How to Play Café da Tarde

Game Objective

In Afternoon Tea, players compete to collect the best sweets and accompaniments for their tea. The goal is to form sets of identical cards or with wildcards, protect your sweets from being stolen, and accumulate the highest score by the end of the game. The winner is the one with the highest sum of points on the cards in their stack.

Preparation (Setup)

1. The game is for 3 to 6 players. Choose who will deal the cards.
2. Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards to each player.
3. Place the remaining cards in the center of the table as the draw pile.
4. Flip the first card from the draw pile to start the discard pile (it must be a sweet).
5. The player who most recently ate a sweet starts the game.

Note: Special cards cannot be available for purchase. If they appear, they must be re-shuffled.

Game Flow

Each player, on their turn, must perform one of the available actions: form a set, discard, attempt to steal, split the bill, or use We're Closed. The game continues until the draw pile runs out and everyone plays their cards. Passing a turn is not allowed.

Actions and How to Play

Form a Set

You can form a set in three ways:

• Group two identical cards from your hand.
• Group a card from your hand with an identical card from the top of the discard pile.
• Use a wildcard (Coffee, Tea, Chai, or Cheese Bread) in place of one of the cards.

Rules: The wildcard must be placed below the sweet in the set. It is not allowed to use two wildcards or more than two cards. Each new set is stacked alternating between horizontal and vertical orientation.

Discard

Discard a card from your hand to the discard pile and draw a new one from the draw pile to maintain 5 cards in hand.

Attempt to Steal

To steal another player's top set, use a matching sweet or a wildcard. The defender can protect themselves with another card of the same type. The winner takes the set and all cards used in the challenge.

Tip: Protect valuable sets by covering them with another set.

Split the Bill

This special card splits a player's top set, distributing one card to each participant. The Split the Bill card is removed from the game after use.

We're Closed

Place this card on your stack to block steals. Counts as an action.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when the draw pile runs out and everyone plays their cards. Sum the values of the cards in your stack to calculate the score. You can choose between:

• Quick Coffee: Highest score after one round wins.
• Best of 3 Coffees: Highest score after 3 rounds wins.

Tips for Winning

• Protect valuable sets by covering them with other sets or using We're Closed.
• Use wildcards strategically to form sets that are difficult to steal.
• Pay attention to special cards like Split the Bill and Pepper Jelly to sabotage opponents.