Beverage Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
• Goal
  • Important Notes of the Game
• Start of Game
• (1) The Planning Phase
  • Recession Cards
• (2) The Sales Phase
  • 1. Make a Sales Bid
  • 2. Receive Reputation Tokens
  • Inventory Disposal
  • Planning Phase and Sales Phase Example (4 players with 1 player busting)
• (3) The Business Actions Phase
  • Issue Shares
  • Public Relations
  • Factory Improvements
  • Stadium Investments
  • Employee Training
• (4) The Settlement Phase
• (5) Dividends Phase
• (6) Progress Check Phase
• (7) Clean-up Phase
• Final Scoring
• Alternative Rules
• Assembling the Market Holder Vending Machine

Overview

The players, all CEOs of beverage companies, aim to have the most reputable company when the stadium is completed. The first step is to determine a sales plan by keeping an eye on market trends. If market trends increase, drinks will be purchased more by consumers, allowing players to generate more revenue. Next, use the generated funds to conduct business actions by sending your associates to various establishments which will increase your company's reputation. However, do not forget that there are taxes to be paid as well. Players who issue shares in the course of their business actions will benefit from gaining additional reputation when dividends are paid. However, if they fail to pay off their dividends, they run the risk of significantly reducing their reputation.

Components

• Bidding counters x5 (one per player)
• Vending machine (The market holder) x1 (Assembly instructions are on last page)
• Double-sided game board x1
• Market cards x30
• Summary cards x5
• Coasters x5
• Construction disc x1
• Discs x30 (5 colors x 6 per player)
• Market research tokens x20
• Stadium cards x23
• Bottle cap coins x131
• Associates tokens x50 (5 colors x 10 per player)
• Advantage tokens x42 (14 of each type)
• Reputation tokens x24 (8 of each value)

Setup

1. Lay the game board on its appropriate side on the table. One side is for 3 and 4 player games while the other side is for a 5 player game. This is marked in the upper right corner above the round track.

2. Place all the bottle caps to the side of the game board. This pile is The Bank.

3. Create separate piles for the advantage tokens, reputation tokens, and market research tokens near the bank.

4. Tightly close the slot at the bottom of the vending machine. The vending machine is The Market Holder. The inside is the market. Place the appropriate amount of bottle caps into the market holder according to the number of players: 3 Players: 30; 4 Players: 40; 5 Players: 50.

   The currency in this game is bottle caps. You will perform various actions by paying bottle caps.

5. There are 3 types of advantage tokens: Issue share tokens, PR tokens, and Stadium investment tokens. Find the three action spaces on the game board with images of the advantage tokens. Place the matching advantage tokens on these action spaces according to the chart below:

   • 3 and 4 player game: 1 advantage token per action space.
   • 5 player game: 2 advantage tokens per action space.

6. Each player decides which company they will be, and receives the following in their matching color: 10 associates tokens (henceforth known as associates), 6 discs, a coaster, and a bidding counter. The coaster represents your reserve of associates and each player places their associates on their coaster. Important Note: Associates are divided into "on-hand" (available for use) and "on your coaster" (unavailable for use) during the game. Be sure to keep them properly separated.

7. Each player places their discs on the "zero" space of each track as shown in the diagram: a. One disc on the Reputation track b. One disc on the Shares track c. One disc on the PR track d. One disc on the Factory track e. One disc on the Employee Training track f. One disc on the Turn Order track

Goal

Have the most reputation for your company on the reputation track at the end of the game.

One round of Beverage consists of the following seven phases. Each phase is executed in sequence and continues until the game end condition is met:

1. Planning phase
2. Sales phase
3. Business Actions phase
4. Settlement phase
5. Dividends phase
6. Progress Check phase
7. Clean-up phase

Important Notes of the Game

• Your reputation can never go below zero.
• On the reputation track, when moving your disc onto the same space as another player's disc, place your disc on top of the previously placed disc. Players with discs on the bottom are considered to have more reputation and will break any ties. (All other discs on tracks can be stacked in any order.)
• The number of associates that each player has on-hand is public information.
• The amount of bottle caps each player has and the amount contained in the market is private information.
• Associates are divided into "on-hand" and "on your coaster". The associates on your coaster are still in training and cannot be used to take actions.

Start of Game

Each player, starting with the first player, must buy their initial resources with the 10 bottle caps they received during setup of the game. The three resources available for purchase are: Associates, Reputation, and Market Research tokens. The cost of each resource is 1 bottle cap.

If purchasing reputation, immediately move your disc along the reputation track. Do not take a reputation token.

All other items you bought are put in front of you. Your remaining bottle caps are your initial capital. These are purchased in any desired combination and number, and when finished, the next clockwise player makes their purchase.

If this is too difficult, the end of this rulebook provides an easier way to start with a different set of rules.

Purchasing Example: The red player bought 3 associates and 1 market research token. They now have 6 bottle caps remaining.

Your associate tokens and bottle caps are the main resources of this game. The more you have, the happier you are, but you need to have a good balance of both to perform actions efficiently. Market research tokens can be used in the Planning phase to confirm the amount of bottle caps in the market, which is confidential information. Purchasing reputation gives you an advantage when you have made the same sales bid as other players in the Sales phase.

(1) The Planning Phase

In this phase, you will plan your sales for the current fiscal year. Plan wisely, because this phase will affect the amount of income you obtain in the Sales phase (2).

1. Take the top 3 cards from the market deck and place them next to each other facedown next to the market deck. For 5 player games, an additional card is placed, for a total of 4 cards.
2. Each player performs this phase simultaneously. Secretly enter a sales bid of 1 or more into your bidding counter and close it. (If you wish to conduct market research, you can use a market research token and wait for the other players to close their counter without entering an amount yourself.)
3. When everyone has closed their bidding counter (excluding the players who conducted market research), the market holder is opened to the public. The amount of bottle caps is revealed and counted. The players who conducted market research confirm the amount in the market and then secretly enter their sales bid into their bidding counter. Finally, they close their bidding counters.
4. All players reveal their sales bid at the same time.
5. Reveal the market cards and add these numbers together. Take this total from the bank and add it to the market. If a recession card was revealed, see the note on Recession Cards.

After the sales bids are revealed, the market cards will add to the market. This allows you to bid for a larger amount than you might originally estimate. Note, however, that the amount added to the market may be drastically reduced depending on the market card; so, if you are planning to be bullish, your income may decrease or worst case, you may not receive any income.

Recession Cards

Some market cards are recession (-MAX) cards. If one is revealed, the market card with the highest number among the other revealed market cards is treated as a 0.

If two or more recession cards are revealed at the same time, draw a new market card for each revealed recession card. Then, reshuffle the previously drawn recession cards back into the market deck. (There can never be 2 or more revealed recession cards at the same time.) The total sum of the cards is then added to the market from the bank.

The back side of each market card can be used to forecast sales trends by looking at the direction of the sales graph. Be aware, however, that there is also one Recession (-MAX) card mixed in each of the three types of graphs! (You can see the breakdown of the market deck inside your bidding counter.)

(2) The Sales Phase

In this phase, income is earned and inventory is disposed of. This phase also determines the order in which players take actions in the Business Actions phase (3).

1. Make a Sales Bid

1. Players compare their sales bids that they set in the Planning phase. The player with the lowest bid receives their bottle caps directly from the market. That player then places their turn order disc on the left-most available space of the turn order track.
2. The next player with the lowest bid repeats the above process until all players have taken the amounts that they recorded in their bidding counter.
3. If a player is unable to collect their entire sales bid, they bust! Players who bust will not earn any income at this time nor place their disc on the turn order track. They must perform inventory disposal, described below.
4. Once all players have placed their turn order discs on the track, any remaining bottle caps left in the market is returned to the market holder. Confirm the slot of the market holder is tightly shut.

Tiebreakers on Sales Bids: If two or more players bid the same amount, the player with more reputation will be the first to receive their income. If the scores on the reputation track are also equal, the player with the disc on the bottom will be the first to receive their income. If players with tied bids have zero points on the reputation track, choose a player at random to go first.

2. Receive Reputation Tokens

Players who had higher bids and didn't bust receive reputation tokens as written below. (This is also indicated with reputation symbols on the turn order track.)

3 Player Game

• The lowest bid: Nothing
• The second highest bid: 1 reputation token
• The highest bid: 2 reputation token

4 Player Game

• The lowest bid: Nothing
• The third highest bid: 1 reputation token
• The second highest bid: 2 reputation token
• The highest bid: 3 reputation token

5 Player Game

• The lowest bid: Nothing
• The second lowest bid: Nothing
• The third highest bid: 1 reputation token
• The second highest bid: 2 reputation token
• The highest bid: 3 reputation token

Inventory Disposal

1. A player who busts places their disc in last place on the turn order track. If there is more than one player who busted, the player who entered the larger amount will be in last place. If the amount is tied, the player with less reputation goes later. Since they busted, they are unable to receive any reputation tokens this round.
2. Players who busted now have a chance to receive a little income from the remaining bottle caps in the market. They do this by making another sales bid with the remaining bottle caps left in the market. However, the maximum amount that can be entered into their bidding counter is 1 less than the player who made the lowest bid. If a player busts again, they make another sales bid, using the new lowest bid minus one. Once all busted players have received any amount of bottle caps, inventory disposal ends.

Special Treatment: If there aren't any bottle caps left in the market, Inventory Disposal ends immediately and busted players receive nothing.

Planning Phase and Sales Phase Example (4 players with 1 player busting)

1. In the Planning phase, each player enters their sales amount into the bidding counter and closes it so that other players cannot see. The red player uses their Market Research token at this time. The red player waits until the other players close their counters.
2. When everyone except the red player closes their counter, the market is opened and the amount of bottle caps inside is counted. The red player confirms this amount, enters a sales bid into their own counter, and finally closes their counter.
3. The three market cards (four cards for five player games) are revealed. This time the following three cards are revealed: 1, 8, and -MAX. Since -MAX is drawn, the highest number card (8) is treated as a 0. Therefore, the total comes to: 1 + 0 = 1, adding 1 to the market. The economy seems to have been a little slow this quarter.
4. The Sales phase begins and each player reveals their bidding counter. The blue player had the lowest sales amount (of 11) and takes their bottle caps first from the market and then places their turn order disc on the leftmost empty space of the turn order track. Then the green and red player do the same. However, on the yellow player's turn, there is no longer enough money in the market (it has 13) to match the yellow player's sales amount (of 20). The yellow player busts.

The yellow player places their turn order disc in the last position of the turn order track. Inventory disposal will take place. The blue player had the lowest sales amount (of 11) so the yellow player can take 1 less from the market if it is available (for a total of 10). The yellow player checks the market (it has 13). The yellow player enters this value into their bidding counter and takes their bottle caps (of 10). The players who achieved the largest sales without busting get reputation tokens as denoted by a star on the turn order track. The green player will receive a one point reputation token and the red player will receive a two point reputation token.

If the yellow player hadn't busted on their turn, they would have received a 2 point reputation token. However, since they busted this time, they received nothing. Don't forget that if 2 players are tied in their bid, the player who is higher on the reputation track takes bottle caps first. If tied on the reputation track, the lower disc takes bottle caps first.

(3) The Business Actions Phase

In this phase, players take actions in turn order according to the turn order track. When your turn comes, you can either dispatch an associate to perform one action or pass for the remainder of the round. The Business Actions Phase will end once everyone has passed.

The actions are: Issue Shares, Public Relations (PR), Factory Improvements, Stadium Investments, Employee Training.

Starting with the left-most player on the turn order track, players select one of the above actions. Player turns proceed in the order of the discs on the turn order track. To perform an action, place an on-hand associate in the action space you wish to perform. You can perform the action even if other associates (including your own) are already placed in the action space. However, you must pay 1 bottle cap per associate already in the action space, in addition to the cost of the original action. This total cost is placed in the market holder. The one exception is the Employee Training action. All costs for this action are returned to the bank.

Advantage Tokens: You can take one advantage token, if one is available on the action space, when performing the Issue Shares, Public Relations, or Stadium Investments actions. You can only take an advantage token from the action space you are currently activating. Advantage tokens have special functions and once used, are returned to their token pile. (Issue Shares Token, PR Token, Stadium Investment Token.)

Passing: Once a player passes, they are no longer able to take actions for the current round. You indicate passing by shifting your disc on the turn-order track downwards. When everyone has passed, the Business Action phase ends and the game proceeds to the Settlement phase.

Issue Shares

This action raises your disc on the shares track and rewards bottle caps. In the Dividend Phase (5) you will have to pay dividends according to the number of shares you have, but you can gain reputation by paying it.

Place an associate in the Issue shares action space and perform the action as follows:

1. Raise the shares track by 1 space and then receive 5 bottle caps from the bank. To raise your disc to 8 or above, you must spend one Issue Shares token.
2. Immediately return the placed associate to your coaster.

If your disc is at the maximum level on the track, this action can no longer be selected.

Example: The red player decides to perform the Issue Shares action. (1) They place their associate in the action space. (2) They raise their disc one space on the shares track. (3) They immediately receive 5 bottle caps from the bank. (4) They return the associate they just placed to their coaster.

Public Relations

This action raises your disc on the PR track. In the Progress Check phase (6), players will compare discs on the PR track and gain reputation according to their ranking.

Place an associate in the PR action space. Raise your disc 1 space each time you perform any combination of the following actions. This can be done as many times as you wish.

• Pay 2 bottle caps to the market.
• Return one on-hand associate to your coaster.
• Spend one PR advantage token.

Whenever you perform the Public Relations action, your disc must move to a higher space than all other discs on the PR track. Two discs can never share the same space on this track.

Example: The blue player decides to perform the Public Relations action. Since the green player has already moved up 2 spaces on the PR track, the blue player must move at least 3 spaces. (1) The blue player places their associate in the PR action space. Since the green player's associate is already in the action space, the blue player must pay 1 bottle cap to the market. (2) The blue player decides to raise their disc on the PR track 3 spaces. (3) The blue player pays 4 bottle caps to the market to raise the disc two spaces and returns one on-hand associate to their coaster to raise the disc one more space.

Factory Improvements

This action raises your disc on the factory track. Raising your disc on this track reduces the amount of taxes to be paid in the Settlement Phase (4) by the number in the green box.

Place an associate in the factory improvements action space and perform the action as follows:

1. Raise your disc by one space on the factory track. Pay the cost written in the space to the market.
2. Increase your reputation to a maximum of 5. These 5 reputation are reduced by one for each disc ahead of you and sharing the same space as you.

Example: The yellow player decides to perform the Factory Improvements action. (1) They place their associate in the Factory Improvements action space. (2) They move their disc one space and pay the written cost (in this case 10) to the market. (3) The yellow player gains 3 reputation (5 - 2) because there is one disc ahead and one disc sharing the same space.

Stadium Investments

This action is used to construct stadium cards with your associates. By placing an associate on a stadium card, you will gain the reputation written on it at the end of the game.

You must have at least 2 on-hand associates to perform this action (one for the action space and one for the card).

Place an associate in the Stadium Investments action space and perform the action as follows:

1. Select one stadium card of the current construction stage that does not have an associate on it. The construction cost is listed in the upper left corner. This is paid to the market. Only one card can be constructed per action. There are two types of stadium cards: small space cards and large space cards. The costs of each are different. When constructing a large space card, you must also spend one stadium investment token in addition to bottle caps.
2. Place one on-hand associate on top of the card you wish to construct. This associate will not return to you until the end of the game. (Note that stadium cards are not taken by players when constructed. They will remain in the same position throughout the game.)

Stadium Cards:

1. Construction Stage: The stage in which the stadium card can be constructed.
2. Cost: The amount of bottle caps required to construct the stadium card.
3. Large space symbol: Cards with this symbol are large space cards and the ones with no symbol are small space cards. Large space cards also have a darker edge. Large space cards are counted as 2 cards for the stadium area bonus. This is described further in final scoring.
4. Reputation Points: The amount of reputation you receive at the end of the game for constructing the card.

Example: The green player decides to perform the Stadium Investments action. (1) They place their associate in the stadium investments action space and choose a card to construct. The game is currently in Construction Stage I, so the player must choose a Construction Stage I card that hasn't been purchased by another player. The player has a stadium investment token, so they decide to construct a large space card. (2) The player returns the stadium investment token back to its pile and pays 10 to the market. (3) The player places an on-hand associate on the stadium card. This associate will not return until the end of the game.

Employee Training

This action raises your disc on the Employee Training track. This track will determine how many associates you will receive in the Clean-up phase (7) for the next round.

You must pay the bank the number of spaces the disc is moved on the employee training track. You must also pay the bank any additional costs from previously placed associates on the Employee Training action space. Once the proper amount is paid to the bank, raise your disc on the employee training track.

Remember that your associates will be received from their coaster to on-hand during the Clean-up phase (7). The number of associates you will be able to use in the current round will NOT be increased!

Example: The purple player decides to conduct the Employee Training action. (1) They place an associate in the Employee Training action space and pay 6 to move their disc on the employee training track to space 6. (2) Since two players have previously chosen this action, an additional cost of 2 is also paid. A total of 8 is paid to the bank instead of the market. The purple player will move 6 associates from their coaster to on-hand in the Clean-up phase.

(4) The Settlement Phase

Each player checks their points on the reputation track and confirms how much they need to pay in taxes. Tax amounts are written in the orange boxes spread around the reputation track. Players pay the amount that their reputation disc is currently on or has most recently passed.

This payment goes to the market and must be paid in full. If a player is unable to pay their taxes due to insufficient funds, they must lower their reputation by 1 point for each bottle cap they couldn't pay.

Players who have performed the Factory Improvement action in the Business Actions phase may reduce the amount of taxes they pay. The amount is reduced by the number in the green box where your factory disc is placed. Taxes can never be less than 0.

Example: The yellow player pays no taxes at this time. The red player pays 1 bottle cap in taxes. The blue player pays 3 bottle caps in taxes.

Factory example: The yellow player pays 18 bottle caps in taxes. The red player pays 16 bottle caps because their factory is exempt from 3 bottle caps in taxes. The blue player pays 16 bottle caps because their factory is exempt from 5 bottle caps in taxes.

(5) Dividends Phase

This phase represents paying dividends to your stockholders. Each player gains reputation by paying dividends corresponding to their issued shares.

First, check your disc on the shares track. Each player pays bottle caps to the market equal to the number in the space with their disc. If you can pay the full amount, your reputation disc is raised by the amount you paid.

If any part of the amount cannot be paid, the entire dividend cannot be paid. In other words, you pay all or nothing.

If a player cannot or chooses not to pay dividends, their reputation is lowered by the amount of unpaid bottle caps x 2.

There are penalties for failing to pay both taxes and dividends! Predict in advance how much you will have to pay in these phases and plan accordingly to save your bottle caps!

(6) Progress Check Phase

1. Check Public Relations. Check the PR track. Starting from the player with the most PR, increase each player's reputation as follows:

   • The player with the highest value on the PR track scores 5 points.
   • The player with the second highest value on the PR track scores 3 points.
   • The player with the third highest value on the PR track scores 1 point.

   Players whose PR disc is currently on the 0 space cannot gain any reputation. After gaining reputation, everyone's discs return to 0 on the public relations track.

2. Check the construction stage round. Move the construction disc to the right on the round track, UNLESS:

   • Associates are placed on all stadium cards for the current construction stage.
   • The construction disc has already reached the end of the current construction stage (rightmost space).

   If either or both of the above conditions have occurred, move the construction disc to the leftmost space of the next construction stage. Move to the Clean-up phase (7).

There is only 1 round in Construction Stage III. When this round is finished, the stadium is completed and the game ends. The Clean-up phase is not required in the final round.

(7) Clean-up Phase

1. Return all associates placed on action spaces on the board to their respective player's coasters.
2. Remove the turn order discs and place them near the turn order track.
3. The faceup market cards are no longer used in the game. Discard them facedown away from the deck of market cards.
4. Place advantage tokens (Stadium Investments, Public Relations and Issue Shares) in their respective action spaces according to player count below. Do not remove any advantage tokens that still remain on the board.
   • 3 - 4 players: 1 token to each action space
   • 5 players: 2 tokens to each action space
5. Check each player's discs on the Employee training track. The number your disc is on is the number of on-hand associates you will receive for the next round. Take this number of associates from your coaster to on-hand. Then move each player's employee training disc back to the 0 position.
6. Players with 0 associates are able to take between 1 and 4 associates from their coaster to on-hand. However, players must lose 3 reputation points for each associate gained this way. (Players cannot have their reputation disc go below 0.)
7. After all steps are completed, start the next round beginning with the Planning phase (1).

Special Case: A player with zero associates who cannot perform the process described in Step 6 above because their reputation is less than 3 performs a special process. They move all their discs on all tracks (including reputation) back to the 0 position. They also return all of their associates on stadium cards they constructed to their coaster. Then the player takes 4 associates from their coaster to on-hand.

Final Scoring

At the end of the round in Construction Stage III, final scoring is calculated as follows:

1. Stadium Cards and Reputation Tokens. Gain the number of reputation points on the stadium cards where your associates are placed. After that, gain reputation points equal to the total value of your reputation tokens.

2. Contribution to stadium construction bonus. Players that contributed the most in each construction stage gain reputation. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd players with the most associates in each card row gain points as written below. The amount of reputation gained is different for each construction stage so check carefully. Players who have not placed any associates in a row cannot score any reputation points.

   	Stage I	Stage II	Stage III
   1st	10 points	9 points	8 points
   2nd	7 points	6 points	5 points
   3rd	4 points	3 points	2 points

3. Stadium Area Bonus. Players check their stadium area. A stadium area is the number of stadium cards each player has with associates that are adjacent to each other vertically and horizontally. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd players with the biggest stadium areas gain reputation: 1st 8 points, 2nd 5 points, 3rd 2 points. Note that large space cards are counted as 2 cards instead of 1.

Final scoring example: All stadium cards have been purchased and the game has ended. (1) Total the scores in the lower right corner of the stadium cards you purchased. The red player has 18 points, the blue player has 13 points, and the green player has 23 points. Players add the values of their reputation tokens that they have collected. (2) Next, compare the number of associates on cards in each construction stage. For example, in Construction Stage 1, the green player will score 10 points, blue scores 5 points, and red scores 2 points. In Construction Stage 2, red and green are tied with 3 associates each. So, they add up the points for 1st and 2nd place. 9 + 6 points = 15 points. This is divided among the 2 players and rounded down to the nearest whole number, yielding 7 points per player. Blue has not placed any associates, so he gets 0 points. Construction Stage 3 is calculated in the same way. (3) Next, they confirm stadium areas. Each player counts their largest area where the cards are connected vertically and horizontally. Blue has 4 small cards and 1 large card connected. Since a large card is counted as two, blue's stadium area is 6. Green has a total of 7 in their stadium area and red has a total of 4. Green gets 8 points, blue gets 5 points, and red gets 2 points. (4) Finally, players reveal and compare their remaining amount of bottle caps. Red gets 5 points for having the most bottle caps left. Green gets 3 points and blue gets 1 point.

The player with the highest reputation is the winner and the true CEO of the beverage industry!

Alternative Rules

Here are some alternative rules that can change the difficulty of game play. You may employ one or any combination of these rules.

• Your first game: In step 12 of the game's setup, the player receives 5 bottle caps instead of 10. Skip the "Start of game" steps. Instead of purchasing resources, everyone moves 5 of their associates from their coaster to on-hand. No further actions are required. This is a simplified rule for first time play to help ease you into purchasing initial resources. From your second play, you may want to try playing by the normal rules.
• A Recession-Free Town: During initial setup, remove the three recession cards from the market deck. With the recession cards removed, the randomness of the market is reduced, making it easier to calculate. Recommended for those who dislike randomness.
• Open Market: During setup, return the market research tokens to the box. During The Planning phase (1), open the vending machine and disclose the amount of money in the market before entering your sales bid. The difficulty of playing the game is greatly reduced, and you can easily average the numbers, making it easier to develop a plan in which everyone produces about the same amount.
• Handicaps: A handicap can be given to players who are still new to board games. Start the game by giving one or more market research tokens to the player(s) you want to favor during setup.

Assembling the Market Holder Vending Machine

1. Fold along the creased lines.
2. Insert one side of the vending machine into the base.
3. Insert the front panel into the side.
4. Close the remaining side and ensure it is locked in place.
5. Close the front lower lid and you're all set!