Cookies Battle
Cookies Battle Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 54 cards: 36 numbered cookie-suit cards and 18 cards without a suit
- 36 pieces of cookie
- 6 help cards
- 18 magic markers
Card Overview
The cards are divided as follows:
- 36 cards with values ranging from 1 to 12 in 3 different suits, represented by different background colors (blue, green and red);
- 18 cards without a suit:
- 12 gold trump cards, ranging in value from 1 to 12, represented by a differentiated gold background;
- 3 special gray cards with a value of 0;
- 2 special gray cards with a value of 13;
- 1 gray Magician special card without number.
Setup
- Shuffle all the cards and deal out the following amount according to the number of players in the game (any remaining cards are left out of the round):
| Players | Cards dealt |
|---|---|
| 2 players | See the duel mode at the end of the manual |
| 3 players | 12 cards for each player |
| 4 players | 12 cards for each player |
| 5 players | 9 cards for each player |
| 6 players | 8 cards for each player |
- Each player must deal 1 card from their hand to the player on their left and another 1 card from their hand to the player on their right.
- Shuffle the 36 pieces of cookies face down. Also shuffle the 18 magic markers. Leave both piles in the center of the table, but clearly separated from each other.
Game Overview
Cookie Battle is a card game played in several turns over 3 rounds.
One player starts the turn by playing a card, then the other players, clockwise, play a card each. Whoever plays the strongest card of the turn is the winner for the moment and must take the disputed piece of cookie for themselves. The round ends when the last card in all players' hands is played.
After 3 rounds, the match is over, but whoever has accumulated the most victory points with their cookie pieces has a big tummy ache and loses! That's because, in fact, the real winner is the one who has the second highest score. After all, we can't be too greedy!
How to Play
These are the steps that take place in one turn:
I. Reveal the piece of cookie in dispute II. Play 1 card from hand III. Determine the winner
I. Reveal the Piece of Cookie in Dispute
The starting player is the youngest player. He must then reveal to everyone at the table the piece of cookie that will be played for. This is the only time a piece of cookie is face up during the game.
II. Play 1 Card From Hand
The player in turn must choose a card from their hand and play it face up on the table in front of them. The suit (color) of this card will be the "turn suit". Each player must play a card clockwise in the suit of the turn, i.e. the same color as the first card played this turn, but the following situations may change this rule:
a) If a player has no cards of the same suit as the turn in their hand, they can play any card of a different suit, or a special card, or a trump card.
b) If a player has a special card in their hand, they can decide to play it on a turn, even if they have cards of the same suit as the turn.
c) If a player starts a turn with a card that has no suit (trumps or special cards), the suit of the current turn will be the suit of the first card suit (color) played in that sequence.
III. Determining the Winner
After each player has played a card, the winner of the turn is usually the player who played the highest value card in the suit of the turn. However, various situations can change this result:
- Golden trump cards - if any of these cards were played this turn, the player who played the highest value golden trump card wins the turn;
- Card 0 - no suit - always wins when it has any 12 on the table (but loses if 13 is on the table) and blocks the power of cards 2 to 5;
- Card 13 - any card and suit always wins. If both 13 cards appear on the table in the same turn, the first to play the 13 card is considered the winner of the turn;
More details on some of the letters:
- Card 1 - has no power, but is effective in ending other players' plans to use cards 2 to 5;
- Cards 2 to 5 - if you've played one of these cards and it's the lowest card of the round, you can take a magic marker (see a more detailed explanation of them on page 6);
- Magician's Card - this card always loses, because magicians don't care about winning things, but it ensures that the player who played it gets a magic marker.
Once the result of the turn has been determined, the winner takes the disputed piece of cookie and keeps it with them.
Important: The cookie pieces lie face down in front of each player and do not have to be assembled. At the end of the game, everyone will have a chance to assemble their cookie pieces in the best possible way. However, during the game players can always look at their cookie pieces in secret, without letting the other players see them.
Magic Markers
Like any competition between children, they will try to use whatever they have to get what they want. Magic markers can be used to give a little help, or even to hinder the opponent. Players obtain magic markers in two different ways:
- Playing a Magician card;
- Playing a 2, 3, 4 or 5 card (they have a magic marker indication) and ensuring that this is the lowest value card that turn.
Magic markers can be used at any time during the game, on a player's turn, before or after they play their card, or on another player's turn.
Each unused magic marker by the end of the game is worth 2 victory points.
Effects of Magic Markers
- Choose a player. You can randomly take a piece of their cookie.
- Choose a player and randomly select the card they will play the next time they have to play a card. This means that, in some cases, the card played may not follow the suit of the turn; this is the only occasion when this is allowed in the game.
- Choose a player. You and your chosen player must exchange 1 cookie piece with each other. If one of the players involved in the exchange does not have a piece of cookie, this magic token cannot be used.
- Each player takes a piece of cookie at random of the player on their right.
- Each player takes a piece of cookie at random of the player on their left.
- Cancels the effect of the magic token just played by another player.
Once used, the magic markers are discarded and remain out of play until the end of the match.
Starting a New Turn
Once the disputed piece of cookie has been redeemed by the winning player of the turn, a new turn begins. Then, all the cards played are grouped together and left in front of the player who won the turn, as a reminder of the victory. The winner of the previous turn then reveals another piece of cookie, which will be the piece in dispute for the turn, and then chooses another card from their hand and throws it on the table, starting a new turn. The players continue until no one has any cards left in their hand, which indicates the end of the round.
Starting a New Round
Shuffle all the cards in the deck and deal them out again among the players, repeating the actions indicated in steps 1 and 2 of the Setup.
The first player in the next round is the player with the fewest cookie pieces. In the event of a tie, the first player will be the one closest, clockwise, to the first player from the previous round.
Example of a Round
Dante starts his turn by revealing a piece of strawberry cookie, which is very valuable! Dante wants to win this piece of cookie, so he plays a blue 10 card. Gael, who is the next player, must follow the color of the card, but since he doesn't have a blue card higher than 10 to win the trick, he decides to play a blue 3 card, hoping that it will be the lowest card of the turn, to at least win a magic marker. Maya looks at her hand and realizes that she doesn't have any blue cards, so she decides to play a gold 5. Since gold cards are the trump card and beat any normal colored cards, Maya celebrates by taking the piece of strawberry cookie for herself. Gael picks up a magic marker and discovers that it's a theft token, so he keeps it with him to use at an opportune moment.
Now Maya starts the new turn, revealing the piece of cookie of the moment and... oh-oh! It's a rotten piece of cookie! Since no one wants to take that piece, Maya decides to play a green 2 card. Dante only has one green card in his hand, which is card 8. He wouldn't like to play this card, but unfortunately he has no option. Gael also only has one green card in his hand, but it's the 10. As he doesn't want to take the piece of rotten cookie, he decides to play a special card, the Magician card, which has no number and lets him take another magic marker. Dante then wins this trick and takes the piece of rotten cookie, while Gael takes a (defense) magic marker. Gael wants to take advantage and use his theft magic marker, received on the previous turn, and decides to use it against Maya. With his eyes closed, he grabs one of Maya's pieces of cookie and, he's hit the jackpot, because he's managed to steal just the piece of strawberry cookie!
This time, Dante starts the next turn. He reveals the next piece of cookie, which this time is a piece of traditional cookie. Dante plays a red 12 to secure some points. However, Gael, even though he has red cards in his hand, decides to play the 0 card (the Gecko wins the 12, because it's the animal that the brave volleyball player is most afraid of). For her part, Maya is determined to win the cookie piece of the turn and therefore plays a 13 card, which is the most powerful card in the game, after all, everyone loses to a cute kitten. Maya then gets the traditional piece of cookie and they continue playing.
End of Game and Scoring
At the end of the third round, all players turn their cookies face up and have one last chance to assemble them as they think is best. When everyone has assembled their cookies, the players count up their points as follows:
| Piece | Points | Whole cookie | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional cookie piece | 1 | Traditional cookie | 6 |
| Sprinkle cookie piece | 2 | Sprinkle cookie | 10 |
| Strawberry cookie piece | 4 | Strawberry cookie | 20 (see note on next page) |
| Rotten cookie piece | 0 | Cannot be assembled | - |
| Unused magic marker | 2 | - | - |
Transcriber's note: the values above are the point figures printed on the scoring illustration on page 11, with the piece and whole-cookie names matched to the scoring example on page 13. The illustration itself has no text labels, so the pairing of each value with a piece type is taken from that example.
Important Scoring Rules
Important: To score as a complete cookie, all the pieces must be of the same type. If this is not possible, these pieces will be worth the amount of points individually, as indicated above.
* Rotten cookie pieces cannot be used to assemble a whole cookie, after all, no one likes to eat a cookie with rotten pieces! What's more, for every piece of rotten cookie, you must sacrifice a piece of a cookie you have of another type (that isn't rotten), in other words, rotten cookies spoil good cookies!
After the count, whoever has the most points gets a huge tummy ache and doesn't win the match! After all, children eating too many cookies is something that never ends well. So, the player with the second highest score is the big winner of the Cookie Battle! In the event of a tie, the player with the most cookie pieces wins. If it's still a tie, then the player with the fewest pieces of rotten cookie wins. If the tie persists, the winners share the prize, because the best cookies are those shared with friends!
Example of Scoring
Maria has managed to put together a complete traditional cookie, with all the pieces. She gets 6 points for it.
She also has 1 piece of sprinkle cookie, 2 pieces of strawberry cookie and 1 piece of traditional cookie. So she puts these 4 pieces together and makes a cookie. She gets 2 points for the sprinkle cookie piece, 8 points for the 2 strawberry pieces and 1 point for the traditional cookie piece, for a total of 11 points for this cookie.
Adding up her two cookies, Maria's final score is 17 points.
Simplified Version for Beginners
For the first few games with people who are not used to card games or with young children, we suggest considering the following changes:
- Remove the condition that the first-placed player loses at the end of the match, as the concept of controlling your score so that you are not the player with the most points can be counterintuitive or complex for younger or inexperienced players. In that case, whoever has the highest score wins.
- Remove the special cards from the deck, i.e. 0/13/Magician.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When two cards compete for a magic marker and tie with the same value, the card with the least power wins (a card not in the suit of the trick is weaker than one in the suit, which is weaker than a trump card);
- If the tie persists between low cards, both players get a magic marker each;
- The Magician card does not prevent another player from winning a magic marker if they play a card from 2 to 5 in the same trick, being the one of lowest value.
Duel Version (for 2 Players)
To play a duel version of direct combat for two players, consider the following changes:
Setup:
- Remove one of the common suits (colors) from the game.
- The 1/6/8/10/12 cards of the other suits will be used, so remove the rest and return them to the game box.
- Special cards with a value of 0 and 13 will be used. The rest must be returned to the game box.
- Magic markers won't be used in this version either.
- Shuffle the cards in play and deal 10 cards to each player each round. Each player chooses 1 card from their hand and gives it to their opponent.
How to play:
Follow the rules as explained in the conventional version of the game for 3 rounds.
End of match and Scoring:
At the end of the third round, the players count their cookies and whoever has the highest score wins the match.