. Play then proceeds clockwise. On your turn, you must choose and perform 2 actions from the following 4 actions:
- Take a Chocolate
- Box Chocolates
- Place a Wild Chocolate
- Reserve a Box Tile
You may take the same action twice in one turn.
At the end of your turn, you may only have 6 Chocolate cards in your hand. Discard excess Chocolate cards of your choice to the discard pile.
Take a Chocolate
This action has 2 options:
- Take 1 of the Chocolate cards from the Chocolate Tray and add it to your hand.
- -or- Discard 1 Chocolate card from your hand to the discard pile, then take 2 Chocolate cards from the Chocolate Tray and add them to your hand.
You may not take cards from the deck; they must come from the Chocolate Tray.
Refill the Chocolate Tray back to 6 cards from the deck. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to create a new Chocolate deck.
Box Chocolates
This action allows you to add a Box tile from the Box tile line or a Box tile you have previously reserved (see Reserve a Box Tile) to your Sampler.
Discard Chocolate cards from your hand to the discard pile matching each of the chocolates on a Box tile, then take the Box tile and place it in your Sampler.
Example: Kira wants a Box tile in the Box tile line that shows 2 Truffle and 2 Violet chocolates. She discards 2 Truffle and 2 Violet Chocolate cards from her hand to the discard pile, then takes the Box tile from the Box tile line and places it into her Sampler.
You may discard 2 matching Chocolate cards from your hand to substitute for any 1 chocolate shown on a Box tile. You may do this any number of times.
Example: David wants a Box tile that shows 1 Raspberry, 1 Blueberry, and 1 Nut Cluster chocolate. He discards 1 Raspberry and 1 Nut Cluster Chocolate card, but has no Blueberry Chocolate cards. Instead, he discards 2 Truffle Chocolate cards from his hand to substitute for the needed Blueberry Chocolate card. Then, he takes the Box tile from the Box tile line and places it into his Sampler.
Once you have discarded Chocolate cards to take a Box tile, you must immediately add that tile to your Sampler. Your Sampler is built out of the Box tiles you place in front of you. At the end of the game, each Box tile in your Sampler is worth the points noted in the center of the tile (inside the silver circle).
When you take your first Box tile, it simply goes face-up in front of you to start your Sampler. Each Box tile after the first must be placed adjacent to any other Box tile in your Sampler so that the full edges line up.
You may rotate Box Tiles as needed when placing them into your Sampler.
The chocolates on adjacent Box tiles do not need to match, but the largest group of each chocolate type will win a Score tile at the end of the game (see Awarding the Score Tiles).
Box tiles placed in your Sampler must be arranged as 3 tiles x 2 tiles, and your Sampler may be oriented horizontally or vertically. Once a Box tile is placed into your Sampler, it may not be moved or rotated in future turns.
Refill the line back to 5 Box tiles from the stack of Box tiles. If there are no Box tiles left in the stack, ignore this step.
Place a Wild Chocolate
This action will help you connect chocolates to possibly win Score tiles.
Place 1 of your Wild Chocolates on to any one of the 4 spaces of a Box tile in your Sampler.
A Wild Chocolate counts as all of the orthogonally adjacent (above, below, left, and right) chocolates next to it in your Sampler when Score tiles are awarded (see Awarding the Score Tiles). It is possible that a Wild Chocolate can count as multiple types of chocolate.
Wild Chocolates may be placed orthogonally adjacent to each other. When this occurs, each token will also count as whatever the other token(s) counts as.
You may cover up a chocolate in a Box Tile, but the Wild Chocolate does not count as the chocolate underneath it, only the chocolates orthogonally adjacent to it.
Once a Wild Chocolate has been added to your Sampler, it may not be moved in future turns.
You may not perform this action if you do not have a Box tile in your Sampler or if you have no Wild Chocolates available.
Example: [A] Kira wants to connect some Raspberry chocolates in her Sampler in order to win the Raspberry Score tile. [B] She takes 1 of her Wild Chocolate tokens and places it on her Sampler so that the Raspberry chocolates are now connected. [C] In a future action, she will place another Wild Chocolate token on the Truffle to connect the other Raspberry and connect her Mint. This gives her 5 Raspberry chocolates connected and 4 Mint chocolates connected.
Important: At the end of the game, each Wild Chocolate not placed in your Sampler or on a Reserved Box Tile (see Reserve a Box Tile) is worth 1 point during Final Scoring.
Reserve a Box Tile
This action allows you to reserve a Box tile from the Box tile line.
Take 1 of the 5 Box tiles from the Box tile line and place it in front of you. Then, place 1 of your Wild Chocolates on that Box tile in the center (over the points) as a reminder that this tile is not in your Sampler and will gain you no points at the end of the game.
The Wild Chocolate token on the Box tile is locked onto that tile until you are able to take a Box Chocolates action to add the tile to your Sampler. The Wild Chocolate token cannot be used in a Place a Wild Chocolate action and is not worth 1 point at the end of the game.
You may only have 1 reserved Box tile at any time. Only you may add this Box tile to your Sampler with a Box Chocolates action. You may not perform this action if you have no Wild Chocolate tokens.
Refill the line back to 5 Box tiles from the stack of Box tiles. If there are no Box tiles left in the stack, ignore this step.
Ending the Game
When a player places their 6th Box tile in their Sampler the end of the game is triggered. That player takes the "First" Score tile and finishes their turn. Then, every other player gets 1 more full turn.
After the final player (the player to the right of the player with the "First" Score tile) has taken their turn, move on to Awarding the Score Tiles and Final Scoring.
Awarding the Score Tiles
There is 1 Score tile for each of the 6 chocolate types. A Score tile is awarded to the player who has the largest number of connected (orthogonally adjacent) chocolates in their Sampler for each chocolate type. Remember: Include any Wild Chocolates when adding up your connected chocolates!
If there is a tie for the largest number of connected chocolates of a given type, then no player is awarded the Score tile. Flip that Score tile face-down.
There is 1 Score tile that is awarded to the player who has the most Box tiles that have point values of "3" and "4" in their Sampler. The Box tiles need not be adjacent to each other.
If there is a tie for most, then no player is awarded the Score tile. Flip that Score tile face-down.
Final Scoring
Add up the points shown in the center of each Box tile in your Sampler and any points on Score tiles awarded to you. Add 1 point for every Wild Chocolate token that was not placed in your Sampler or currently on a reserved Box tile. The player with the most points wins!
In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most Score tiles wins. If still tied, all tied players share the victory! Either way, everyone should go eat chocolate!
Example: In the final scoring example shown above, Kira was awarded 3 Score tiles. One for most connected Nut Cluster chocolates with 7, worth 5 points. One for most connected Mint chocolates with 5, worth 4 points. And one for most connected Violet chocolates with 3, worth 3 points. She also has 1 Wild Chocolate token that she did not place in her Sampler.
Kira's final score is 5 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 30 Box tile points = 43 points.
Quick Play Reference
Setup
Shuffle the Chocolate cards and deal 3 to each player. Deal 6 cards face-up to the center of the play area to form the Chocolate Tray and set the rest of the cards to the side as the Chocolate deck.
Give each player 3 Wild Chocolates.
Shuffle the Box tiles and create a face-down stack. Draw and place 5 Box tiles face-up in a row next to the stack to form the Box tile line.
Place the Score tiles face-up above the Box tile line.
Game Play
The player who last ate chocolate will go first. Play then proceeds clockwise. On your turn, you must choose and perform 2 actions from the following list of actions:
Take a Chocolate: Take 1 Chocolate card from the Tray -or- discard 1 of your Chocolate cards to take 2 Chocolate cards from the Tray. Refill the Display back up to 6 cards.
Box Chocolates: Discard Chocolate cards from your hand to the discard pile matching each of the chocolates on a Box tile (in the Box tile line or a previously reserved Box tile) of your choice, then take the Box tile and place it in your Sampler. You may discard 2 matching Chocolate cards to substitute for any 1 chocolate on the Box tile any number of times. Refill the Box tile line to 5.
Place a Wild Chocolate: Place 1 of your Wild Chocolates on to any one of the 4 spaces of a Box tile in your Sampler.
Reserve a Box Tile: Take 1 of the 5 Box tiles from the line and place it in front of you. Then, place 1 of your Wild Chocolates in the center on top of that Box tile (over the points).
You may take the same action twice in one turn.
At the end of your turn, you may only have 6 Chocolate cards in your hand. Discard excess Chocolate cards of your choice to the discard pile.
Ending the Game
The end of the game is triggered when a player places the 6th Box tile in their Sampler. They take the "First" Score tile and finish their turn. Then, every other player gets 1 more full turn. Award Score tiles before Final Scoring.
Awarding Score Tiles: Award each Score tile to the player who has the most of the depicted item. If tied, no player is awarded the Score tile.
Final Scoring
Add up points shown in the center of each Box tile in your Sampler and any points on Score tiles awarded to you. Add 1 point for every Wild Chocolate that was not placed in your Sampler or currently on a reserved Box tile.
Determining the Winner: The player with the most points wins! In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most Score tiles wins. If still tied, all tied players share the victory!