Potato Tomato
Potato Tomato Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 30 Basic Character Cards: 15 Basic Potato Cards, 15 Basic Tomato Cards
- 21 Special Character Cards: 8 Special Potato Cards, 8 Special Tomato Cards, 4 Neutral Cards, 1 Promo Card
- 32 Action Cards: 10 Blue Action Cards, 10 Green Action Cards, 6 Colorless Action Cards, 6 Dual-color Action Cards
- 1 Rulebook
- 30 Burn Tokens
Setup
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Take numbers of Basic Character Cards according to the table below. For Special Characters, see setup changes on page 9 (see the Special Characters section).
Players 3 4 5 6 Potato 8 10 13 15 Tomato 8 10 13 15 Return the remaining Character Cards to the game box.
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Shuffle all taken Character Cards and deal 5 cards to each player. DO NOT show them to any other players. Return the remaining Character Cards to the game box (if any).
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Place all Character Cards face-down on your own play area. They must be placed to form a horizontal row.
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Randomly take numbers of Action Cards according to the table below.
Green Blue
EASY! Look at all your Character Cards, but DON'T let anyone see them okay? If you have more Potatoes, you are Potato, otherwise you are Tomato!
How to Win
The game ends IMMEDIATELY whenever ALL of any ONE player's Characters are revealed. That player - and everyone on the same team - all lose the game together.
Let's Play the Game
The player who recently eats either baked potato or baked tomato becomes the first player.
All players take turns, one player at a time, clockwise, starting from the first player.
There are 3 phases each turn: Draw, Action, and Clean-up.
Draw Phase
The active player shuffles the Action Deck; draw 1 card at a time and place it face-up where everyone can see.
An Action Card with the Immediately (lightning) symbol must be resolved IMMEDIATELY.
The player keeps drawing a card until EITHER ONE of the following occurs:
a. The active player does not want to draw a card anymore and says "STOP!". Then continue the Action phase.
b. The active player reveals 3 Action Cards of the same color: 3 Greens or 3 Blues, called "BURNT!". The active player takes 3 Burn Tokens. Then skip the Actions phase.
A Dual-Color card will always be counted as 1 Green AND 1 Blue.
A Colorless card will always be counted as 0.
BURNT!
After receiving Burn Tokens from getting BURNT!, if you have FIVE OR MORE Burn Tokens, choose and reveal ONE of your Characters; then, return all Burn Tokens to the supply.
Action Phase
The active player resolves the effects of all face-up Action Cards, one card at a time, in any order. All Action Cards MUST be resolved, even if the active player does not want to!
No revealed Character Cards can be affected by any Action Cards; they cannot be swapped, taken, re-positioned, or removed unless stated otherwise.
If an Action Card's effect asks the active player to give burn tokens to another player, those burn tokens cannot be separated and given to multiple players unless stated otherwise.
Revealing a Character Card
If any players possess FIVE OR MORE Burn Tokens after an action is resolved, those players MUST reveal ONE of their Characters; the player who plays the action chooses which Character to be revealed. Then, those players return all Burn Tokens to the supply; the active player continues the next action.
Example: Lisa, who already has 4 Burn Tokens, is given 2 more by Jennie. Lisa reveals 1 of her Character Cards - chosen by Jennie - and returns all Burn Tokens to the pool.
Jennie gives Lisa 2 and 3 Burn Tokens with her second and third actions respectively. Lisa reveals another Character Card - chosen by Jennie again! - and returns all Burn Tokens to the pool.
Clean-up Phase
Return all face-up Action Cards to the Action Deck. Pass the deck to the player on the LEFT of the active player. That player becomes the new active player.
Special Characters
As an agreement, players can mix Special Characters together with Basic Characters by following these steps:
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Select Special Characters to be played. Numbers of Special Potatoes and Tomatoes must be as CLOSE TO EQUAL as possible.
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Replace numbers of Basic Potatoes and Tomatoes with selected Special Characters. If you play any Neutral Characters, replace a Basic Potato or Tomato with each Neutral Character. Maintain as EQUAL NUMBERS of Potatoes and Tomatoes as possible.
IMPORTANT!!! If you have equal number of Potato and Tomato Characters, plus Neutral Characters, you are in NO TEAM.
Lastly
This game is for everyone to enjoy and can be played in various ways. If your group wants to adapt the rules in any way, feel free!
You can share your group's house rules and even videos of your game-play in the BGG forum!
Action Card Reference
IMPORTANT!!! Only UNREVEALED Characters can be affected by the action cards.
Blue Action Cards
- BURN: Give 2 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- FORECAST: Secretly look at any ONE other character. Then, you may swap that character with one of yours.
- INSPECT: Secretly look at any TWO characters from any other players.
- OVERLOOK: Give 1 Burn Token; or if you stop after this card is revealed, secretly look at any THREE characters from any other players.
- PAW: Give 1 Burn Token to the player on your left or right. The active player chooses whether to take from the left or right.
- ROTATE: EACH player takes ONE Character (from the player on that side) which will then replace the one taken from them.
- SHUFFLE: Secretly take THREE characters from any other players; shuffle them together; draw one each to those players.
- SURPRISE: Give 3 Burn Tokens to a player with NO Burn Token.
- SWAP: Swap any TWO characters between any players.
- TRANSFER: Take 2 Burn Tokens from any ONE player and give them to another player.
Dual-Color Action Cards
- BURN: Give 2 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- REVENGE: Give Burn Tokens equal to the number of your revealed Characters to any ONE player.
- WASH: Remove 1 Burn Token from any ONE player.
- MIX & MATCH: Secretly look at any TWO characters from different players. You may swap them if they are from the other team.
- WILDLIFE: Give 1 Burn Token; or if you revealed all Action types, give 2 Burn Tokens each to any TWO other players (not yourself).
- PEEL: You take 2 Burn Tokens, then secretly look at all Characters of any ONE player.
Green Action Cards
- BURN: Give 2 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- FUEL: Give 1 Burn Token; or if MATCH action is also revealed, give 3 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- GATHER: Give Burn Tokens equal to the number of revealed Action Cards, in this turn, to any ONE player.
- GREEN FLAG: Give 1 Burn Token; or if you reveal more Green Actions than other color actions, give 3 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- MATCH: Give 1 Burn Token; or if FUEL action is also revealed, give 3 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- OVERCOOK: Secretly look at any ONE other character. or if you stop after this card is revealed, give 3 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- PAIN & GAIN: You take 1 Burn Token, then give 2 Burn Tokens to any ONE player.
- ROCK - PAPER - SCISSOR: Play Rock-Paper-Scissors with any ONE player; loser gets 3 Burn Tokens.
- PAW: Give 1 Burn Token to the player on your left or right.
- SIPHON: Swap all Burn Tokens from any TWO different players.
Colorless Action Cards
- BDSM (Immediately): Remove 1 Burn Token from any player, then you MUST draw another 2 Action Cards.
- BURN: Give 1 Burn Token to any player.
- OVERVIEW: You choose left or right; ALL players secretly look at ONE Character from the player on the chosen side. Place the viewed cards back at their original position.
- WHITE FLAG: If you reveal more than one Colorless Action Card without any other Action types, reveal any ONE character.
- SHARE: Choose ONE player; you secretly look at ONE of that player's Character, and vice versa.
- SLAP (Immediately): Slap on this card; give 2 Burn Tokens to the SLOWEST player.
Whenever you are instructed to GIVE burn tokens to a player, take tokens from the supply and give them to that player, unless stated otherwise.
Icon Reference
The rulebook's icon key (page 12) uses these symbols, which the text above spells out in words:
- Burn tokens: 1 BURN, ALL BURNS, DISCARD 1 BURN
- Players: ACTIVE PLAYER, ANOTHER PLAYER, ANY 1 PLAYER, ALL PLAYER, PLAYER ON THE LEFT, PLAYER ON THE RIGHT, DIFFERENT PLAYERS, SLOWEST PLAYER, LOSER
- Actions: LOOK AT 1 CHARACTER CARD, TAKE 1 CHARACTER CARD, DRAW 2 ACTION CARDS, STOP DRAWING ACTION CARDS, THEN, GIVE, SHUFFLE, IMMEDIATELY, PLAYING ROCK PAPER SCISSORS
- Cards: UNREVEALED CHARACTER CARD, REVEALED CHARACTER CARD, FLIP A CHARACTER CARD (TO REVEAL IT PERMANENTLY), ACTION CARD (Blue, Green, Colorless, Dual-color)