And now.. my 5th card game of my 7 in development, waiting for some artwork to go to prototype !!
A Union Soldier and a Confederate Soldier stop in the heat of battle and look at each other and say," I Don't Know why we are fighting this war, all I really want to do is bake cakes!"
Voila !! A time portal opens and the soldiers have been transported to another dimension: a dimension of sight... a dimension of mind, ... a dimension of baking !!!
Unfortunately the dissension begins again as the Union Soldier says " I want to make a lot of Boston Cream Pies." The Confederate Soldier counters with " No, I want to make lots of Mississippi Mud Cakes".
Alas, a new fight begins...
.....And it takes place in this game that combines meld/set making, card drafting, and rolls of the dice all to decide the winner of ...
The Civil War Battle for The Bakeries :You Take The Cake !!!
The Civil War Battle for The Bakery : You Take The Cake !!! : A Themed Card Game By P. K Waddle
OBJECT : To make the most money in the third and final phase of the round by selling the most expensive cakes !
NUMBER OF PLAYERS : 2
CARDS :
22 Bakery Case Cards ( 11 for each player's bakery titled Union Yummies and Confederate Concoctions)
212 Hire a Chef cards ( Phase One Cards)
164 You Take The Cake cards ( Phase Two Cards)
60 Cake Going Stale Cards ( Phase Three Cards )
2 regular 6 sided dice
The game is played in three phases. In phase one players attempt to lay down " chef sets" of 5 cards with the highest multiplier possible. In phase two players fill up their 11 slots in their bakery case with cakes. Each slot corresponds to one of the 11 possible rolls with 2 normal 6-sided dice. In phase 3, the players try to be the first one to sell 7 cakes by hitting 7 different dice rolls.
SETUP
Before the game starts, set up each player's set of Bakery Case cards, in order 2 through 11., these are the cards players will place their cakes attempting to sell them in phase two.
Each Bakery Case Card has a dice roll value on it and a multiplier, the higher the multiplier, the harder the roll to hit :
ROLL on cards/Multiplier
7 1x
6 & 8 2x
5 & 9 3x
4 & 10 5x
3 & 11 8x
2 & 12 13x
PHASE ONE -- HIRE A CHEF
To start Phase One-- HIRE A CHEF -- Deal 8 HIRE A CHEF cards to each player and place the rest face down making a draw pile.
The object in phase one is to make a set of 5 cards that are all of one Chef/Multiplier level. There are 5 chef sets possible and each chef set has his or her own multiplier level that further increases the value of cakes sold ( dice rolls made ) in Phase Three.
The 5 cards needs to form a set are a Chef, an Apron, a Hat, a Cake Batter & Pan, and a Stove. The chef sets that give the highest multiplier are the hardest to make because there are less of them in the deck.
The five sets ( names of chefs and multipliers) and their distribution in the deck are :
Sally Sconeface 2x 16 of each of the 5 cards ( Chef, Apron, Hat, Cake Batter & Pan, Stove)
Danny Doughnuthead 3x 10 of each of the 5
Polly PeanutButterPuss 4x 6 of each of the 5
Molly Mudpie 5x 4 of each of the 5
Benjamin Breadwinner 6x 2 of each of the 5
On each turn a player may do one of the following :
-- lay down a chef set
-- lay down a BAKERY CLOSED card on his opponent
-- lay down a BAKERY REOPENED
-- discard a card in to the FACE UP discard pile and choose either the top face down card from the draw pile or the top face up card from the discard pile ( a la Gin Rummy)
Turns progress with either a player laying down a meld of 5 and that player declaring that chef of the completed chef set going to work in their bakery, or drawing from the pile or the face up discard pile ( A la Gin Rummy) before discarding one card in an effort to keep searching for a five card set, or a BAKERY REOPENED card if their opponent has played a BAKERY CLOSED card on them.
If your opponent plays a BAKERY CLOSED card in front of you , you aren't allowed to lay down a Chef Set until you lay down a BAKERY REOPENED card.
Once a player has laid down a completed Chef set the round ends.
That player is said to have HIRED that chef with his multiplier and the player who didn't lay down a chef set is said to have to bake for themselves and their chef multiplier is only 1x.
PHASE TWO -- YOU TAKE THE CAKE!
To play phase two, take the 114 " You Take The Cake Cards" which have pictures of cakes on them and make a messy "store" of them in between both players. ( a la the "pond" in the Go Fish" game ) .
There are 11 different cakes in this deck. Each cake has a dollar value and the number of each cake in the deck decreases as the amount the cake is worth increases.
( CAKE / # IN DECK)
Wedding Cake $500 -- 2
Boston Cream Pie $350-5
Pineapple Upside Down Cake-- $200-7
Cinnamon Coffee Cake $125-- 10
Sheet Cake $75 - 15
Lemon Cake $50 -36
Bundt Cake $75- 15
German Chocolate Cake $125 --10
Black Forest Cake $200-7
Mississippi Mud Cake $350 --5
Birthday Cake $500--2
At the end of phase two each player will have 11 cake cards placed onto each of their 11 bakery case spaces that were laid out at the beginning of the game. The placement of these and which chef they are using ( if any ) will determine the price of successfully selling that cake in he phase 3 dice rolling CAKE SALE phase.
EXAMPLES :
--- A player who laid down the 5x chef set in phase one has a Bundt Cake $75 on the Dice Roll Bakery Case roll 8 (2x) space.
That cake, for rolling an 8 in phase three and selling the cake is worth:
CHEF MULTIPLIER : 5x times PRICE OF CAKE $75 times value of Roll Multiplier Space 2x
5 x 75 x 2 = successfully sold cake is worth $750
-- A player who didn't lay down a chef set has a Birthday $500 Cake on their Dice Roll Bakery Case roll 12 space ( 13 x )
-- That cake, for rolling a 12 in phase three and selling the cake is worth:
CHEF MULTIPLIER : 1x times PRICE OF CAKE $500 times value of Roll Multiplier Space ( 13x )
1 x 500 x 13 = successfully sold cake is worth $7500
Phase two gameplay is started by the player who DID NOT lay down a Chef Set and will have a multiplier of only 1x added to his cake values. He chooses a card at random out of the messy "store" pile and then he has a decision to make.
Either he plays that cake on one of his OWN bakery's slots of 11 cards, or on his OPPONENT'S.
If he chooses to lay the card on his opponent's slots he does so and screams " YOU TAKE THE CAKE !!!"
There are multiple strategies to be considered on whether to play your chosen cake on one of your bakery slots or on your opponents.
EXAMPLES:
You are the player who didn't lay a chef/set meld down so your chef multiplier is only 1x. You choose a Wedding Cake $500. Your opponent's Chef Multiplier is 4x. Do you choose to put it on your 7 slot, where you are very likely to roll it, or on your opponents 12 slot where they aren't as likely to roll it? ( But if they do they could get a bundle of $ !), or on your own 2 slot where you aren't very likely to hit it, but you could rake in the 13 x $500 if you do? Or do you lay it down in your opponent's 7 slot, knowing they are probably going to hit it, but keeping them from getting a ton of " dough" if they hit it in a higher multiplier's slot?
Players alternate choosing cards out of the pile until all 11 slots are filled on both sides. If one player's side is filled before the other player has more than one slot left, that player keeps choosing and filling up his bakery case slots until his case is completely filled and there is one cake on each of his case/dice roll # cards. Phase three ,HE CAKE SALE ,then begins.
PHASE THREE -- THE CAKE SALE
This phase uses the dice and the stack of " CAKE GOING STALE " cards.
The player who laid down the chef set in phase one rolls the dice first. If the number on the dice hasn't already been hit, (which none will have on the first roll) then that cake is considered sold and he says "Hey Bakery Customer, YOU TAKE THE CAKE !!" -- then this sold cake's total ( CHEF MULTIPLIER x CAKE VALUE X ROLL MULTIPLIER VALUE) is written down as the beginning of that player's CAKE SALE TOTAL. Then the other player takes his turn and rolls the dice. Players take turns rolling until one player has sold seven of their cakes, hitting seven of the eleven different dice rolls.
When a player on their turn rolls a number they have already hit, there is a penalty. The other player then takes one of the CAKE GOING STALE -20% cards and places it on one of their opponent's unsold cakes of their choice. ( The player who rolled something already hit doesn't get to choose which cake to play this card on, the opponent does.) Then when and If that player later sells that cake by hitting that dice number, the value of that cake goes down 20%. A player may play as many of 4 CAKE GOING STALE cards on one cake/bakery case slot , thereby lowering a cake's value by 80%.
EXAMPLE :
Myrtle, who played the 2x Chef Set/meld in phase one and has rolled 4 7's after she already sold her cake in the 7 slot. Her opponent Shirley on all of those 4 instances has played a CAKE GOING STALE card on her Lemon Cake on her slot 2 ( 13x).
Therefore if Myrtle in a later turn hits that slot, the value of her cake has gone down 80%, from $50 to $10.
Instead of that slot being worth: 2x times $50 x 13 ( $1300) ...
rolling a 2 on her turn will then make her cake only worth 2x times $10 x 13. ($260).
Players keep rolling until one player has made 7 of their dice rolls, selling 7 of their cakes. That person then receives their entire CAKE SALE TOTAL.
If the player sold seven DISTINCT cakes with no repeating cakes in any of their 7 slots they hit,that player receives a 20% GREAT CHEF BONUS. They then take 20% of their total and add it to compete their score.
EXAMPLE : Myrtle sold 7 distinct cakes worth $8500, therefore her total is $10,200 -- 8500 plus 20% ( 1700) of 8500.
The player who doesn't make their seven rolls first gets to keep 40% of the tab they made.
CATCH UP CONSOLATION CLEARANCE CAKE SALE ROUND ! :
If the player doesn't make their 7 dice rolls first is the 1x chef (who didn't lay down a Chef Set/ Meld in Phase One) they get to play the CATCH UP CONSOLATION CLEARANCE CAKE SALE to attempt to keep the player who won the round from completely running away with the game -- this is an issue especially if someone is lucky enough to be a 6x chef and hit expensive cakes in their 2 and 12 slots !!
HOW THE CATCH UP CONSOLATION CLEARANCE CAKE SALE ROUND WORKS :
The losing 1x player takes all of their unsold cake numbers and shuffles them and puts them in a face down pile and draws the top card . He then rolls the dice once, if he hits that number on this top card , he gets to keep 60% of his tab instead of 40%. He then has a decision to make, he may replace this card, reshuffle and choose a card again and repeat the process. If he makes the roll a 2nd time, he gets to keep 80% of his total instead of the original 40% or the awarded 60% from the first successful roll. However, if he doesn't make this roll, his tab goes back to 40% and the round is over. He however, may elect to stop after making the first roll and keep his 60% CAKE SALE TOTAL.
EXAMPLE Shirley didn't make a set/meld and her opponent made 7 of his dice rolls first. Shirley's tab when her other player won the phase 3 round was $8000. She only receives 40% of this total which is $3200.
If she wins her first dice roll in the consolation round , her total goes up to 60% of $8000, which is $4200. She then can elect to stop or try one more time to see if her total can go up to 80% of $8000 which is $6400. If she tries and is unsuccessful, her total goes back down to $3200.
If the player doesn't match the number on the first try, the bonus round ends and the loser of the round's total stays at 40% of their tab.
Players play three complete rounds and the player with the highest total at the end of the third round wins and that soldier is said to have won THE CIVIL WAR BATTLE OF THE BAKERIES !!!!
( STRATEGY NOTE : For a player to try to catch up to another player's perhaps luckily huge total in ROUND 1, that player should make every effort to try to get the 5x or 6x chef set/meld and hope to hit as many expensive cakes as possible in high multiplier slots in Round Two so that a come-from-behind win is possible in Round 3. )
