Supermarché
Supermarché Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
As a grocery store owner, your goal is to make the most money over six rounds. Each round consists of five phases: Preparation, Delivery, Stocking, Customer, and Waste. For the Preparation Phase, you'll deal out five customer cards and the new Distribution Center Card. During the Delivery Phase, you'll buy food from the Distribution Center. Every round the costs at the Distribution Center change, so make sure to buy wisely. The food types in your grocery store are Produce, Bakery, Dairy, Dry Goods, and Frozen. During the Stocking Phase, you'll stock the shelves and hope to offer your customers the best selection. You can also put items on sale during the Stocking Phase. Customers come and shop during the Customer Phase. Each round, you will have five possible customers, and each one will buy a different number of items. If you do not have what a customer wants, you will lose sales and suffer a penalty. Make sure to plan wisely because the food will spoil if it isn't sold. You'll get rid of spoiled food during the Waste Phase, lose whatever money you spent on it, and get penalized. The game ends after six rounds, and hopefully you've made a profit. However, if at any time, your money drops below $0, you lose.
Components
What You Need to Print (Six Pages)
- Game Board
- 30 Customer Cards
- 6 Distribution Center Cards
- 5 Sale Tokens and 2 Money Tokens
What You Need to Provide
- 2 6-sided Dice
- 50 cubes (5 colors of 10 cubes each)
- 2 pawns
Simply print the sheets, cut out the components, and you are ready to go. The colors of cubes and pawns do not matter. An optional sheet of food tokens is available if you do not wish to use cubes.
Setup
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The Game Board: place the two halves of the game board on the table.
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Name Your Store: It's important that your grocery store has a name. On the bottom left of the Store side of the board is a welcome mat and a place to write the name of your store. It says, "Welcome to ____________." Go ahead and think of a name, then write it in.
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The Money Track: Place one pawn on the $15 space of the Money Track. You begin the game with fifteen dollars.
For an easier game begin with $30. For a harder game begin with $0.
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The Round Track: Place the other pawn on the 1 space of the Round Track.
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The Distribution Center: The Distribution Center has boxes for each of the five food types. Choose which color of cubes you would like to represent each food type and place all ten of each cube in the designated box.
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Place Starting Foods: Place three of each food into the Store. Place the food cubes into the matching box with the earliest expiration date. You begin the game with the store fully stocked.
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The Distribution Center Cards: Shuffle the six Distribution Center Cards and place them face-down to the right of the game board.
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The Customer Cards: Shuffle all 30 Customer Cards and place them face-down to the left of the game board.
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The Sale Tokens, Money Tokens, and 6-Sided Dice: Put the Sale Tokens, Money Tokens, and the 6-sided dice next to the board for now.
You are now ready to play!
Spending and Earning Money
The Money Track is where you keep track of the money you've spent and earned. At any time during the game, you can look at the Money Track and see how much money you have. When you spend or lose money, move the pawn backward on the track. When you make money, move the pawn forward on the track. At the end of the game, you will see how much money you've made by the pawn's position on the Money Track.
If at any time you have less than $0, you lose. The game ends and the store closes down.
There are two Money Tokens: a 100-Dollar Token and a 200-Dollar Token. Use these to keep track of your progress along the Money Track. When you earn over 100 or 200 dollars, put the 100 or 200-Dollar Token near the top of the board. These tokens simply act as a reminder as to how much money you have.
The Game Turn
The Game Phases
The game lasts six rounds. Each round consists of five phases. Once you complete all five phases, move on to the next round. After six rounds, the game ends.
- The Preparation Phase
- The Delivery Phase
- The Stocking Phase
- The Customer Phase
- The Waste Phase
The Preparation Phase
During the preparation phase, you simply set up the cards for the coming turn and move the pawn forward on the Round Track.
At the beginning of each round, starting in Round 2, move the pawn forward on the Round Track.
Customer Cards
Take the top five Customer Cards and place them face-down in front of you. Then flip over any two of the Customer Cards you wish. You will now have two face-up Customer Cards and three face-down Customer cards. It does not matter which two of the five cards are face-up.
Distribution Center Cards
Turn over the top Distribution Center Card. This card displays the Distribution Center costs for the round.
The Delivery Phase
Your grocery store needs food to sell, and the Delivery Phase is when you buy food from the Distribution Center. The face-up Distribution Center Card tells you the costs for each type of food. Decide how many and what types of food you want. Move the pawn backward along the Money Track the amount of money you spent. (Don't forget, you can never go below $0.) Next, take the cubes you just purchased and put them in the appropriate boxes in your Stock Room.
During the 1st turn, you will have a fully-stocked store, but nothing in your stock room. It is okay to purchase foods during the Delivery Phase to fill up your Stock Room.
The Distribution Center Card
Each Distribution Center Card has two important pieces of information:
- The type of food available for purchase.
- The cost of each food type.
Expiration Dates
Each food type has an expiration date and only lasts a certain number of rounds. In order to keep track of when a food expires, the Stock Room contains seven boxes that indicate the round in which foods expire. Place the food cubes you just purchased into the appropriate box. These boxes will help you keep track of when food expires and where to place them on the board.
Example: Dry Good cubes purchased in Round 1 expire in Round 4. Dairy cubes purchased in Round 3, expire in Round 5.
It is Round 4. The current prices at the Distribution Center are Produce: $2, Bakery: $3, Dairy: $1, Dry Goods: $3, and Frozen: $3. You buy six Produce cubes, four Bakery cubes, two Dairy cubes, three Dry Goods cubes, and two Frozen cubes. The cost of everything is $41. The pawn is currently at 72 on the Money Track, so you move it backward to space 31. Next, you put the cubes in the correct boxes in the Stock Room. It is Round 4 so the Produce cubes are placed in the "Expires Every Round" box; the Bakery cubes are placed in the "Expires After Round 5" box; the Dairy cubes are placed in the "Expires After Round 6" box; and the Dry Goods and Frozen cubes are placed in the "Never Expires" box.
Expiration Dates per Food Type
- Produce expires at the end of each round.
- Bakery expires after two rounds.
- Dairy expires after three rounds.
- Dry Goods expire after four rounds.
- Frozen never expires.
When counting the number of rounds before a food expires, always include the round it was purchased.
Only place cubes in the "Expires After Round 6" box if the cubes actually expire at the end of Round 6.
The Stocking Phase
Now it's time to stock your shelves. Decide which foods you want to put in your store. The types and amounts of food you choose are very important. If you are out of stock of something that a customer wants, the round will end.
There is a limit to the amount of food cubes you can have in the Stock Room and Store at any time. You are allowed 20 total cubes in the Stock Room and only 15 total cubes in the Store, so choose wisely. Also, once cubes are in the Store, you may not move them back to the Stock Room.
When you move food from the Stock Room to the Store, place them in the appropriate location and in the boxes with the correct expiration dates. This will help you remember when foods expire.
During the 1st turn, you will have a fully-stocked store. The Stocking Phase is already done for you.
Putting Items on Sale
Putting food on sale is necessary to stay ahead of the competition. It also helps to sell through food that might expire. Plus, it's always better to sell something at a loss than lose your whole investment. If you want to put something on sale, it must be done during the Stocking Phase. If there are customers in the Store, it is too late to put something on sale. This will be explained during the Customer Phase section of the rules.
The Customer Phase
Open the doors, let the customers in, and sell your food! To begin the Customer Phase, look at your two face-up Customer Cards. They are the first two customers who will shop at your store this round.
The Customer Card
Each Customer Card has five important pieces of information.
- The customer's name.
- The Coupon indicates the customer can use a Coupon.
- The Shopping Cart indicates the number of items the customer will buy.
- The number range used for purchases.
- The penalty for not completing the card.
The Shopping Trip
You will have five Customer Cards spread out in front of you. Two of them will be face-up and three will be face-down. During the Preparation Phase, you drew the five face-down cards and chose two to turn face-up. You now have an idea of who is shopping at your store during this turn. Three of the customers are a mystery, but you know two of them.
Choose one of the two face-up cards and have that customer shop. Once that card is completed, turn over one of the face-down Customer Cards. Again, you have two cards to choose from. Continue like this until no face-down cards remain. Once all cards are completed, the Customer Phase is over.
How a Customer Shops
Each food's price is printed on the game board next to the food's location. Unless the food is on sale, the price of food will always be the same.
Food Prices
- Produce: $3
- Bakery: $4
- Dairy: $4
- Dry Goods: $10
- Frozen: $7
Each customer has a different number range that determines how he or she shops. The number range is printed at the bottom of each customer card and is different for everyone.
For each item a customer wishes to buy, roll both 6-sided dice.
According to the total of both dice, you have two options for buying food. The customer can either buy one food at normal price or some customers can use a Coupon and buy two foods for a discounted price.
Normal Price
Use the total of both dice and find which food is purchased according the number range. The customer buys that food. Place the cube in the customer's Shopping Cart, then move the pawn forward on the Money Track.
Example: It's Regina's turn to shop. You roll two 6-sided dice and the total is 8. According to her number range, an 8 buys Bakery. You decide to buy one Bakery cube. Put the cube in the first space of Regina's Shopping Cart and move the pawn 4 spaces forward on the Money Track.
Couponing
Instead of using the total of both dice to buy one item, you can sometimes use a Coupon. If there is a Coupon symbol at the top left of the Customer Card, the customer can shop using a Coupon. Customers with a Coupon can go Couponing as many times as there are Coupon Symbols printed on the Customer Card.
Example: Regina has one Coupon on her Customer Card; therefore she can only use the Couponing option once. Jackie has two Coupons; therefore, she can use the Couponing option twice.
When a customer uses a Coupon, she buys two items instead of one. Because of the Coupon, she also saves $2. When using a Coupon, reference the Coupon Chart on the game board. Find the two numbers on the bottom row that correspond to the total of the 6-sided dice. For both numbers, find which foods are purchased according to the number range. The customer buys both foods. Place the cubes in the customer's Shopping Cart, then move the pawn forward on the Money Track.
Example: It's Regina's turn to shop and she wants to buy three items. She has a Coupon. You roll two 6-sided dice and the total is 8. It's Regina's first of three items, so she has room to use a Coupon. Instead of buying a Bakery cube, you decide to go Couponing. You find the number 8 on the top row of the Coupon Chart and see that below it are the numbers 7 and 12. That means Regina buys a Produce cube and a Dry Goods cube. Because she has not made a purchase yet, there is room in her Shopping Cart to buy both items. Place both cubes in Regina's Shopping Cart. Also move the pawn forward 11 spaces on the Money Track. (Remember: Dry Goods sell for $10 and Produce sells for $3. However, because Regina used a Coupon, she saved two dollars, making the total $11.)
Important Rules About Couponing
- The customer must have a Coupon to go Couponing.
- Both items need to be in stock to use a Coupon.
- Both items purchased using a Coupon count toward the item total in the Shopping Cart. If there isn't room for both items, a Coupon cannot be used.
- If both numbers fall within the number range for the same item the customer buys two of that item.
Example of a customer's full shopping trip: The pawn is at 54 on the Money Track. The current Customer Card is Gary. He has space for four items in his Shopping Cart and has two Coupons. For the first item, you roll both 6-sided dice and the total is 5. You decide to buy one Dairy cube. Take the Dairy cube and place it in the first space of his Shopping Cart. You made $4 by selling that Dairy cube, so move the pawn forward 4 spaces. For his second item, you roll a nine. Gary has a Coupon so you decide to let him go Couponing and buy two items. The two numbers on the Coupon Chart are 5 and 11. Therefore, Gary buys another Dairy cube and a Frozen cube. Place the two cubes in the second and third space of Gary's Shopping Cart. You made another $4 for the Dairy cube and $7 for the Frozen cube. However, Gary saved $2 by using the Coupon. Move the pawn forward 9 spaces on the Money Track. For Gary's final item, you roll a 7. Even though Gary has two Coupons, he cannot use the second one because his Shopping Cart only has room for one more item. That means you buy a Produce. Place the Produce cube on the final space in the Shopping Cart. Move the pawn forward 3 spaces on the Money Track. Gary is finished. He spent a total of $16 during his shopping trip. The pawn is now at 70 on the Money Track.
Running Out of Food
If at any time, you do not have the food indicated by the dice, the customer leaves out of frustration and doesn't buy anything.
Three Things Happen When You Fail to Complete a Customer Card
- You receive a penalty for not completing the Customer Card and lose the amount of money printed on the Card. The customer is so upset by the incompetency of you and your employees that he tells everyone he knows about his terrible experience.
- You lose the money the customer spent during his trip.
- You lose the food in the customer's Shopping Cart. He was so upset that he left his cart in the middle of an aisle. By the time one of your employees found it, the food was spoiled, smashed, or lost. Leave the cubes on the Customer Card.
Example: It's Chris's turn and he has room for four items in his Shopping Cart. The first item was a Produce. The second item was a Frozen. Chris has spent $10 so far. For the third item, you roll a 10. You are out of Bakery cubes. You suffer a -$9 penalty for not having the food Chris wanted. You also lose the $10 Chris already spent. Move the pawn backward 19 spaces on the Money Track. The Frozen food spoiled and the Produce was smashed by another customer who was playing with it. You leave both cubes on the Customer Card. Chris's shopping trip is over, and you move on to the next customer.
There are three cards in the game that have both a penalty and a bonus. If you cannot complete the card, you receive the penalty as usual. However, if you complete the card, you receive the bonus.
Sales
There is one Sale Token for each food type. Use the tokens to put food on sale. However, you can only put something on sale during the Stocking Phase. Each food type can only go on sale once during the game, and only one food can be on sale at a time.
You are required to put three different foods on sale during the course of the game. However, that does not stop you from putting additional foods on sale.
When a food is on sale, the price is lowered. Also, because of the Sale, customers use the money they saved to buy more food. Most of the time, customers don't understand that they are spending more money than they saved, but we in the grocery business don't tell them that do we? When food is on sale, customers often buy extra food. It's a spending spree!
Buying an Initial On-Sale Food
When food is on sale, each customer may buy one on-sale food at the beginning of his or her shopping trip. This happens before the dice are rolled. Take the on-sale food cube and place it to the left of the spaces in the Shopping Cart, then begin the customer's shopping trip as normal.
Example: Dairy is on sale. Mo has room for one item in his Shopping Cart. You decide to let Mo buy an on-sale Dairy cube at the beginning of his trip. Take a Dairy cube from the Store and place it to the left of the 1 space in Mo's Shopping Cart. Move the pawn 2 spaces forward on the Money Track, and then continue on to his shopping trip as normal.
Buying an On-Sale Food During a Shopping Trip
During a shopping trip, Sales work a little differently. If the dice roll causes a customer to buy an on-sale food, she actually buys three items. When a customer buys an on-sale food, she also buys both items on the Coupon Chart.
Example: Phil has room for four items in his Shopping Cart. For the first item, he buys a sale item. That means he buys three items at once. He places the three cubes in his Shopping Cart and still has room for one more item.
The customer does not save the $2 because she is not using a Coupon. The customer also does not need to have room for every item. Place all the cubes in the Shopping Cart even if there are more than will fit. This is an exception to the rule.
Example: Frozen is on sale. It's Diane's turn, and she has already purchased two of her four items. For her third roll, you roll an 11, which is Frozen. Because Frozen is on sale, Diane also buys the two items listed on the Coupon Chart. The two other numbers are 2 and 9, which means she buys a Dairy and a Bakery. If there are not enough spaces, that's okay, she still buys all three items. She is allowed to buy all five items because of the Sale. Place the three cubes in her Shopping Cart. Diane spent $5 for the Frozen, and $4 for both the Dairy and Bakery. Move the pawn 13 spaces forward on the Money Track. Her shopping trip is now over.
However, if all three items aren't available, the Customer Card is not completed. You receive the penalty, refund the money, lose the cubes, and the customer's shopping trip is over.
If using a Coupon causes a customer to buy an on-sale food, she only purchases the two items from the Coupon Chart. She does not buy all three items.
Restocking
Once per round you are allowed to restock your Store. Take the cubes from the Stock Room and place them in the Store. Remember, there is a 15-cube limit to the amount of food you can have in the Store at any one time.
You must have at least one food cube in the Stock Room to Restock during the Customer Phase.
Restocking During a Customer's Shopping Trip
You are allowed to Restock during a customer's shopping trip. If you decide to do so, it ends his shopping trip. You do not complete the card and you receive the penalty. However, you do not lose the money already spent by the customer.
Example: For George's first two items, he buys a Frozen and a Bakery. You realize you are out of Bakery cubes. The upcoming customer really wants Bakery, and you do not want to risk being out of stock. You decide to Restock during George's shopping trip. His trip has now ended, and because you weren't able to complete his card, you suffer a -$8 penalty. You do not have to refund the money he already spent. You move 4 Bakery cubes from the Stock Room to the Store. While you are at it, you also move 1 Frozen cube and 2 Dry Goods cubes. That makes a total of 14 cubes in the Store. You are still under the 15-cube limit. Now, you move onto the next Customer Card.
The customer must purchase at least one item before you can Restock during his shopping trip. Once a Shopping Cart is full, you can no longer Restock during the shopping trip.
You must decide to Restock before rolling the dice for the next item. If you roll the dice and realize you are out of a good, it is too late to Restock and the customer's shopping trip is over.
Restocking After a Customer's Shopping Trip
If you Restock after a customer's shopping trip, you must discard a face-down Customer Card without looking at it. If there are no face-down Customer Cards, you may not Restock between customers.
Restocking occurs after the completion of a Customer Card but before you flip over the next face-down Customer Card.
Example: Martha's done shopping. You now have two completed Customer Cards, one face-up Customer Card, and two face-down Customer Cards. You decide to Restock. After you have Restocked the store, you discard one of your face-down Customer Cards. You discard one of the cards without looking at it, then flip over the remaining face-down Customer Card and continue shopping.
The End of the Customer Phase
After you have completed all five Customer Cards, the Customer Phase is over. Remove all the cubes on the Customer Cards and place them back in the Distribution Center. Place all Customer Cards face-down in the discard pile. It's time to move on to the Waste Phase.
The Waste Phase
After all customers have finished shopping you must discard the expired food. Find every food cube that expires at the end of the current round and remove the cubes from both the Store and the Stock Room. Put the cubes back in the Distribution Center.
You lose $1 for every expired cube you discard. You must pay an employee to search through and find expired food. Discarding food wastes product and employee time, which is why you are penalized for mismanaging your grocery store.
Example: It's the end of round three. Among all your stock, you have three Produce cubes, five Bakery cubes, and two Dairy cubes that expire. Produce expires at the end of every round, the Bakery cubes were purchased during Round 2 so they expire at the end of Round 3, and the Dairy cubes were purchased during the first round so they also expire at the end of Round 3. The other cubes do not expire yet, so there is nothing you need to do with them. Remove the 10 cubes and return them to the Distribution Center. Then move the pawn backward 10 spaces on the Money Track because you discarded 10 cubes.
Even at the end of the game, you must complete the Waste Phase. Only Waste cubes that expire at the end of Round 6. If cubes last longer than Round 6, do not waste them out.
Example: You bought some Dairy cubes during Round 5. Because Dairy lasts for three rounds, they would not expire until Round 7. Do not waste those Dairy cubes at the end of the game.
End of the Game
The game ends in two ways. The game ends after six full rounds, or if at any time, your score dips below $0, your store closes down and you lose.
Victory and Defeat
Once the game is over check how much money you made and see how successful your store was.
Less than $0: Defeat You are really bad at this. It's too bad you quit your day job to open a grocery store. You will most likely lose the store and life savings and house in the next few months. The creditors are knocking on the door.
$0 to $50: Slightly Less Defeat Sure, there is some money in the bank, but if you don't figure out some new strategies soon, your store and lively-hood will be in danger. Let's be honest, running a grocery store is not your life's purpose.
$51 to $100: Very Minor Victory Your grocery store is crawling along. You've made a little profit, even though it isn't much. You've had many sleepless nights because a customer might slip and fall. Then you'll be in real trouble. If you have to pay your insurance deductible, you won't have enough to pay your employees.
$101 to $150: Minor Victory Your store is coming along. Well done, making some profit. You are finding that your sleepless nights are less frequent. Be careful because one wrong move and you could easily find yourself in a downward spiral.
$151 to $200: Victory You're a success! Your store is making money, organizations around town want to partner with you, and pretty soon you can buy your employees health insurance. Most importantly, you're sleeping like a baby until the assistant manager calls you at 3:30 in the morning. He forgot his keys, again.
$201 to $250: Incredible Victory You are the toast of the town and the most popular place around. People line up to shop in the morning, it's everyone's stop on their way home from work, and you have more applicants than you know what to do with. Opening up some new locations is definitely in your future.
$251 and Up: Supreme Victory Whatever you did before owning a grocery store was a waste of your life. This is what you are meant to do. Your face is on magazine covers, you are hired to speak at trade shows, and in the short time you've been open, three other grocery stores have gone out of business. Your next move is to become the primary sponsor of the professional sports team!