Smoothie Wars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Overview
• Game Components
• Setup
• Game Board Layout
• Quick Start
  • Basic Game
• Step 1: Roll Die
  • Chance Event
  • Weather
• Step 2: Complete Strategy Card
  • Where to Sell
  • Number to Sell
  • Price
  • Misleading Other Players
• Step 3: Place Cards
• Step 4: Calculate Score
• Step 5: Complete Scorecard
• Taking a Loan
• Winning and Losing
• Advanced Game
  • Chance and Weather Events
  • Buying Additional Locations
  • Go Early

Goal of the Game

Smoothie Wars is a strategic game in which players compete to sell fresh fruit smoothies at different locations on a tropical island. The game takes place over an imaginary week, with each turn representing one day.

The goal is to finish the week with the most money from selling smoothies.

The player with the most cash at the end wins.

Overview

Each turn, players must use their strategic skills to make three decisions in secret while second-guessing other players doing the same:

• the location at which to sell smoothies,
• the number of smoothies to sell at that location, and
• the price of their smoothies.

Players may banter, bargain, and verbally mislead others about their intentions before each turn.

Game Components

• 1 game board
• 16 Strategy cards
• 20 Chance cards
• 8 Scorecards
• 8 wipe clean pens
• 1 die

Setup

• Lay out the game board within reach of all players.
• Shuffle the Chance cards and place them face-down on the board where indicated.
• Each player takes one Strategy card, one Scorecard, and a pen.

Game Board Layout

• The board shows the entire island. There are four locations of interest to any smoothie entrepreneur: City, Residential, Beach, and National Park.
• Each location has a different Demand for smoothies. Demand is the maximum number of smoothies the thirsty islanders will buy at that location that day. Each location has a different baseline smoothie Demand each day, as shown by the numbers in the boxes from Monday (M) to Sunday (S).
• Demand may change due to Chance events or Weather (see next).

Beach daily smoothie Demand, as printed on the board sign in the rulebook: Monday 60, Tuesday 60, Wednesday 60, Thursday 120, Friday 240, Saturday 360, Sunday 300. The rulebook prints this sign for the Beach only; the baseline Demand values for City, Residential and National Park are not printed in the rules text and must be read from the game board.

Quick Start

Basic Game

Start on Monday (M). Roll die. Apply changes to Demand from Chance or Weather events.

1. Roll die.
2. Each player completes their Strategy card, with location, number of smoothies to sell, and price.
3. When all players are ready, place Strategy cards simultaneously face-up on locations.
4. Calculate the sales, costs, and profits for each player based on the game rules.
5. Write down your own results on your Scorecard. Repeat move for the next day.

Step 1: Roll Die

Starting on Monday (M), any player rolls the die. For each subsequent day, the next player sitting clockwise rolls the die, and so on. One roll result applies to all players for each turn.

The die determines any Chance events or Weather events that may change the baseline Demand numbers shown at the locations. Chance events affect one location. By contrast, the Weather causes changes in Demand in all locations.

Chance Event

If you roll the "Chance" icon (a question mark), take the top card from the Chance card deck, read it aloud, and place it face-up on the deck.

The Chance card affects the Demand at the relevant location; for example as shown, it subtracts 20 from the baseline number shown on the board at the Residential location.

At the end of the turn, place the used Chance card face-down at the bottom of the deck.

Example Chance card shown in the rulebook: Residential. "Road works cause disruption!" Demand -20.

Weather

If you roll the "Sun" icon, Demand that day is doubled across all locations.

If you roll the "Rain" icon, Demand is halved across all locations that day.

Step 2: Complete Strategy Card

Each turn, each player must make three decisions in secret: where to sell smoothies, how many to sell, and the price of the smoothies. These decisions are written on the Strategy card.

Where to Sell

You can only choose one location each turn.

Number to Sell

You start the game with $100.

Each smoothie costs $1 to make. This cost is incurred whether the smoothie is sold or not.

The maximum number of smoothies a player can make on the first turn is 100.

You may choose not to spend all, or any, of your money each turn.

Price

You can sell each smoothie for $1, $2, $3, or $4 each turn. No other prices are allowed. The same price applies to all smoothies you make that turn.

The example shows a completed Strategy card selling 20 smoothies at $2 each at the Beach.

Misleading Other Players

You may vocalize, trash-talk, or otherwise signal your (true or false) intentions to others before placing your Strategy card each turn. Players may also make deals with each other. However, the smoothie business is ruthless: no deal is binding!

Step 3: Place Cards

Once all Strategy cards have been completed players simultaneously place their cards face up next to the intended locations. The Strategy cards cannot now be changed.

Step 4: Calculate Score

All players should analyze each location together and agree on the sales, costs, and profits for any Strategy cards at that location. Do the following in order:

1. Calculate sales: multiply the number of smoothies you sold that turn by the $ price per smoothie.
2. Calculate costs: multiply the number of smoothies you made that turn by $1.
3. Calculate profit (or loss): Subtract costs from sales.

Example: Vitamin Val sold all 10 smoothies for $2 each in the example shown. She made sales of $20 ($2 x 10) and after costs of $10 ($1 per smoothie made), a profit of $10 ($20 sales - $10 costs). These numbers are written on the Scorecard (see Step 5).

Where two or more sellers compete at the same location on a given day, the cheapest smoothies always sell out first, followed by the next cheapest, and so on until Demand is fully met or supply is exhausted.

When more than one seller has the same price at the same location, Demand is distributed evenly at that price across those sellers until the seller with the smallest volume sells out.

If only one seller remains and there is still excess Demand, then Demand is allocated to that seller until either Demand is fully met or their supply is exhausted.

If equal allocation across players at the same price leaves one extra smoothie unallocated, that extra smoothie is wasted and not sold.

When the number of smoothies reaches the location's Demand that day, no more can be sold. All unsold smoothies are discarded, but their sellers still pay their costs, thus making a loss on the unsold smoothies.

Step 5: Complete Scorecard

Each player writes their score for that day on their Scorecard. Add the profit or subtract the loss from the Starting Cash to calculate your Ending Cash.

The Ending Cash becomes the Starting Cash for the next day, as per the example.

Your Scorecards are not secret and can be viewed by the other players at any time.

Return to Step 1 and repeat for the next day until the end of the game.

Taking a Loan

To support business on the island, the local government offers cash loans to smoothie sellers.

In this scheme, you can borrow $100 once per game. Of course, like any loan, you must pay it back with interest. If you take the loan, you must repay $130 at the end of the game. Subtract $130 from your final score.

The decision to take a loan must be announced at the end of your turn, adding the $100 to that turn's Ending Cash (and transferring to the next turn's Starting Cash). Mark the 'Loan' reminder box on your Scorecard as shown.

If your Ending Cash is negative at the end of your turn before you take the loan, subtract it from the $100 loan when calculating the new Starting Cash.

No loan is possible if your cash falls below -$100. You go out of business, and you are out of the game. Not even the government will lend money to a player that reckless.

In addition, if a player has already taken a Loan and their Ending Cash then goes below zero, that player goes out of business and is out of the game.

Winning and Losing

The player with the most cash at the end of Sunday, after any bank loan deduction, wins the game.

If players' scores are tied at the end, all tied players share the victory.

If all but one player goes out of business, the last remaining player automatically wins.

Advanced Game

For an added challenge, the Advanced game offers a variety of optional rules. Players should agree at the start of a game whether they wish to adopt all or some of the Advanced rules.

Chance and Weather Events

Life is full of surprises. The Weather, especially on a tropical island, is unpredictable, and other unexpected things happen. This makes running a small business difficult.

Players complete and place their Strategy card(s) before the die roll to reflect the unexpected.

All other rules stay the same.

Buying Additional Locations

Each day from Thursday to Sunday inclusive, any player can elect to purchase a single, additional Strategy card for $20 each time. By purchasing a Strategy card, a player has $20 less to spend on smoothies that day.

You must declare the additional purchase of a Strategy card at the start of your turn before Strategy cards are completed. Mark the box on the Scorecard as shown, adding $20 to your costs that turn.

The normal rules relating to the completion of a Strategy card apply to this second card, but you can make different choices regarding location, number, and price with each card.

To help complete the scores when using additional Strategy cards, players can write the sales, costs, and profit for each card in the box shown on the Strategy card before adding both cards together to calculate the total score.

Go Early

As in life, it can pay to get up early before everyone else. Once per game, and with only one Strategy card, each player can 'go early' to a location on a turn and start selling smoothies before other players arrive.

The 'go early' option generates an immediate bonus profit of $50, provided that no other player elects to go early to the same location on the same turn.

If more than one player 'goes early' to the same location on the same day, then none of the players benefit from the advantage, and the 'go early' option is wasted for those players in that game.

You do not need to declare your 'go early' intention in advance to other players and may wish to mislead the other players about your plan.

When completing your Strategy card, you should mark your card as shown to indicate that the 'go-early' option is being applied that turn.

Successful use of 'go early' provides a pure bonus in addition to any sales, costs, and profits calculated normally from the Strategy card. You score your Strategy card like normal, then add the "go early" bonus to the profit or loss on the Scorecard as shown below.