Seize the Bean
Seize the Bean Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Goal of the Game
- How to Earn Good Reviews
- Component List
- Setup
- City Rules
- Other General Rules
- Game Flow
- Phase 1: Actions
- Upgrading Actions
- Café Achievements
- Phase 2: Hype
- Phase 3: Serve
- Phase 4: Word of Mouth
- Phase 5: End of Day
- Game End
- Customer Abilities
- Additional Icons
- Quick Reference
- Friends & Family
- Hipsters
- Start Uppers
- Cyclists
- Party Animals
- Tourists
- Students
- Musicians
- Funemployed Expats
- Starving Artists
- Tech Nerds
- Authority Figures
- Performers
- Rebels
- Happy Families
- Street Smarts
- Criminal Minds
- Health Nuts
- Upper Class
- Fashionistas
- Hungry Media
- Friendly Locals
- Coffee Connoisseurs
- Board Game Geeks
- Additional Icons (Quick Reference)
- Credits
Goal of the Game
In order to win Seize the Bean your Café needs to have the most Good Reviews at the end of the game.
How to Earn Good Reviews
There are five general ways to earn Good Reviews:
- Use Resources to Serve Customers.
- Create combos with Customer Abilities.
- Upgrade your Café to improve your Actions.
- Unlock Café Achievements during the game.
- Win Awards at the end of the game.
Seize the Bean can be a hard game to learn from a rulebook. If you find that strategic guides, walkthroughs, or videos might assist you better, please visit: http://learn.seizethebean.com
And if you're having questions while playing, we've made a FAQ available online at: http://faq.seizethebean.com
Component List
A. Cards a. 48 Friends & Family (6 identical sets of 8 different cards) b. 230 Customers (10 cards from each of the 23 Customer Groups) c. 115 Pantry Upgrades (5 cards from each of the 23 Customer Groups) d. 115 Style Upgrades (5 cards from each of the 23 Customer Groups) e. 23 Group Awards (1 card from each of the 23 Customer Groups) f. 6 Player Reference Cards g. 12 Founder Cards h. 20 Solo Mode Action Cards
B. 1 Coffee Scoop
C. Resin Resources a. 150 Coffee Beans (140 Roasted, 10 Green) b. 30 Milk Cartons (25 Regular, 5 Chocolate) c. 30 Sugar Cubes (25 White, 5 Brown)
D. Cardboard Tokens a. 80 Good Review Tokens b. 12 Extra Good Review Tokens c. 12 Café Achievement Tokens d. 15 Bad Review Tokens e. 18 Angry Tokens (back side: Happy Tokens) f. 5 Naptime Tokens g. 10 Board Game Tokens h. 40 Special Resource Tokens (6 of each type and 4 Green Bean Tokens) i. 6 Difficulty Level Tokens (front side: Hard Mode, back side: Expert Mode) j. 4 Solo Mode Action Tokens (double-sided) k. 16 Solo Mode Upgrade Tokens l. 5 Café Sign Tokens m. 5 Diverse City Cookie Tokens n. 5 Full Cups o. 5 Empty Cups p. 6 Hype Tokens (back side: Maximum Hype Tokens) q. 6 Serve Tokens (back side: Finished Serving Tokens)
E. 8 Barista Meeples (2 per color)
F. 4 Café Boards
G. 53 Plastic Zip Bags
H. 2 Sticker Sheets
I. 1 Rulebook
J. 1 Expansion Rulebook
Note: The component list details everything found in the game box but not all of these components are used in the base game described in this Rulebook. The additional components are for game expansions and variants which can be found in the Expansion Rulebook.
Setup
The City
Step 1: Cards
Seize the Bean's base game is played with the following 6 Customer Groups: Hipsters, Cyclists, Tourists, Musicians, Start Uppers, and Party Animals. This combination of Customer Groups is inspired by Berlin's Kreuzberg district.
Variant Alert: It's recommended to play this base game setup first to learn the game before moving on to other variants. If you want to play with different Groups, refer to the Expansion Rulebook.
Each Group includes 21 cards: 10 Customers, 5 Pantry Upgrades, 5 Style Upgrades, and 1 Group Award. Each card's Customer Group is indicated by the Group Icon on the bottom left of the card.
Set up in the following way: Take all the cards from each of the 6 Groups mentioned above. Divide each Group by its Customers, Pantry Upgrades, Style Upgrades, and its Group Award. Combine the Customers from all 6 Groups into one joined Deck, all of the Pantry Upgrades into a second Deck, and all of the Style Upgrades into a third Deck. These are the City Decks.
Shuffle each City Deck and place them face down in a column with the Customers at the top, Pantry Upgrades in the middle, and Style Upgrades at the bottom. Place 5 cards from each Deck face up in a row to the right of their respective Deck. The rightmost column of each row is considered to be the Discard Pile for its Deck. This whole area is called the City. Place the Group Awards so that each one is visible in a row above the City.
Step 2: Tokens
Use a number of Good Reviews based on player count as follows:
| Player Count | Number of Good Reviews |
|---|---|
| 2 Players | 40 Good Reviews |
| 3-4 Players | 50 Good Reviews |
| 5-6 Players* | 60 Good Reviews |
Note: The 5-6p Expansion is required for 5 or more players. It's sold separately. Please see the Expansion Rulebook for more information on how to play with 5 or more players.
Place the counted out Good Reviews near the upper right corner of the City. Put the rest of the Good Reviews back into the game box for now.
Shuffle all of the Café Achievement Tokens so that you can't see their Bonus Icons. Then place them face down nearby the Good Reviews. Draw 1 per player and arrange them nearby the Good Reviews, with their Bonus side face up. These are the available Achievement Bonuses for the game.
Place all of the Happy & Angry Tokens and the Bad Reviews nearby the Achievement Tokens.
Step 3: Resources
Lastly, place the Basic Resources (Roasted Beans, Regular Milk, and White Sugar) within reach of all players, and place the Scoop in the Beans. Place the Chocolate Milk nearby the Regular Milk and the Brown Sugar nearby the White Sugar. Both of these are worth 5 of their respective Resources.
Altogether, this collection of Basic Resources will be referred to as the City Supply.
*Missing Cups? Resource cups are not included in the game. Feel free to use coffee mugs or tea cups from your own home to hold the Resources and add to the aesthetic appeal and thematic immersion of the game!
**Resource Bags: All Kickstarter backers received Resource Bags as an add-on to act as resource cups. These Resource Bags are limited but not exclusive, and can be bought at qualitybeast.com.
Note: The Scoop is an optional dexterity mechanic. You can play Seize the Bean perfectly fine without it, if you prefer. This is explained in more detail in the Resource Actions section.
Variant Alert: Note that the Green Beans are not typically used as a denomination of 5 Beans. If you don't play with the Scoop, you can use them as such, but if you play with the Health Nuts Customer Group, you'll need them for another purpose. See the Expansion Rulebook for more information.
Player Cafés
Give each player the following components:
Player Components
- 1 Café Board (any art)
- 2 Barista Meeples (any colors)*
- 1 Hype Token
- 1 Serve Token
- 6 Starting Resources: 5 Beans, 1 Milk
- 4 Friends & Family Customer Cards:** 1 Oma, 1 Opa, 1 Lazy Friend, 1 Popular Friend
Instruct each player to set up their Café in the following way: Place your Café Board in front of you. In the middle of your Café is the Café Stoop. Put your Baristas on the Stoop. On the left side of your Café is your Pantry Area where you'll place your Pantry Upgrades during the game. Your Style Area is located on the right side where you'll place your Style Upgrades during the game. Both your Pantry and your Style Areas start empty.
*Diversity Bonus: Unlike most board games, there are no player colors in Seize the Bean. Instead, players are encouraged to mix or match their Barista Meeples.
**Variant Alert: See the Expansion Rulebook if you want to play with different Friends & Family.
Place your Hype Token on the second space of your Hype Track, marking a starting Hype of 2, at the bottom of your Café.
Shuffle your Friends & Family Cards and place them face down at the bottom left corner of your Café to create your Customer Deck. Reserve some space on the left side of your Customer Deck for your Discard Pile and on the right side for your Customer Line. Place your Serve Token to the right of your Deck, marking the first empty spot of your Line.
Place your Starting Resources above or nearby your Café. During the game, this will be referred to as your own Supply.
First Player & Turn Order
The player who most recently drank coffee becomes the First Player and takes the Full Cup. If no player has ever had coffee, then the First Player is whoever describes the taste of coffee most convincingly. Give the Empty Cup to the player on their left. Play proceeds around the table clockwise.
Note: The Empty Cup is necessary because it helps to determine who will go first on the next round. This process is explained a bit more in the Phase 5: End of Day section.
City Rules
Before explaining the flow of the game, it's important to understand some overall rules.
City Maintenance
During the game, players will be taking cards from the City. The sections below explain the basic rules of how to interact with the City when taking and replacing cards.
Taking City Cards
When taking a card, you will usually only be able to choose between the face up cards, including the top card from each row's Discard Pile. These face up cards are referred to as visible cards.
Replacing City Cards
Throughout the game, the Customer row should always contain 5 face up cards. This includes the top card of its Discard Pile. The same is true for the Pantry Upgrade and Style Upgrade rows. If the card next to a Deck is taken, draw a card from that Deck and place it face up in the empty space. If a card further into the row is taken and leaves an empty space, shift each card before that space one spot to the right. Then draw a card from that Deck and place it face up next to the Deck in the empty space that was made by shifting cards over.
Usually, a card taken from the top of a City Discard Pile will not leave an empty space and thus will not require the cards in that row to be moved or a new card to be drawn.
Empty City Decks
If a City Deck ever runs out, trigger the Game End as described in the Game End section. After that, if you are required to draw new cards to that row of the City, do not shuffle that Deck's corresponding Discard Pile to make a new Deck. Instead, simply don't draw any new cards to that City Row.
Other General Rules
Public & Private Information
Players may never look through or reorder any City Deck or any player Deck, including their own, unless an Ability explicitly states otherwise.
All of the City Discard Piles are public information and can be looked through by any player at any time. However, player Discard Piles are private information, and each player is the only one that may look through their own Discard Pile. The order of cards in player Discard Piles will never matter but players may not reorder cards in any of the City Discard Piles.
Discard Etiquette: Please be nice to your gaming group and don't slow down the game by constantly digging through Discard Piles.
All player Resources are always public information.
Resource Etiquette: Please be courteous and tell your fellow players how many Resources you have when asked.
Component Limitations
Players will always take Good Reviews from the City unless an Ability or rule explicitly states otherwise. If no Good Reviews are left in the City, you can always take them from the box. If you run out of Good Reviews, use the Extra Good Review Tokens for change. When doing so, be sure you're returning your Good Reviews to the box.
Resources in the City Supply are never limited. If the City runs out of Resources, use the Chocolate Milk and Brown Sugar for change. A single Chocolate Milk is worth 5 Regular Milk, and a single Brown Sugar is worth 5 White Sugar.
Customer Deck & Discard Rules
When discarding any Customer, you will always discard all tokens on them first. Tokens discarded in this way are never exchanged for anything, such as Good or Bad Reviews. Customers placed back into the City are still considered to be discarded even if they aren't placed in the City Discard Pile. In any case, all Customers in the City can never have any tokens on them.
There is no limit to the length of a player's Customer Line.
When a player's Deck is empty, that player should not immediately shuffle their Discard Pile to form a new Deck. Players should only shuffle their Discard Pile to form a new Customer Deck when they have to draw but cannot because their Deck is empty.
Game Flow
Days & Player Turns
The game will proceed over a number of rounds called Days in which you will take your turns. The Game End is triggered when the last Good Review is taken from the City or any of the City Decks are empty. For more details, see the Game End Conditions section.
A Day is divided into 5 phases. All phases are carried out in turn order starting with the current First Player. Each phase is completed by all players before moving to the next phase.
Phases of a Day
- Actions
- Hype
- Serve
- Word of Mouth
- End of Day
Resolving Base Actions
When you resolve an Action, if there are no Upgrade Cards added to it, you will only activate its Base Icon. The Base Icons of all 6 Actions are explained below in the Resource Actions and City Actions sections. You can read more about Resolving Upgraded Actions below.
Phase 1: Actions
Overview
During the Actions Phase you will use your 2 Baristas to take Café Actions. In turn order, each player places their first Barista on one of their Café Action Spaces and resolves the corresponding Action. For more detail, refer to the Resolving Base Actions section above and the Resolving Upgraded Actions section below.
After every player has placed their first Barista and resolved the corresponding Action, each player then places their second Barista, again in turn order, to take a second Action of their choice. You may not place your second Barista on the same Action Space as your first Barista in the same Day.
Resource Actions
The Resource Actions are located on the left side of your Café. They allow you to Acquire Resources from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
Resource Actions
- Acquire Beans: Use the Scoop to get Beans from the City Supply. You only get 1 attempt per Scoop and all Beans dropped on the way back to your Café must be returned. The Scoop is an optional dexterity mechanic. If you don't want to play with the Scoop, you should take 6 Beans from the Supply instead.
- Acquire Milk: Take 3 Milk from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- Acquire Sugar: Take 3 Sugar from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
City Actions
The City Actions are located on the right side of your Café. They allow you to take cards from the City. By default, you may only take visible cards from the City as previously defined in the Taking City Cards section, which includes the top card from each row's Discard Pile.
City Actions
- Attract a Customer: Take any visible Customer from the City and add it to your own Discard Pile.
- Upgrade Pantry: Take any visible Pantry Upgrade from the City and add it to your Café's Pantry Area. For more details see the Upgrading Actions section.
- Upgrade Style: Take any visible Style Upgrade from the City and add it to your Café's Style Area. For more details see the Upgrading Actions section.
Upgrading Actions
As you play the game, you may upgrade your Actions by taking Style and Pantry Upgrade Cards from the City and adding them to your Café. Style Upgrades always go on the right of your Café and Pantry Upgrades always go on the left.
Upgrade Cards will add new Action Icons next to your Café Actions. Added icons may be activated when you place a Barista on their Action Space. This is explained in more detail below, in the Resolving Upgraded Actions section.
When placing an Upgrade, make sure that the 3 Action Rows on the card line up with the Café Actions. Additional Upgrades overlap previously-acquired Upgrades, shifted slightly so that the Action Icons from previous Upgrades are still visible.
Adding Upgrades will also add Group Icons and Special Resource Icons to your Café. These are explained in more detail in the Basic & Special Resources section and the Phase 4: Word of Mouth Phase section.
Upgrade Restrictions
There is no limit to the number of Upgrades you may have but you may never rearrange or remove your Upgrades.
When adding an Upgrade, make sure to align the yellow Action Rows. Also, note that the Upgrade adds other icons to your Café. Pantry Upgrades add a Customer Group Icon as well as a Special Resource Icon to your Pantry.
When adding additional Upgrades, make sure that all of the previously added Action Icons stay visible. Note that new Pantry Upgrades will add additional Special Resource Icons to your Pantry, but they will replace the older Customer Group Icon with a new one.
Reminder: As shown above, the Customer Group Icons on your acquired Pantry Upgrades will be covered up by any new Pantry Upgrades you acquire. Any covered up Group Icons on your Pantry Cards are no longer considered to be existing in the game and don't affect Word of Mouth or end of game Group Awards.
Resolving Upgraded Actions
When you place a Barista on a Café Action, you must activate 4 Action Icons, if possible. You always choose the order in which these are activated. The Base Icon is considered an Action Icon. If you have fewer than or exactly 4 icons, including the Base Icon, you must activate all of them. If you have more than 4 icons, including the Base Icon, you choose which 4 icons to activate. Only the icons visible at the time of placing the Barista are valid choices for activation. All icons are listed and explained at the end of this Rulebook.
Clarification: A Café Action's Base Icon may be skipped in the case that you are activating 4 other, added icons.
Café Achievements
As you upgrade your Café with Pantry and Style Upgrades, you are not only adding icons to your Actions, but you are also adding Customer Group Icons and Special Resource Icons to your Café. This can immediately unlock a Café Achievement. The 4 Café Achievements are located on the top of your Café Board.
Café Achievements
- Pantry Variety: Unlocked when you have 5 different Special Resource Icons in your Pantry.
- Pantry Specialist: Unlocked when you have 3 matching Special Resource Icons in your Pantry.
- Niche Style: Unlocked when you have 3 matching Group Icons in your Style.
- Universal Style: Unlocked when you have 5 different Group Icons in your Style.
When an Achievement is unlocked, you must immediately select an available Achievement Bonus from the City, activate its Bonus Icon, and place it over the Café Achievement you just unlocked. Place it so the backside with the checkmark is face up. This will count as 5 Good Reviews at the end of the game.
There are 6 possible Bonus Icons that can be found on the front of Café Achievement Tokens. All of these are listed and explained at the end of this Rulebook. If no more Bonuses are available, take one of the Café Achievement Tokens from the face down pile instead and place it over the Achievement you have unlocked. Do not activate its Bonus Icon. It will still provide you with 5 Good Reviews at the end of the game. You may only unlock each of your Achievements once, for a maximum of 4 Café Achievement Tokens.
Phase 2: Hype
The amount of Hype you have is determined by where your Hype Token is on your Hype Track. For example, if your Hype Token is on the second spot of your Hype Track, you have 2 Hype.
Drawing New Customers
During the Hype Phase, you will draw a number of new Customers from your Customer Deck equal to your current Hype and place them directly into your Line. Place the Customers into your Line from left to right in the order you draw them. If you already have any Customers in your Line, add the new Customers to the end of your existing Line. Any Customers you already had in your Line before this phase do not count towards the total that you must draw. There is no limit to the amount of Customers that may be in your Line.
If your Deck runs out of Customers but you're required to draw more, shuffle your Discard Pile, place it face down to create a new Customer Deck, and then continue to draw from it. If you have no more Customers in both your Deck and your Discard Pile, then simply stop drawing, even if your Hype or other effects instruct you to draw more.
Pro Tip: Experienced Seize the Bean players can do this phase at the same time as each other to reduce downtime.
Maximum Hype
If you reach 5 Hype, immediately flip your Hype Token to its Maximum Hype side. While your Café has Maximum Hype, every time you would raise your Hype, you get 1 Good Review instead. If your Hype would raise by more than 1, you receive that many Good Reviews instead. Any Good Reviews earned in this way are taken from the City, as normal. If there are no more Good Reviews, take them from the box. If your Hype lowers below 5, the Hype Token is flipped back to its normal side and you no longer trigger this effect.
Nice Try: The Maximum Hype effect is only triggered after the token is flipped. You don't get a Good Review for flipping it.
Phase 3: Serve
During the Serve Phase, you'll Fulfill your Customers' Orders by paying the Resources shown on the top of each Customer Card. In return, they'll typically provide Rewards, often earning you Good Reviews, and then you'll activate their Abilities. Customers with Unfulfilled Orders often become Angry and may give you Bad Reviews.
In turn order, players Serve the Customers in their Line one-by-one from left to right. When it's your turn, place your Serve Token below the first Customer in your Line. Then proceed to Serve them by following the steps listed in the Serving Customers section below. Once all players have Served their first Customer, proceed in turn order to Serve the second Customer in the same way. Repeat this process until all players have Served all Customers in their Line.
No two players should ever be Serving a Customer at the same time. Do not discard any of your Customers until all players are finished Serving. This is explained further in the Finish Serving section. If you have no more Customers to Serve, flip your Serve Token and leave it at the end of your Line to indicate you're completely done and that your future turns can be skipped this Serve Phase.
Happy & Angry Tokens
Customers in your Line can be Happy, Angry, or Neutral. Customers are Happy if they have a Happy Token on them, or Angry if they have an Angry Token on them. A Customer without any Happy or Angry Tokens is considered Neutral. Typically, Customers are Neutral when they enter your Line. They then receive Happy or Angry Tokens through various effects during play.
When you would place a Happy Token on a Customer that already has an Angry Token, remove the Angry Token instead. If you would place an Angry Token on a Customer with 1 or more Happy Tokens on them, remove 1 Happy Token instead. Customers may have any number of Happy Tokens but only 1 single Angry Token on them. A Customer that already has an Angry Token on them can't gain another one. Any additional Angry Tokens past the first should simply be discarded.
Serving Customers
You must Serve Neutral and Angry Customers. If a Customer is Happy, you may choose not to Serve them. If you choose not to Serve a Happy Customer, remove 1 of their Happy Tokens and skip all of the steps listed below.
To Serve a Customer, follow these steps in this order:
Steps to Serve a Customer
- Fulfill their Main Order
- Optionally Fulfill their Side Order (if any)
- Collect Rewards (if any)
- Activate their Ability (only if you've fulfilled their Main Order)
Overview
Every Customer Card shows a Main Order indicated on the top left, and may have a Side Order on the top right. Unless a Customer is Happy and you decide to skip them, you must Fulfill the Main Order if you have the required Resources. Afterwards you may Fulfill the Side Order.
If you do not Fulfill the Main Order, you cannot Fulfill the Side Order and you must immediately place an Angry Token on the Customer. You also receive none of their Rewards and skip the activation of their Ability. You are now done Serving this Customer and play proceeds to the next player in turn order.
A Customer Card shows: 1. Main Order (a. Required Resources, b. Reward Icons); 2. Side Order (a. Required Resources, b. Reward Icons); 3. Customer Name & Art; 4. Customer Ability; 5. Customer Group Icon (and color).
Fulfilling Orders
To Fulfill a Main or Side Order, pay the Resources shown at the top left or right of the Customer Card, respectively. When you pay Resources, take them from your own Supply and return them to the City Supply.
Pro Tip: To lower downtime, lay out the Resources you plan to pay on your Customers even while you're waiting for the other players.
There are 3 Basic Resources and 7 Special Resources:
Basic & Special Resources
- Basic Resources: Coffee Bean, Milk Carton, Sugar Cube
- Special Resources: Strong Coffee = 2 Beans; High Quality Coffee = 2 Beans; Soy Milk = 2 Milk; Croissant* = 2 Sugar; Donut* = 2 Sugar; Pie* = 2 Sugar; Any Snack = 2 Sugar
*Snack Fact: All of the Special Resources made from Sugar are considered to be Snacks.
The Basic Resource Icons cost 1 Basic Resource to Fulfill, and the Special Resource Icons cost 2 Basic Resources to Fulfill. If you have any Pantry Upgrades with the matching Special Resource Icon in your Pantry, you only pay 1 of the related Basic Resource. The Any Snack Icon is wild, and can be matched with any of the 3 Snack Icons (Croissant, Donut, or Pie) in your Pantry.
Nice Try: There is no further cost reduction if you own multiple Pantry Upgrades with the same Special Resource Icon.
Earning Rewards
Some Customers will have Reward Icons shown below their Main and/or Side Orders. When you are done Fulfilling the Orders of a Happy or Neutral Customer, you'll immediately take the corresponding Rewards. You then move on to activate their Ability, as explained in the Activating Abilities section below.
Reminder: All Good Reviews should be taken from the City. Once the game end has been triggered because there are no Good Reviews left in the City, take any further-earned Good Reviews from the box.
If you ever need to count the Reward Icons that a Customer has, don't forget to count both the Main Reward Icons and the Side Reward Icons. Numerals do not count as an icon, but they do tell the count of their paired icon.
Serving Angry Customers
When you are done Fulfilling the Orders of an Angry Customer, remove their Angry Token but do not take any Rewards and do not activate their Ability. You are done Serving this Customer and play proceeds to the next player in turn order.
Activating Abilities
Every Customer has an Ability. Typically, you must activate the Ability after you are done successfully Fulfilling their Orders. However, as explained above, if they were Angry, you will not activate their Ability. Customers whose Main Order was not Fulfilled will also not have their Ability activated.
Exception: The Customer Abilities for Friends & Family Customers are optional.
If an Ability targets a Customer, the Ability definition will state whether they must be a Served or Unserved Customer. Unserved Customers are those to the right of the Serve Token in any player's Line. All other Customers in a player's Line are considered to be Served, even if their Orders were not successfully Fulfilled. This also means a Customer currently being Served is already considered to be Served as well. If there is no legal target for an Ability, you skip it.
More about Abilities: Refer to the Customer Abilities section for an explanation of all Customer Abilities.
Finish Serving
When everyone has finished Serving all the Customers in their Line, start discarding your Line from left to right in turn order. Where you discard each Customer to depends on if they are Happy, Angry, or Neutral, as described below. When you are finished, slide any remaining Customers in your Line to the left so there are no empty spaces between them.
Discarding Your Line
- If a Customer is Neutral, discard them to your Discard Pile.
- If a Customer is Happy, discard 1 of their Happy Tokens and take 1 Good Review from the City. The Customer will remain in your Line where they are. Any additional Happy Tokens will stay on the Customer.
- If a Customer is Angry, discard the Angry Token and take 1 Bad Review. Before you discard the Customer, check your total number of Bad Reviews, including the one you just took. If you have 3 or fewer Bad Reviews in total, discard the Customer to your own Discard Pile, otherwise discard the Customer to the Customer Discard Pile in the City.
Phase 4: Word of Mouth
During the Word of Mouth Phase, check the visible Customer Group Icons in your Café. This includes Group Icons found on any of your Style Upgrades, on your top-most Pantry Upgrade, and on any Customers still in your Line. You must take 1 Customer from the City that matches 1 of your visible Group Icons and add it to your Discard Pile. If you have multiple different Group Icons that match Customers in the City, and/or if there are multiple Customers of the same Group, you may choose which of those Customers you take. If you have no Group Icons or none of them match, you do not take a Customer.
Heads Up: Your Discard Pile, while visible, is never counted when looking for matching Group Icons during Word of Mouth. Customers there are not considered to be "in your Café" anymore.
Phase 5: End of Day
The End of Day Phase has 5 steps:
End of Day Steps
- Place your Baristas back on your Café Stoop.
- Give the Full Cup to the player who has the Empty Cup.
- The player with the Empty Cup* passes it to the player on their left.
- Refresh the City, as explained below.
- Start a New Day or end the game.
*Heads Up: The Empty Cup may seem unnecessary but it can actually be stolen during the course of a Day by activating the Early Bird Icon. This is explained in more detail in the Additional Icons section.
Refresh the City
To refresh the City, shift all of the Customer Cards, except those in the Discard Pile, to the right by one column, leaving the first column empty. Cards shifted to the Discard Pile always go on top, face up. Draw a new card from the City Customer Deck and place it in the empty first column. Then repeat this for the Pantry and Style Upgrade rows.
New Day
If the Game End was triggered, refer to the Game End section below, otherwise start a new Day.
Game End
Game End Conditions
There are 2 ways the Game End can be triggered:
Game End Conditions
- There are no more Good Reviews in the City...
- ...or any of the City Decks are empty.
The Game End is triggered when the last Good Review is taken from the City or any of the City Decks are empty. When either of these conditions are met, the Game End is triggered and all players finish the current Day as normal. If you earn additional Good Reviews but there are none left in the City, take them from the box. After the End of Day Phase, players tally their final scores as explained in the Scoring section.
Scoring
There are 5 steps required to figure out the players' scores:
End Game Scoring Steps
- Convert all remaining Happy Tokens into Good Reviews.
- For every Bad Review, discard 1 Good Review.
- Check Café Achievements.
- Sort Customers and check who won Customer Group Awards.
- Count all Good Reviews and, if required for a tie breaker, number of Resources.
Happy Tokens
Exchange all Happy Tokens on any Customers still in your Line for Good Reviews. Each Happy Token you discard earns you 1 Good Review.
Bad Reviews
For every Bad Review you have, return a Good Review to the box.
Café Achievements
Take 5 Good Reviews for every Café Achievement you unlocked during the game.
Group Awards
Take all your Customers from your Line, your Discard Pile and your Deck and sort them by Groups. Then, count up the number of visible Group Icons in your Café, including ones found on all Customers, all Style Upgrades and only your top-most Pantry Upgrade, ignoring any of your other Pantry Upgrades which have been covered up. If you have the majority of icons in any Group, you win the matching Award, which gives you 1 Good Review for every Customer you have of that Group. You do not get Good Reviews for Style or Pantry Upgrades you have of that Group. Awards are not exclusive, so in case of a tie, all tied players receive the Award, giving them 1 Good Review for every Customer they have of that Group.
Winner & Tie Breaker
Count all your Good Reviews. The player with the most Good Reviews wins. In case of a tie, the player with the least Resources wins. If there still is a tie remaining, the tied player who went last in original turn order wins.
Customer Abilities
Each Customer Group has a base Ability and a "Super" version that activates the base Ability twice.
Friends & Family
- Patience (always active, Oma & Lazy Friend): This Customer cannot have an Angry Token placed on them. This ability is always activated, whether you Fulfill the Customer's Main Order or not.
- Lose a Customer (Opa): Optionally choose any Customer from your Line, including this one, and add it to the top of the Customer Discard Pile in the City. Any tokens on them are discarded.
- Attract a Customer (Popular Friend): Optionally take any visible Customer from the City and add them to your own Discard Pile.
Hipsters
- Hype: Raise your Hype by 1, to a maximum of 5. If your Hype is already at 5, take 1 Good Review from the City instead of raising it.
- Super Hype: Activate the Hype Ability 2 separate times in a row.
Tourists
- Overcrowd: Lower your Hype by 1, to a minimum of 1, and then activate Word of Mouth, which is explained in the Additional Icons section.
- Super Overcrowd: Activate the Overcrowd Ability 2 separate times in a row.
Musicians
- Entertain: Place 1 Happy Token on any Customer in your Line, including this Customer.
- Super Entertain: Activate the Entertain Ability 2 separate times in a row. You may place both tokens on the same Customer.
Party Animals
- Walk-In: Take any visible Customer from the City and add them to the end of your Line.
- Super Walk-In: Activate the Walk-In Ability 2 separate times in a row.
Cyclists
- Delivery: Activate 1 icon from any of your Pantry Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've taken this turn. You cannot activate another Delivery Icon in this way, or any of the Base Icons on your Café Board.
- Super Delivery: Activate 2 separate icons from any of your Pantry Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've taken this turn. You cannot activate another Delivery Icon in this way, or any of the Base Icons on your Café Board.
Start Uppers
- Innovation: Activate 1 icon from any of your Style Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've taken this turn. You cannot activate another Innovation Icon in this way, or any of the Base Icons on your Café Board.
- Super Innovation: Activate 2 separate icons from any of your Style Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've taken this turn. You cannot activate another Innovation Icon in this way, or any of the Base Icons on your Café Board.
Additional Icons
- 1 Bean: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 1 Bean from your own Supply. On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 1 Bean from the City Supply and add it to your own Supply.
- 2 Beans: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 2 Beans from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- 3 Beans: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 3 Beans from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- 4 Beans: On Difficulty Tokens as Action Icons: Take 4 Beans from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- Scoop: Use the Scoop to take Beans from the City Supply. You only get one attempt per Scoop and all Beans dropped on the way back to your Café must be returned. The Scoop is an optional mechanic. If you don't want to play with the Scoop, take 6 Beans from the Supply instead.
- High Quality Coffee: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Beans from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Bean if this icon is in your Pantry.
- Strong Coffee: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Beans from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Bean if this icon is in your Pantry.
- 1 Milk: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 1 Milk from your own Supply to the City Supply. On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 1 Milk from the City Supply and add it to your own Supply.
- 2 Milk: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 2 Milk from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- 3 Milk: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 3 Milk from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- Soy Milk: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Milk from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Milk if this icon is in your Pantry.
- 1 Sugar: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 1 Sugar from your own Supply to the City Supply. On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 1 Sugar from the City Supply and add it to your own Supply.
- 2 Sugar: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 2 Sugar from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- 3 Sugar: On Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Take 3 Sugar from the City Supply and add them to your own Supply.
- Croissant: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Sugar from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Sugar if this icon is in your Pantry.
- Donut: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Sugar from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Sugar if this icon is in your Pantry.
- Pie: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Sugar from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Sugar if this icon is in your Pantry.
- Any Snack: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Pay 2 Sugar from your own Supply to the City Supply. Or pay 1 Sugar if you have a Croissant, Donut, or Pie Icon in your Pantry.
- 1 Good Review: Take 1 Good Review from the City. If there are no more Good Reviews in the City, take 1 from the box instead.
- 1 Bad Review: Take 1 Bad Review from the City.
- Happy: On Customer Cards as Reward Icons: Place a Happy Token on this Customer.
- Angry: On Customer Cards as Order Icons: Place an Angry Token on this Customer.
- Hype: Raise your Hype by 1, to a maximum of 5. If you are already at maximum Hype before raising it, take 1 Good Review from the City instead.
- Early Bird: Take the Empty Cup. If you already have it, raise your Hype by 1 instead. If you already have the Empty Cup and your Hype is already at maximum, take 1 Good Review from the City instead.
- Delivery: On Pantry Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Activate 1 icon from any of your Pantry Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've added this turn. The icon you activate may not be on the same Action Row as this Delivery Icon, nor may it be another Delivery Icon.
- Innovation: On Style Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Activate 1 icon from any of your Style Upgrade Cards, including an Upgrade you've added this turn. The icon you activate may not be on the same Action Row as this Innovation Icon, nor may it be another Innovation Icon.
- Connections: On Style Upgrade Cards as Action Icons: Connections can be activated alone or in combination with one of the City Action Base Icons (Attract a Customer, Upgrade Pantry, or Upgrade Style). For example: when resolving a City Action, if 2 of the 4 icons you chose to activate are Connections and Attract a Customer, you can combine their effects. If you do, secretly look at the top 3 cards of the City Customer Deck. These 3 cards are now visible to you and you may choose one of them when Attracting a Customer. After taking a Customer, put the remaining cards back in any order. Connections can be combined in the same way with Upgrade Pantry and Upgrade Style. Alternatively, if you choose to activate Connections by itself, draw the top 3 cards of any City Deck, secretly look at them, and put them back on top in any order without taking any.
- Customer Tracking: Draw the top 2 cards of your Customer Deck. You may discard any of them and put the rest back on top in any order. If your Deck is empty, shuffle your Discard Pile into a new Deck. If you do not have enough cards, draw as many as you have.
- Draw: Draw 1 Customer from the top of your Deck and add them to the end of your Line. If you cannot Draw because your Deck is empty, shuffle your Discard Pile into a new Deck first and then Draw. Or, if your Discard is also empty, take 1 Good Review from the City instead.
- Walk-In: Take any visible Customer from the City and add them to the end of your Line.
- Word of Mouth: Take any visible Customer from the City that matches any Group Icon in your Café and add it to your Discard Pile. A Group Icon is considered to be "in your Café" if it's on your top-most Pantry Upgrade, any of your Style Upgrades, or any of the Customers in your Line.
- Attract a Customer: Take any visible Customer from the City and add them to your own Discard Pile.
- Upgrade Pantry: Take any visible Pantry Upgrade from the City and add it to your Café's Pantry. Upgrading is explained in more detail in the Upgrading Actions section.
- Upgrade Style: Take any visible Style Upgrade from the City and add it to your Café's Style Area. Upgrading is explained in more detail in the Upgrading Actions section.
Quick Reference
The Rulebook closes with a condensed Quick Reference covering the Abilities of every Customer Group in the game, including the ones used only with the Expansion Rulebook's additional City variants.
Friends & Family
- Patience (always active): This Customer cannot have an Angry Token placed on them.
- Lose a Customer: Optionally discard any Customer from your Line to the City Discard.
- Attract a Customer: Optionally take any visible Customer from the City and add them to your Discard Pile.
- Connections: Optionally look at and reorder the top 3 cards of any City Deck.
- Lose a Bad Review: Optionally discard 1 of your Bad Reviews.
- Customer Tracking: Optionally draw the top 2 cards of your Customer Deck. You may discard any of them and put the rest back on top in any order.
- Entertain: Optionally place a Happy Token on any Customer in your Line.
Hipsters
- Hype: Raise your Hype by 1. If your Hype is already at 5, take 1 Good Review instead.
- Super Hype: Activate Hype twice.
Start Uppers
- Innovation: Activate 1 icon from any of your Style Upgrade Cards, excluding other Innovation Icons.
- Super Innovation: Activate Innovation twice. Each time you must pick a separate icon.
Cyclists
- Delivery: Activate 1 icon from any of your Pantry Upgrade Cards, excluding other Delivery Icons.
- Super Delivery: Activate Delivery twice. Each time you must pick a separate icon.
Party Animals
- Walk-In: Take any visible Customer from the City and add them to the end of your Line.
- Super Walk-In: Activate Walk-In twice.
Tourists
- Overcrowd: Lower your Hype by 1 and activate Word of Mouth.
- Super Overcrowd: Activate Overcrowd twice.
Students
- Early Bird: Take the Empty Cup or activate Hype if you already have it.
- Super Early Bird: Activate Early Bird twice.
Musicians
- Entertain: Place 1 Happy Token on any Customer in your Line.
- Super Entertain: Activate Entertain twice.
Funemployed Expats
- Meet Up: Add 1 Customer from your Discard to the end of your Line. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have. If your Discard is empty, activate Attract a Customer instead, but take no Good Reviews.
- Super Meet Up: Activate Meet Up twice.
Starving Artists
- Draw: Draw the top Customer from your Deck and add them to the end of your Line. If your Deck and Discard are both empty, take 1 Good Review instead.
- Super Draw: Activate Draw twice.
- Ability Boost (Starving Artists): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer you drew. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Tech Nerds
- DDoS Attack: Activate Customer Tracking on your own Deck or on another player's Deck.
- Super DDoS Attack: Activate DDoS Attack, but draw 3 cards instead of 2.
Authority Figures
- Arrest: Discard any Customer from any player's Line to their respective Discard Pile, except an Authority Figure.
- Super Arrest: Activate Arrest twice.
- Ability Boost (Authority Figures): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer you discarded. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Performers
- Acting: Activate the Ability of another, non-Performer Customer in your Line.
- Super Acting: Activate Acting twice. Each time you must pick a separate Customer.
- Ability Boost (Performers): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer whose Ability you copied. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Rebels
- Disrupt: Place an Angry Token on any Unserved Customer in any player's Line, excluding Rebels, Authority Figures, and already Angry Customers.
- Super Disrupt: Activate Disrupt twice.
- Ability Boost (Rebels): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer you placed an Angry Token on. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Happy Families
- Naptime: Place a Naptime Token on any Unserved Customer in your own Line, excluding Happy Families or already Napping Customers.
- Super Naptime: Activate Naptime twice.
Street Smarts
- Swap Customers: Swap any 2 Unserved Customers, including Customers in any players' Lines and the City.
- Super Swap Customers: Activate Swap Customers twice. The second time you must pick at least 1 new Customer.
- Ability Boost (Street Smarts): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer you swapped. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Criminal Minds
- Steal Resources: Steal 1 set of 3 different Resources from any other player. Pay all missing Resources yourself. If you can't, take 1 Bad Review.
- Super Steal Resources: Activate Steal Resources twice.
- Ability Boost (Criminal Minds): When activating this Customer's Ability, 1 set of Resources you steal does not have to be different.
Health Nuts
- Fair Trade: Trade any 2 of your Resources for 2 Green Beans.
- Super Fair Trade: Trade any 3 of your Resources for 3 Green Beans.
Upper Class
- Exclusivity: Discard the top Customer from your Deck. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
- Super Exclusivity: Activate Exclusivity twice.
Fashionistas
- Camp Out: Take any visible Customer from the City and add them to the top of your own Deck.
- Super Camp Out: Activate Camp Out twice.
- Ability Boost (Fashionistas): After activating this Customer's Ability, choose 1 Customer you took from the City. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
Hungry Media
- Newsflash: Place 3 Good Reviews among Awards that match Customers in your Line, or place 1 Bad Review on any Award. The Bad Review can come from your Café.
- Super Newsflash: Activate Newsflash, but place 5 Good Reviews or 2 Bad Reviews instead.
- Ability Boost (Hungry Media): When activating this Customer's Ability, do both effects instead of choosing 1.
Friendly Locals
- Regular: Take any Customer from your own Line, including this one, and put them back on top of your Deck. Take 1 Good Review per Reward Icon they have.
- Super Regular: Activate Regular twice.
Coffee Connoisseurs
- Roast: Give 3 Beans to 1 other player. The Beans must come from your own Supply if they can, otherwise they come from the City. Take 1 Good Review for each Bean that comes from your own Supply.
- Super Roast: Activate Roast but give 6 Beans instead of 3.
Board Game Geeks
- Play Board Games: Randomly draw 1 Board Game Token and activate its Bonus Icon, or put it on any Unserved Customer in your own Line.
- Super Play Board Games: Activate Play Board Games twice, but draw both Board Game Tokens at the same time.
- Ability Boost (Board Game Geeks): When activating this Customer's Ability, draw 3 Board Game Tokens instead of 1 or 2. You do not get to activate or place any extra Tokens, but you do get to choose between more Bonus Icons. When finished activating this Customer's Ability, discard any Board Game Tokens that are not used.
Additional Icons (Quick Reference)
- 1/2/3/4 Beans, Scoop, High Quality Coffee, Strong Coffee, 1/2/3 Milk, Soy Milk, 1/2/3 Sugar, Croissant, Donut, Pie, Any Snack, 1 Good Review, 1 Bad Review, Happy, Angry, Hype, Early Bird: Same effects as defined in the Additional Icons section above.
- Delivery, Innovation, Connections, Customer Tracking, Draw, Walk-In, Word of Mouth, Attract a Customer, Upgrade Pantry, Upgrade Style: Same effects as defined in the Additional Icons section above.
If you have any further questions that aren't covered in this Rulebook, please consult our Official Seize the Bean Rules FAQ online at: http://faq.seizethebean.com
Credits
This game is dedicated to our beloved Green Bean. This game was also made for Benjamin & Namy, whose story Seize the Bean is based on, and the Blaue Bohne crew for roasting with us!
- Initial design & concept: Dylan Howard Cromwell
- Co-created by: Josh Wilson
- Co-designed by: Andy Couch
- Art & lead graphic design: Mario Fernández García-Pulgar
- Lead development: Dylan Howard Cromwell
- Final development: Andy Couch, Eva Becker-Gibson, Joder Illi, Kilian Klebes, Orestis Leontaritis, & Remigi Illi
- Solo mode designed by: Dylan Howard Cromwell
- Final rulebook written by: Dylan Howard Cromwell, Eva Becker-Gibson, Kilian Klebes, & Orestis Leontaritis
- Manufactured by: Panda Manufacturing
Problems or Questions? Did you discover a printing error or typo? Missing a piece in your game or received something damaged? Fear not! If you send us an email at [email protected] our Support Pandas would be happy to help you out!
First English Edition, First Printing, December 2020. Published by Quality Beast.