IT'S TEA TIME !! A Themed Card Game

(( This game's mechanics are deck building in a simultaneous race. ))

Get out your fine China and get ready to be all British , Hoity-Toity, and La De Dah Because

IT"S TEA TIME !!!

A card game of madly racing to complete as many tea parties as possible before your opponents do!! But be careful not to spill anything !! And watch out for bad weather and invading hoodlums trying to ruin your party !!!

IT"S TEA TIME !! : A Themed Card Game by P. Kellach Waddle

OBJECT : To claim as many 9-card decks forming a successful tea party as possible while getting rid of all of your cards !!
Players : 2 to 4
COMPONENTS :256 cards

128 tea party cards, 60 Tea Party Pooper cards , 60 Salvage Your Party Cards , 8 teapot cards

SETUP :
--- Place face up each of the 8 different teapot cards that is marked with a different kind of tea
1 Oolong 2 Camomile 3 English Breakfast 4 Earl Grey 5 Black 6 Green 7 Mint 8 Peach --these are the cards which the successful tea party decks will be built on.

---8 cards are required to be played on top of the teapot for a player to claim a whole deck and claim a successful tea party !! There are 8 of each that correspond to each kind of tea , each marked with a number 1 to 8.

1 Tea 2 Hot Water 3 Sugar 4 Lemon 5 Cream 6 Finger Sandwiches 7 Crumpets 8 Guests

To complete a successful tea party deck.. a player must be the person who plays the last card marked (Guests -8) on a deck.

GAME PLAY :

Each player starts the round with 12 cards in their hand. The remainder of the cards are set down into the draw pile. Then to start playing they all must scream " IT"S TEA TIME" and they begin playing ( there are no turns ) at the same time as fast as possible as many cards as they can.

To play a card, a player must have the matching card in ascending order that a tea party deck needs.

EXAMPLE At the start of the game each player must play the 1-Tea card on the corresponding tea deck to start the building of the deck. ( I.e. The 1 OOLONG has to be played on the OOLONG pot... etc. ) .. then players as fast as they can play as many cards as possible to keep the deck building. ( EXAMPLE the player who then has the 2 Hot Water on the OOLONG pot plays it .. etc. )

EXAMPLE ::

4 of the building decks are in the current position...

OOLONG has the 5 Cream Card on Top
GREEN has the 3 Sugar On Top
EARL GREY has the 6 Finger Sandwiches on Top
PEACH has the 3 Sugar on Top

A player holds the 4 5 6 of Green , the 7 of Earl Grey and the 6 and 7 of Oolong . and the 6 7 8 of Peach ( thereby making it possible for him to claim the Peach deck ) . he may play ALL of these cards as fast as he can since these all are available to be played. Unless his opponent ( s) beat him to it, because there are 2 of each card in the game !! ( Cards can be placed down as ordered melds, e.g. laying down the 6 7 and 8 piled in that order all at once.)

Also a player may play one of the three Tea Party Pooper Cards . These cards halt a tea party's progress and no more cards can be played up on that deck until the corresponding SALVAGE THE TEA PARTY IS PLAYED. There are 20 each of these TEA PARTY POOPER cards and 20 of their respective SALVAGE THE TEA PARTY CARDS

-- Eee gads ! Spillage!! POOPER / Clean Up the Mess! SALVAGE
-- Rain on your outdoor tea party !! POOPER / Good Weather Returns! SALVAGE
-- Hoodlums Invade your Tea Party !! POOPER/ The Police come and arrest the hoodlums! SALVAGE

If a player doesn't have any cards hand playable at that their hand at that time ( or if they elect to stop playing cards temporarily for strategy reasons ) they draw off the top of the pile. They may continue to draw even more cards , one at a time, off the top of the pile if they choose to search for more cards to complete decks or continue to not have a playable card. . There is no limit to how many cards a player may have in their hand at any time, but be careful about saving cards because the round ends if any player gets rid of all their cards!!

The round ends when the last of the 8 decks have been claimed or a player is out of cards.

SCORING :

-- Each claimed complete deck of 9 cards ( The teapot plus all of the tea party components 1 through 8 ) is worth 50 points, MINUS 5 points each POOPER/SALVAGE pair combo that also appears in a completed deck. ( EXAMPLE : Myrtle claimed the English Breakfast Deck for 50 points. It has 2 EEH GADS SPILLAGE/CLEAN UP THE MESS pairs in it as well as a HOODLUMS/POLICE pair, therefore this deck is worth 35 points.)

--- The player that is the first to lose all of their cards gets a bonus 15 points for being the first to go out and 3 extra bonus points for every tea party component card left in their opponents' hands and 5 extra bonus points for every POOPER or SALVAGE card left in their opponents' hands.

-- If all 8 teapot Decks are claimed before any player plays all of their cards, the person with the most decks gets the bonuses. In case of a tie, the bonuses go to the person who claimed a deck FIRST.

LATE TO THE TEA PARTY---: With there being 2 of each component for each Tea deck , a person may be stuck holding a number of cards for a teapot that has already been claimed. ( Especially in a Two Player Game.) If when the round is over and a player holds have all 8 numbered cards that will complete a tea party that had already been claimed , these sets of cards get to be removed from the player's hand and do not count towards the amount of bonus points received by the player who went out first ( or in the other round-ending case the player who holds the most completed Tea Party decks. )

STRATEGY THOUGHTS :

Do you play a 3 4 5 form your hand of one tea hoping one of your other players doesn't have one of the 6 7 8 for that Tea, or do you hold on to it and try to draw to find the remaining cards and risk getting stuck with those cards if a player gets rid of their cards before you do?

If you don't have any of the next cards in a deck that is locked by a TEA PARTY POOPER CARD do you play the SALAVGE card you might have and risk your opponents starting to play on that deck again?

If you have cards to play to make you go out , but you don't have very many decks claimed, do you keep drawing cards hoping to find some sets to get close to claiming a deck, again risking being stuck with more cards in your hand if someone else goes out?

If you are ready to ponder these and other important Tea Party issues, then put down your coffee and lemonade guv'nr and get ready to say " IT'S TEA TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!"