Welcome Mefi folks :) I just realized I don't have much of the rules written here. :( I'll have to work on that soon!

You are in competition to serve orders (recipes) of customers (drawn cards) and make a drink (hand).

Here is the google docs spreadsheet I've started to help create the deck and figure out what cards are needed and how many.

--- Currently there are 3 decks. A drink deck that includes all the mixed drinks to be served. An ingredient deck that includes all the various ingredients (Vlad's Vodka, Guillermo el Gusano Tequila, etc...) and a karma deck that has various actions (positive or negative) to play on self or each other.

I have ordered a set of cards for alpha-testing from The Game Crafter. They should be arriving in a couple weeks. They are already here a mere 2 days after ordering!

Rules - Alpha/Brainstorm

A game for 2-4 Players

Content:

3 decks (Ingredient, Drink, Karma)
100 coins representing $1.00 each

Game has 12 Turns. Each player's turn consists of multiple phases.

Setup:

Deal 4 cards to each player. Give each player 20 happy hour coins in their personal money pile so they can buy extra cards.

Place, face up, in the center of the table, a number of cards from the drink deck equal to the number of players plus 2 (so for 2 players you have 4 cards, 3 players=5 cards, and 4 players= 6 cards)

The first player draws one free card to their hand so they now have 5 cards in hand.

At any time, If a player wishes, they can make a drink if they have the requisite cards in hand and obtain the pay for that drink (see “payout”). The basic rules state that only 1 drink can be served per player per turn.

Phase 1) Player can discard any cards that they wish at this point.

Phase 2) They may purchase extra cards from the ingredient deck up to a hand of 10 cards, with a cost of one happy hour coin per card.

Phase 2b) They may discard any more cards from the drawn cards if they wish, and can purchase, again at 1 coin per card, more cards, up to a hand of 10.

If, after this sequence of 2 discards and 2 draw phases, they still cannot or wish not to play a drink, they can pass to the next player.

Serving a drink:

If the requisite cards are in hand, the player can place the cards that make the drink down to get the money listed on the card drink card.

Each drink card has a “base cost” in the green box that indicates the minimum price a player receives for a drink. This is without any fruit/garnish bonuses. If a player plays any of the fruit or garnish cards, then they receive the indicated bonuses up to the max listed below the green price box on the drink card.

Note: To serve a drink that contains “fruit” you do not need to match the specific fruit, any fruit will do. Example: Screwdriver is Vodka and Fruit (Orange). If you have Vodka and Cherry you can make the Screwdriver, however, if you DO have an Orange in your hand and use that instead, you will get the extra dollar bonus for having the correct fruit. So instead of a $2.00 value for the screwdriver with the Vodka/Cherry, you will get a $3.00 value for having the Orange ingredient.

Garnishes, however, MUST be the exact fruit listed to get the bonus, as listed next to the name of the fruit.

After serving the drink, the player takes the drink card from the middle pile, places it next to them, and draws the number of coins equal to the value of the drink they receive and place it atop that card.

They then replace that card with a new card from the drink pile.

Finally, they receive a karma card and receive a bonus or negative on the action. If the card stipulates “this turn” then it will be next turn (faulty text based upon pre-playtesting supposition – unless each player gets a karma card drawn at the start of a turn, regardless of drink served – optional rule)

After a player has played, move the hand on the clock forward 5 minutes. When the hand reaches 12 the game is over.

Count up the total number of coins on each drink the players have and that is the final score – Do NOT count any of the initial 20 coins that each player has. That is only for buying cards, not scoring at the end.

OPTIONAL RULES:

1. If a player serves a drink, they get to draw more cards (up to 10, paying the proper price) and try again until they can no longer make drinks.
2. You may do one drink per turn, BUT draw the karma cards at the beginning of your turn and follow the text for that turn as indicated before you try to play anything else. The karma is not a reward, but an influence on your actions that turn.
3. Introduce a trading/go-fish style option – players can try to trade for cards they want.
4. Discard cards in a face up manner in front of you with each card showing and this makes it available for the next player to purchase after you. When they start, they throw your discarded cards upside down in a pile after they choose if they want any cards that you discarded before they continue their turn.