Macaron Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Components
• Setup - Game
• Setup - Round
• Round and Tricks
  • Playing a Trick
  • Winning the Trick
  • End of Trick
• End of Round
• Game End and Winning

Goal

Macaron is a pastry-themed trick-taking card game for one to five players. In it, players are bakers in medieval France trying to become the most favored royal baker to the king and his family. In the game, players will receive victory points at the end of each round, based on the number of boxes prepared. The game ends at the end of a round when a player has accumulated 10 or more victory points. The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, players share the victory.

Components

• Group board x 4. There are four groups. Group A has almond and pistachio, Group B has strawberry and blueberry, Group C has green tea and Earl Grey, and Group D has just one flavor: chocolate.
• Score board x 1 (Standard and Advanced)
• Macaron cards x 52. There are seven flavors. Six of them have cards from 1 to 7, and only chocolate has cards from 1 to 10.
• Voting token x 12
• Start player marker x 1
• Royal marker x 1
• Allergen marker x 1
• Score token x 5
• Box token x 5
• Betting token x 5
• Rulebook x 1

Macaron is a 1 to 5 player game. Please use the instructions that follow your player count. For example, [3P] is specific for a three-player game. [3P+] is for three or more players. [2V2] is for a four-player partnership game. [4P+] includes 4-player, 2V2, and 5-player games.

Setup - Game

1. Place group boards in the middle of the table.
   • [Solo, 2P, 3P Games] Use group A, B and C boards. Flip group C board to the side with two flavors in a three or more player game.
   • [4P+] Add group board D to the game.
2. Place the score board next to the group boards. Use the standard side if players intend to play up to 10 or 20 points. Use the advanced side to play up to 10, 20 or 30 points with the advanced gift box track.
3. Prepare macaron cards and remove unused cards from the game.
   • [Solo, 2P] Use almond, pistachio, strawberry, blueberry and green tea flavors.
   • [3P] Add Earl Grey to the above five flavors.
   • [4P+] Use all seven flavors.
4. Players choose a color and take the score token, box token and betting token of that color.
   • [2V2] The players sitting across from each other are on the same team. This version is for advanced players who have played Macaron several times.
   • a. All players place their score tokens on the zero space on the score track. [2V2] Each team chooses one token for scoring.
   • b. All players place their box tokens on the zero space of the gift box track.
   • c. All players place their betting tokens to the side.
5. Voting tokens
   • [Solo, 2P, 3P] Remove voting tokens from the game.
   • [4P, 2V2] Place all 12 voting tokens to the side of the play area.
   • [5P] Remove two "3" voting tokens from the game and place the remaining 10 voting tokens to the side of the play area.

Remove unused components from the game.

Setup - Round

Each game is played over several rounds. Use the following instructions to set up a new round:

1. Starting Hand Cards. Shuffle all macaron cards face down and deal the indicated number of cards to each player.

   • [Solo] Deal 13 cards to the human player. Form a draw deck with remaining cards.
   • [2P, 3P, 4P, 2V2] Deal 13 cards to each player.
   • [5P] Deal 10 cards to each player. When playing with expansions, evenly distribute cards to all players.

2. Pass/Discard Cards

   • [Solo] Discard one or two hand cards, then draw that many cards from the draw deck.
   • [2P+] Each player passes two cards, face down, to the player to their left in the first round and then to the right on the second round. Continue to alternate every round.

3. [Solo] Emma's Hand Cards. In the solo game, you are playing with an opponent, named Emma. Emma's hand is organized into five macaron flavors that correspond to the flavors in the solo game.

   • From the draw deck, RANDOMLY deal one card face down to each of the five flavors. The random card in the flavor is counted as a card of that flavor, regardless of the flavor printed on the card. Its number and ability remain the same.
   • From the draw deck, deal eight cards to Emma, into the FLAVOR SHOWN ON EACH CARD then turn them face down.
   • Shuffle the cards in each flavor face-down.

4. Royal and Allergen markers.

   • Royal. In Macaron, "Royal" is what is commonly called "trump" in trick-taking games. Once a Royal group is decided, place the Royal marker on the group board.
     • [Solo] In Emma's hand, the group that has the most cards is the Royal group. In case of a tie, the group to the left wins the tie. For example, in Emma's hand, Group A has six cards (2 Almond and 4 Pistachio), Group B has six cards (3 Strawberry and 3 Blueberry), and Group C has 1 card (1 Chocolate). Group A and B are tied for the most cards, but Group A is to the left of Group B, and wins the tie. Group A is the Royal group for the round, thus both Almond and Pistachio are the Royal flavors.

Round and Tricks

The start player leads the first trick. After that, the player who wins the trick will lead the next trick. The round continues until 13 tricks are played, or a player receives 8 or more gift boxes.

Playing a Trick

• The lead player can play any card in their hand. In clockwise order, other players MUST play a card following the leading flavor (suit). After all players have played a card, the trick ends. The highest number card in the leading flavor wins the trick.
• If players cannot follow the lead, they can play any card in a different flavor.
  • If the leading flavor is non-Royal:
    • Play a non-Royal card in a different flavor. This is a dead card - it cannot win the trick.
    • Play ANY Royal card (even a number lower than the lead card). This wins the trick. If more than one Royal card is played, the highest-numbered Royal card wins the trick. In case of a tie in the highest value of the Royal cards played, the one played first wins the trick.
  • If the leading flavor is Royal:
    • Play any other card in a different flavor (Royal or non-Royal). This is a dead card.

[Solo] Emma is your AI opponent in the solo game.

• Emma is playing from her five flavor piles. The random card dealt to each flavor pile is treated as the same flavor as the pile.
• Emma has a set of instructions to determine which card to play. See the solo player aid on the right. For example:
  • When Emma leads, if the leading flavor of the last trick is an Allergen, Emma will play a card from non-Royal flavor. If there is more than one option, play from the left-most flavor.
  • When Emma follows, she plays a card that follows the leading flavor. If she cannot follow and the lead is a Royal, she will play a card from the Allergen flavor. If she doesn't have an Allergen card, she will play a card from a non-Royal flavor.
• When there are multiple flavors to select from, Emma always plays from the left-most eligible flavor. For example, Emma is leading and she is going to play a card from a non-Royal and non-Allergen flavor. Since group B is the Royal group and Allergen is Almond, she will play a card from Pistachio, a non-royal and non-Allergen flavor in group A.
• In any case where both players play the same number of the same flavor, the one who played first wins the trick.

Winning the Trick

The player who wins the trick gains one gift box and leads the next trick. If the trick is won with a "1" card, the winner gains three boxes instead of one. The player moves their box token on the gift box track.

If a trick has one or more Allergens, the winning player continues to lead the next trick but does not gain any boxes.

• An Allergen does not affect the winning of a trick. It only prevents the winning player from gaining gift boxes.
• If a trick has one or more "2" cards (even a "2" in the Allergen flavor), the Allergen is negated, and the trick is allergy-free. The player who wins the trick will receive boxes as normal.

End of Trick

1. Check for the end-of-round condition.
2. Move the trick to the side face down. No one can look at the tricks that have been played.

End of Round

After 13 tricks are played, or when a player receives 8 or more boxes, the round ends.

1. Using the gift box track, players receive victory points as indicated next to the gift box token.
   • a. [2v2] Team members combine their score on the same score token.
2. Bet. For players who placed their betting token, if their betting token is in the same row as their meeple (on the gift box track) at the end of the round, they receive two additional victory points. Otherwise, they lose one victory point.
   • a. When using the advanced side, if their betting token is in the same column as their meeple (on the gift box track) at the end of the round, they receive victory points based on the + number at the bottom. If they lose, they use the - number at the bottom to deduct from their score.
   • b. [Solo] If you miss your bet, you will not lose any points, but Emma will receive 2 additional points.
3. Check for the end-game condition.
   • a. If the game does not end, begin a new round. [2P+] Pass the start player marker to the player to the left of the current start player.

Game End and Winning

When one or more player/team has achieved the end-game condition (10/20/30 or more victory points) at the end of a round, the game ends. The player with the most points wins the game. In the case of a tie, players share the victory.