Maki Master Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Gameplay
Action Cards
- Gaining Them
- Playing Them
Endgame
Scoring
Credits & Acknowledgements

Components

Game Board & Action Display

65 Recipe cards — Each Recipe's back displays its Ingredient tally and drawing instructions: Ingredients, Score Value, Style Bonus, Effect.

16 Action cards

68 Ingredient tiles — Each Ingredient tile has the Japanese name on the back side.

Pantry tabs, and the Action display.
Base ×7
Misc ×5, split into: Misc ×3, Fish ×3, Veg ×3, Seafood ×3, Special ×1

1 Wasabi pool

4 Wasabi dishes

4 Teacup markers — Apply stickers before your first play.

Solo Mode components — These components are used for Solo Mode only; see the Solo Mode rules sheet for details.

4 Player Aid cards

Wasabi cubes — ×32 small, ×8 large. Each large cube represents 5 Wasabi; make change as needed.

Setup

Place the game board and action display in the middle of the table. The display's position depends on your player count, and establishes the play area.
- Cover two columns for a 6×5 play area (2 players).
- Cover one column for a 6×6 play area (3 players).
- Cover no columns for a 6×7 play area (4 players).
Separate the ingredient tiles into stacks by type, and arrange them near the board beside the matching coloured tabs to form the Pantry.
- The coloured ingredient categories will help you find tiles easily during the game.
Shuffle the Action cards into a face-down deck. Reveal three cards from the deck into the display.
Shuffle the Recipe cards into four decks (divided by recipe length; the card backs indicate their length), and place them face down beside the board.
Place the Wasabi pool near the Recipes, and make a supply of Wasabi cubes (both sizes) nearby. Place one Wasabi from the supply onto the Wasabi pool.
Take one teacup per player and return the rest to the box. Place each teacup in a different space of the board (it doesn't matter which spaces, but they must be in your play area).
Each player takes a Wasabi dish, and draws three Recipes: one each of lengths 2, 3, and 4. Players keep their Recipes secret in their hand.
- Players may take a Player Aid card, if they wish.
Randomly select a starting player; you are ready to begin!

Gameplay

Play in turns, beginning with the starting player and going clockwise. Continue until there are no empty spaces (a space is filled if it contains a tile or a teacup), then everyone takes one final turn. Everyone scores their completed Recipes and collected Wasabi cubes, and the highest score wins!

On Your Turn

Your turn has two steps.

Step One: Play a Tile

Step Two: Serve or Prep

You may also play Action cards on your turn, if you have any; each one tells you how it works.

Step One: Play a Tile

You must choose one ingredient from the Pantry, and play it into an empty space of the gameboard.

You may play anywhere within the play area; it doesn't need to go next to a filled space.
If you want to play into a space with a teacup, first move the teacup to any other empty space; spaces with teacups count as filled, but you may freely move any teacup to any empty space on your turn.
If there are no empty spaces (which will only happen in your final turn during the endgame), you may skip playing a tile during this step, but you may still play Action cards.

What's the point of the teacups? The teacups guarantee that there will be lots of potential spaces to play into near the very end of the game as the board gets full; for example in a 4-player game when there is only one empty space left on the board, there are actually five potential spaces to play into since you could move any of the four teacups before placing.

Tile-play examples: Your opponent chooses a Scallop tile from the Pantry. They place it in the empty space shown and then conduct the rest of their turn. On your turn, you choose an Avocado tile from the Pantry. You decide to move a teacup, and then place your tile into the now-empty vacated space.

Step Two: Serve or Prep

You must choose to either Serve or Prep. Once you have resolved your choice, your turn is over.

Serve

You may only choose to serve if you did something on this turn that contributed to the completion of a sequence of ingredients on the board matching a Recipe in your hand. Reveal the accomplished Recipe from your hand, and hold it near the sequence of ingredient tiles to show the other players that you've done it correctly.

The sequence must be in a straight (non-diagonal) line with no gaps.
The sequence may include tiles placed by any player.
Other tiles adjacent to the sequence are irrelevant.
The sequence does not have to be in the exact same order as shown on the Recipe (but it's better if it is, see Serving With Style, below).
You must have contributed in some way to forming the sequence during this turn; usually by placing a tile, but Action card effects that impact the tile arrangement on the board count too.
You may Serve multiple Recipes on a turn, through clever tile placement and Action card play. Remember that your activities on this turn must have contributed somehow to each served Recipe. Recipes may overlap in any configuration and still count.
You do not have to serve even if you could.

Serving example: Remember, you placed the Avocado on this turn. You have the Sake-Avo Maki Recipe in your hand. Your Avocado contributes to its completion on the board, even though the ingredients aren't in the same order as shown on the card. You serve and score this Recipe!

Multi-serving example: But wait, you also hold the Avocado Nigiri Recipe... Your Avocado also contributes to its completion, so you can serve it too! That's two Recipes served with one tile placement!

Serving With Style

Recipes with more than two ingredients: If the sequence is in the exact same order as shown on the Recipe card (running in any direction on the board), you have served it with style… gain the indicated amount of Wasabi (displayed on the Recipe card beside the score value) from the supply (not the pool) to your dish.

Two-ingredient Recipes: Two-ingredient Recipes are always served with style, (since it's impossible to arrange two ingredients out of order), but they never award Wasabi; they award an Action card instead (see Action Cards for details).

Serving with style example: Serving this Mirugai Recipe will earn you an Action card of your choice from the display; there is a reminder on the card. Let's say you served the Red Dragon Recipe on your turn. The ingredients are in the exact same order as shown on the card (remember, it can run in any direction and still count as being in the same order). You have served the Red Dragon with style, and as you score it the card reminds you to gain two Wasabi from the supply to your dish!

Keep your scored Recipes in a personal face-down stack. Finally, draw as many Recipes as you need to (from whichever decks you wish) to bring your total in hand back to three. Obey the instructions on the back of each card you draw:

No instructions.
Gain one Wasabi and add one Wasabi to the pool.
Add one Wasabi to the pool.
Add two Wasabi to the pool.

Prep

To Prep, choose one of the following three options:

Gain one Action card of your choice from the display (see Action Cards, below).
Take all of the Wasabi from the Wasabi pool into your own dish, then add one Wasabi cube from the supply to the Wasabi pool.
Return any number of Recipes from your hand to the bottom of their respective decks, then draw as many Recipes as you need (from whichever decks you wish) to bring your total in hand back to three. Ignore the instructions on the back of each card you draw.

Action Cards

Gaining Them

When you gain an Action card, choose one from the face-up display and keep it face-up in front of you, then refill the display from the deck.

You may only keep two Action cards at a time; if you ever gain a third, you must discard one of the three.
You may have two of the same Action card.
If the deck ever runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Playing Them

Each Action card describes how it works. When you play a card, apply its effect and then discard it into a shared discard pile near the deck.

Playing Action cards is in addition to the mandatory placing of an ingredient from the Pantry.
You may never play an Action card on the same turn that you obtain it.
You may play more than one Action card on a turn.

Action card example: You have the Dynamite Roll Recipe in your hand, and the sequence is almost complete on the board... except for a pesky Cucumber. You play your Switch card on the neighbouring Shrimp to swap the two tiles. Sequence complete!

Endgame

At the end of your turn, if all of the board spaces are filled (with ingredients or teacups), the endgame is triggered. Continuing in order, each player (including you) takes one full final turn.

Since there are no empty spaces to place into, the only way you'll be able to serve a Recipe on this turn is if you have an Action card that would let you do something to contribute to it. For example, Chop can create an empty space to play a tile into as usual, and Switch lets you swap the contents of two adjacent spaces.

Remember, anything that affects the gameboard could potentially allow you to serve and score... so consider keeping a useful Action card handy if you want to make the most of your final turn!

After the final turns, the game is over; proceed to Scoring.

Endgame example: The board is full in this two-player game, so endgame begins. Each player will take one final turn during which they will need Action cards to accomplish anything.

Scoring

Discard the incomplete Recipes remaining in your hand and reveal your completed Recipes. Your score is the combined value of your completed Recipes, plus the amount of Wasabi in your dish (one point per cube). Highest score wins!

Everyone should pick up a teacup and toast the winner's success.

If it's a tie, the winner is the one with more Wasabi. If that's still a tie, share the win!

Scoring example: Your score is 33 from completed Recipes, plus 11 from Wasabi cubes, for a grand total of 44... will that be enough to win?

Credits & Acknowledgements

Game Design — Josh Cappel & Adam Gertzbein

Illustration — Claire Lin

Graphics & Rulebook — Joshua Cappel

Cultural Consultant — Dr. Emma Yasui

Communications Director — Sean Jacquemain

Project Management — Helaina Cappel

Guest Chef Contest Winners: The Maine Course by Jamie D/Pierre Yves-Campeau, Pearl Jammed by Rafael Martínez/Kimberly Marlowe, Roe-My-Boat by grizzzzlies/Imogen Smid.