Cafe international
A tactical tile placing game for 2-4 players 10 or older.
Author: Rudi Hoffman
Translation: Jeff Goldsmith and Alta Vista's
babelfish
Components
1 Game Board
100 Guest Tiles: 48 ladies and 48 gentlemen from 12
nations, plus 4 Jokers: 2 ladies and 2 gentlemen, who can sit anywhere.
Point chips: 60 black (value: 1 point), 30 red (value: 5
points), 10 blue (value: 10 points)
1 Cloth Bag
These Rules
Goal of the Game
The game is about placing guests at the Cafe International.
At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins.
Prepare for Play
Carefully punch the guest tiles from their sheets.
Put them in the bag and mix them up. Each player
draws five tiles and places them face up in front
of himself.
Placing Guests
The board has 24 tables for guests from 12 nations.
At each table, 2 ladies and 2 gentlemen may be seated.
They must be of the same nationality as the table indicates.
Some chairs are shared by two tables. A guest of either
nationality may sit there. Only one guest may sit in each
chair. The joker tiles may sit at any table.
Apart from nationality, guests must sit so as to maintain
proper gender balance. The same applies to the joker tiles.
At any table, one may seat only:
1 lady and 1 gentleman
1 lady and 2 gentlemen
2 ladies and 1 gentleman
2 ladies and 2 gentlemen
No other distributions are allowed. No single
guest may sit at a table, he must belong to a group.
The area in the center of the board represents the
Bar at the "Cafe International." A guest who does not find a
seat at a table, must sit at the bar. At the bar, nationality
and gender are irrelevant.
A guest, once seated, may not move.
(Exception: Exchange of a Joker.)
Play of the Game
The first player is determined in any way one sees fit.
Play thereafter proceeds clockwise. The player whose
turn it is must do exactly one of the following three action:
- Place 1 or 2 guests on chairs
- Place a guest at the bar
- Exchange a Joker
Placing of Guests on Chairs
If a player chooses to place guests on chairs, he may
place one or two guest tiles on appropriate chairs at
suitable tables. The seating constraints must be satisfied.
The player must score some points by his play. If a player
places a guest at an empty table, he must, on the same turn,
place a second guest at the same table unless the first
guest scores points. Esception: if the first player cannot
score points, he may place a single guest at a table. Normally,
a player may play two guests at different tables, but they
must each score.
Scoring
The more guests at a table, the more valuable the table becomes.
If a player places a guest at a table during his turn, he scores
points for the whole table as follows:
1 pair (lady and gentleman) | = |
2 points |
1 pair (lady and gentleman) + 3rd Guest | = |
3 points |
2 pairs (2 ladies and 2 gentlemen) | = |
4 points |
2 pairs of the same nationality | = |
8 points |
If one plays a guest on a chair between 2 desks, then
one scores the value of each table affected individually
and scores the sum of the two point values.
If one obtains points with each guest placed, the
first tile is scored and then the second is scored.
Example of a point valuation:
Figure 1
Player A places an American gentleman at the first
American table. He must place a second American guest
as his 2nd tile placement, because the first placement
did not score any points.
Figure 2
Player B plays the Indian gentleman and Indian lady and
scores 2 points for the Indian table. There is only
one guest at the American table, but since the guest scored,
the tile placement is permitted.
Figure 3
Player C plays the American gentleman and receives 2
points for the second American table.
Figure 4
Player D was lucky. First, he plays the American
gentleman and takes for it 6 points (3 points for each of the two American
tables). Then he plays the American lady and gets 8 more
points for the 1st American desk ("one-country" bonus). On this
turn, player D scores 14 points.
Replacing Tiles
After a player is done placing tiles, he refills his
hand to five by drawing from the bag randomly. The
only exception is that if one creates a "Single Nation"
table, one draws one fewer tile, reducing one's hand
size permanently. This is useful as at the end of play,
each tile in a player's hand counts -5 points; jokers
count -10.
Placing a Guest at the Bar
The bar has 20 spaces (seats). They are filled in ascending
order (see the small number in the corner). A player may (or
must if it so happens), instead of placing a guest at a table,
may place one guest in the next empty seat at the bar. One may
not play more than one guest to the bar in a turn.
Jokers may not be placed at the bar.
The player gains or loses the indicated number of points for
placing a guest at the bar. If one cannot pay, one is
out of the game. [I think. --Jeff]
Refill one's hand after playing, as usual.
Exchange of a Joker
There are 2 female and 2 male Jokers. These can represent
a guest of any nation and score points as if they were.
- A Joker can be used in a "Single Nation" table.
- A player may replace a joker with the appropriate
nationality guest and take the joker into his hand.
No points are scored for this.
- Jokers may not be placed at the bar.
- Unplayed jokers at the end of the game count -10 points.
End of the Game
The play ends as soon as one of the following
4 possibilities occurs:
- all bar fields are occupied
- all chair fields around the desks are occupied
- only 4 guest tiles are left in the bag
- a player is out of tiles after replenishing (and
therefore has created 5 Single Nation tables)
Players count points, subtracting for tiles in hand
and high score wins.
Variants
Tables Reserved for Regulars
If using this rule, a player may place three or four
guests at the same time, as long as they are all men
or all women and are at the same table.
Such a table is worth 20 points. If it's also a
Single Nation table, it's worth 40.