Pie Town Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set Up
• Gameplay
  • Overview
  • Your Secret Recipe
  • Round Structure
• Actions
  • Orchard
  • Bake
    • Baking Your Opponent's Secret Recipe
  • Market
    • Sell all of one column
    • Sell bottom row
  • Pie Convention
    • Assign Starting Player for the Next Round
    • Change one Ingredient of Secret Recipe
  • Upgrade
  • Hire
  • Spy
• Final Bake Off
• End Game Scoring
• Credits
  • Special Thanks

Components

• 1 Score Board
• 1 Market Board
• 16 Worker Dice (4 x 4)
• 48 Pie Tokens (4 x 12)
• 12 Upgrade Tokens (4 x 4)
• 4 Score Markers
• 1 Orchard Board
• 4 Store Boards
• 12 Fifty Point Tokens
• 1 Start Player Marker
• 4 Dry Erase Cards and Markers
• 1 Round Marker
• 1 Cloth Bag
• 54 Common Ingredients (3 x 18) — yellow apple, green apple, red apple
• 27 Rare Ingredients (3 x 9) — strawberry, banana, pumpkin
• 4 Recipe Boxes

Set Up

Begin set up by giving each player a Store Board, 3 Upgrade Tokens, Pie Tokens, 2 Worker Dice, a Dry Erase Card, and a Score Marker of the color they wish to play as.

Each player begins the game with 1 of each Common Ingredient (1 yellow apple, 1 green apple, and 1 red apple) in their Storage.

The players start with 2 Worker Dice in the Break Room. One die starts at a value of "3" and the other starts at a value of "2". Keep the other 2 dice off the Store Board for now.

The number at the top of the dice is an important part of the game, so make sure you keep them on the right number. The number at the top of the dice will be referred to as their "level".

Place the Apple Upgrade Marker on "8" in the Storage section of the Store Board, the Chef's Hat Upgrade Marker on "1" for "VPs Per Pie Baked" in the Kitchen section, and the Lock Upgrade Marker over the second, dashed "Bake" action space.

Randomly assign starting player and give them the Starting Player Marker. Place each player's Score Marker at "0" on the Score Board's point track.

Set the Round Marker on the starting round of the round track of the Score Board.

Each player chooses a Secret Recipe that only they may look at:

Choose from the Ingredient bag 2 Common Ingredients and 1 Rare Ingredient.

Without the other players seeing, place your Secret Recipe in your Secret Recipe Box.

Mix the remaining Ingredients in the cloth bag and randomly add 2 Ingredients to each hex of the Orchard.

• In a 4 player game, use all of the hexes in the orchard.
• In a 3 player game, do not use the hex labeled with a "4". That hex is only used in a 4 player game.
• In a 2 player game, do not use the hexes labeled with "3" or "4". Those hexes are only used in 3 or 4 player games.

Gameplay

Overview

Players operate their pie shop by sending out their Worker Dice to complete various actions. They collect Ingredients from the Orchard, bake those Ingredients into pies for the Market, and sell those pies for Victory Points to win. The most valuable pies are made from a Secret Recipe, which you will want to hide at all costs from your opponents.

Your Secret Recipe

The Ingredients the player selected during the game's set up makes their Secret Recipe.

All Secret Recipes must be comprised of 2 Common Ingredients and 1 Rare Ingredient.

Do not show your Secret Recipe to other players unless an action forces you to.

Common Ingredients — yellow apple, green apple, red apple.

Rare Ingredients — strawberry, banana, pumpkin.

Round Structure

• Beginning with the starting player, players will take turns in clockwise order to place one worker at a time from their Break Room to an action space.
• Once all players have used all of their workers, their workers are recalled to the Break Room and their level is adjusted based on the action they used. If an action changes the level of a worker at the end of the round, it will have next to it a cube with a "+1" or "-1" to indicate how the worker's level changes.

Example: If Jackie used a level "1" worker to Bake, she adds +1 to the die's level, making it now a level "2" worker for the next round.

Example: If Jackie used a level "4" worker in the Upgrade action, she subtracts -1 to the die's level, making it now a level "3" worker for the next round.

• Return remaining Ingredients in the Orchard to the bag and then add 2 random Ingredients per hex (1 per hex if short Ingredients).
• Move the Round Marker up the track to mark the start of the next round.
• If no one was assigned starting player during the round, move the starting player clockwise.
• After 9 rounds a Final Bake Off occurs, unsold pies are scored and the player with the most Victory Points wins!

Actions

Orchard

Pick up # resources from adjacent hexes. (+1)

When placing a Worker Die on a square in the Orchard, players may pick Ingredients from any of the three adjacent hexes the die is placed on and add them to their Ingredient Storage.

The number of Ingredients a player may pick is up to the current level of the die.

Example: placing a level "2" die allows the player to pick up to 2 Ingredients from the three hexes it is adjacent to.

Players may only pick Ingredients they have the capacity to store. Their workers love their apples too much to just throw them away. Add +1 to the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Bake

Bake # Pies and Score VPs. (+1)

When placing a Worker Die on the square for this action, players may bake pies using the Ingredients they have in storage.

The maximum number of pies that can be baked is up to the current level of the worker die used.

Example: placing a level "3" die allows the player to use their Ingredients to bake up to 3 pies.

When baking pies, players use the Ingredients they have in storage to form any of 4 types of pies:

• Common-Common-Common pie — Uses 3 of any Common Ingredients.
• Common-Common-Rare pie — Uses 2 Common Ingredients and 1 Rare Ingredient.
• Common-Rare-Rare pie — Uses 1 Common and 2 Rare Ingredients.
• Secret Recipe pie — Uses the player-specific Common-Common-Rare combination of Ingredients they chose at the beginning of the game.

To bake a pie, choose which Ingredients you will be using, present them to the other players, declare what types of pies you will be baking, and discard the Ingredients back into the bag.

Each player earns 1 Victory Point for each pie baked. If the player has Upgraded their kitchen, they receive 2 Victory Points per pie baked.

In order to conceal your Secret Recipe, it is recommended that players bake at least two pies at a time when using their Secret Recipe to conceal which Ingredients were used in their Secret Recipe.

Players are also provided with dry erase cards and pens to take notes on the Ingredients their opponents are using to bake Secret Recipe pies to help deduce Secret Recipes.

Example: if a player has 6 Common Ingredients and 3 Rare Ingredients in storage, they can make 3 Common-Rare-Rare pies. They would then take the Ingredients out of storage, present the Ingredients they are using to the other players, and declare what types of pies they are baking.

Alternatively, they could choose to bake 1 Common-Common-Common pie and 1 Common-Rare-Rare pie and still have 3 Ingredients left in their storage. In that case, they would present the 4 Common Ingredients and the two Rare Ingredients they are using and bake those pies.

Do NOT reveal which Ingredients are used in which pie when baking multiple pies to conceal your Secret Recipe. Mix the Ingredients you are using before showing those Ingredients to the other players to hide from them which ones were used in your Secret Recipe.

Pies that are baked are added as Pie Tokens to the Market in columns based on their specific pie type.

Pies "drop down" the column towards the action spaces where workers are placed to sell pies.

There are a maximum number of pies that may be added to the market based on the number of players in the game:

• 2 Players: 3 pies per column
• 3 Players: 4 pies per column
• 4 Players: 5 pies per column

Pies cannot be baked if there is no space for their type in the market. You are not a monster; you don't just throw out pies.

Baking Your Opponent's Secret Recipe

You may attempt to bake a Secret Recipe pie using an opponent's Secret Recipe.

When using the Bake action, carefully conceal your Ingredients and select the 3 that you believe make up their Secret Recipe. Show the 3 Ingredients to the other player so that only they can see them. If the recipe is correct, they must confirm it is their secret recipe and you may bake those Ingredients as a Secret Recipe pie.

If the recipe is incorrect, the Ingredients are discarded to the ingredient bag and no pie is baked. The opponent does not need to reveal which or how many Ingredients were incorrect. Add +1 to the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Market

Gain # VPs. Draw 2 Ingredients.

Sell all of one column

When placing a Worker Die on a square for this action, players sell all of the pies in one column of their choice. Players may not use this action if they do not sell any pies.

Players who have pies in the chosen column receive Victory Points for each pie sold:

• Common-Common-Common pie = 2 per pie
• Common-Common-Rare pie = 3 per pie
• Common-Rare-Rare pie = 4 per pie
• Secret Recipe pie = 7 per pie

Sold pies are removed from the market and return to the players' supply of Pie Tokens.

After selling pies, the player who placed their worker in this action space gains an additional number of Victory Points equal to the level of the worker die, and draws 2 Ingredients randomly from the bag.

Worker dice placed on any sell action in the Market do not change in level when recalled to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Only use the second space marked with a "3" in a 3 or 4 player game. Only one space is available in 2 player games.

Only use the second space marked with a "4" in a 4 player game. Only one space is available in 2 or 3 player games.

Sell bottom row

When placing a worker die on the square for this action, players sell all of the pies in the bottom row of the market. Players may not use this action if they do not sell any pies.

Players who have pies in the bottom row receive Victory Points for each pie sold.

Any remaining pies in the market "drop down" into the bottom row, towards the action spaces where dice are placed to sell pies.

Unsold pies at the end of the game count as 1 victory point each.

Pie Convention

Choose to perform either:

Assign a new Starting Player. (+1) or Change one Ingredient of Secret Recipe. (-1)

Assign Starting Player for the Next Round

When placing a Worker Die on this action, players may choose who will begin the next round as starting player.

If no player places a worker on this action, the starting player is passed clockwise at the end of the round.

Add +1 to the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Change one Ingredient of Secret Recipe

Secretly return one ingredient of your choice to the ingredient bag and replace it with a new ingredient of your choice.

Your Secret Recipe must still be comprised of two Common Ingredients and one Rare Ingredient.

Subtract -1 to the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Upgrade

Expand Storage, Kitchen, or Baking. (-1)

When placing a Worker Die on the square for this action, players may choose to either increase their maximum Ingredient Storage, the Victory Point bonus for baking pies in their Kitchen, or open a second "Bake" action spot.

Upgrading allows players to move one of their store upgrade markers one space at a time:

• From 8 to 14 maximum Ingredients in storage.
• From 1 to 2 Victory Points per pie baked.
• Off the second "Bake" action space to open it to Worker Dice.

The upgrade effect is immediate; players do not need to wait until the next round to utilize their new upgrades.

Dice of level "1" cannot be used to Upgrade, since they do not have the experience available to pay the cost of upgrading.

Subtract -1 from the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Hire

(-2)

When placing a Worker Die on the square for this action, players may take a die from their supply and place it at level "1" next to the Hire space on their Store Mat.

Since the new Worker Die does not start in the Break Room, they cannot be assigned to an action until the following round after they have recalled to the Break Room.

Dice of levels "1" and "2" cannot be used to Hire, since they do not have the experience available to pay the cost of hiring.

Subtract -2 from the level of the die when recalling them to the Break Room at the end of the round.

Spy

Any worker an opponent places in the Orchard or the Market is open to be "Spied On".

Any player that has a worker available in the Break Room at a higher level than the workers placed on the Orchard or Market Boards may place that worker on top of their opponent's weaker worker to look at Ingredients of their Secret Recipe.

The difference between the two workers' levels is the number of Secret Recipe Ingredients that the Spying player may see at random.

The player being spied on may not know which Ingredients were spied on.

Example: Jackie sent a level "3" worker to the Orchard at the beginning of the round, and Gail chooses to use her level "5" worker to spy on Jackie's worker for part of Jackie's Secret Recipe. On her turn, Gail places her level "5" worker on top of Jackie's level "3" worker and gets to look at 2 of Jackie's Secret Recipe Ingredients at random. Gail's level "5" worker may pick Ingredients and changes level when recalled at the end of the round. (Red player learns 2 of the Ingredients in Green player's Secret Recipe.)

All other action spaces (Upgrade, Bake, Hire, and Pie Convention) are safe, and workers placed there may not be spied on.

Players may perform Orchard or Market actions as normal after spying.

Players do not have to perform the Orchard or Market actions; these are bonuses in addition to Spying.

If the player cannot sell pies or chooses not to sell pies in the Market, they do not receive the bonus victory points or Ingredients.

If a third worker is sent to Spy on a worker that was used to Spy, the Spying action is performed only on the top die, the original worker die at the bottom of the stack is not Spied on.

When recalling a worker that Spied in the Orchard their level is increased by +1, while workers that Spied in the Market do not change level.

Final Bake Off

After the final round of play, the town holds a Final Bake Off! Players who can prove they know their opponent's Secret Recipe earn additional points.

Players take turns to pull Ingredients from the Ingredients bag and secretly make what they believe are the Secret Recipes of their opponents. Players may choose not to guess if they are not confident.

After making a Secret Recipe, players reveal their guesses to their opponent in secret (so other players don't see the Ingredients), and the opponent scores the guesser's points based on how many Ingredients of their Secret Recipe they guessed correct.

• 3 out of 3 correct = 4
• 2 out of 3 correct = 2
• 1 out of 3 correct = 0
• 0 out of 3 correct = -2
• No guess = 0

Opponents do not have to confirm which Ingredients were correct or not, but must score honestly.

Ingredients used to make guesses are returned to the bag after scoring.

Be careful not to reveal your guesses to other players!

End Game Scoring

After the Final Bake Off, unsold pies in the Market are scored as 1 Victory Point each.

The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner!

The tie breaker is the player with the strongest workforce (the sum of their dice).

Credits

Game Design: Daniel Fremgen

Producer: Scott Gaeta

Illustration: Charlie Bink

Graphic Design: Charlie Bink & Jeanne Torres

Renegade Game Studios

President & Publisher: Scott Gaeta

Controller: Robyn Gaeta

Director of Sales & Marketing: Sara Erickson

Creative Director: Anita Osburn

Customer Service: Jenni Kingma

Special Thanks

The game designer would like to thank his wife Jackie, the first play testers Dave and Patrick, the whole San Diego Board Game Design Group, UnPub Mini SD and its organizers, the First to Play LA Meetup and its organizers, his friends who have played too many broken games, and his always supporting family. This game is dedicated to his son.

Renegade Game Studios would like to thank Unpub Mini San Diego and Kingdom Con, Pie lovers everywhere, and Suzanne Sheldon; the gaming communities pie advocate. pie > cake.