Bier Pioniere Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What is Beer Pioneers About?
• Overview of Game Flow
• Game Components
• Setup of the Game Board
• Setup of the Brewery Board and Player Components
• Summary of Game Flow
• Summary of the Action Phase
  • Example Bonus Action
• Summary of the Round End Phase
• Anatomy of the Action Cards
• 1. Worker Actions (1-8)
  • 1.1 - Brewing Beer
  • 1.2 - Rotations
  • 1.3 - Improving Brewery Progress and/or Removing a Blocking Token
  • 1.4 - Taking X Barrels and/or Moving X Barrels ↓
  • 1.5 - Playing a Hand Card - White Section
  • 1.6 - Upgrading a Worker
  • 1.7 - Brewery Extension
  • 1.8 - Taking 2 Coins
  • Special Action Space - Worker Action & Truck Action - Exchange
• 1B) Bonus Action After a Worker Action
  • The Bonus Actions in Detail
• 2. Turn Order Action
• 3. Truck Action
  • The Four Truck Action Spaces
• 4. Administrative Action
• Brewing Beer / Brewing 1 Beer
• Card Display and Brewing Level Track
• The Card Sections
  • Beige-brown Section
  • Purple Section
  • White Section
• Objective Cards
• Extension Tiles
  • One-time Immediate Effects of the Second, Third and Fourth Installed Extension (imprinted on the brewery board)
• Blocking Tokens
• Brewery Progress
• Barrel Depot and Improved Barrel Depot
• Round End Phase
  • Step 1: Brewing Process
  • Step 2: Retrieve Game Pieces & New Player Order
  • Step 3: Worker Upgrade
  • Step 4a: Check Hand Limit
  • Step 4b: Refill the Card Display
  • Step 5: Income at the Round End
• End of the Game
• Appendix
  • Changes in Setup and Game Play for 3 Players
  • Changes in Setup and Game Play for 2 Players
• Credits

What is Beer Pioneers About?

At the beginning of the Industrialization around 1850, the players, acting as brewmasters, develop their own small home brewery into a large-scale brewery. In various action areas, they initially strive to improve their brewery in order to brew up to 6 different types of beer as the game progresses. For instance, tools like a refrigeration machine, a beer filter, process enhancements, or more experienced workers help in performing actions more efficiently. In each game round, useful cards can also be played to fulfill beer deliveries, which yield a significant number of victory points. Each game round consists of 2 phases.

In the following rules text a player is usually referred to as "brewmaster".

Overview of Game Flow

Beer Pioneers is played over several rounds. Starting with the starting player and continuing in the current player order, each player performs a minimum of five turns in each round, potentially six or even very rarely more. When it's a player's turn, they perform exactly 1 action in their turn, then the next player takes their turn. This continues until all players have passed. Additionally, each player can potentially perform bonus actions. The game ends after the round in which at least one player has achieved 20 victory points. The player with the most victory points is the master brewer and the winner of the game.

Game components: 1 Rules booklet, 1 Game board, 1 Bonus action / Round end board, 4 Brewery boards, 4 Icon summary cards (see Game Components below).

Game Components

• 40 Coins
• 40 Barrels
• 4 Sets of 6 brewing dials each
• 32 Blocking tokens for brewery boards
• 1 Neutral truck
• 1 Neutral worker
• 8 Cover tiles for action spaces
• 1 Cover tile for truck action
• Tiles of beer types: Pils (12), Export (12), Lager (12), Stark (12), Weizen (12), Alt (12)
• 5 Objective cards
• 4 Starting cards
• 64 Action cards (including 12 starting action cards)
• 8 Setup cards (only for a game with 3 or 2 players)
• 4 Large overlay tiles
• 4 Small overlay tiles
• 4 Improved barrel depots
• 24 Extension tiles
• 16 Cellar tiles
• 8 Big workers (6 tagged, 2 untagged)
• 1 Upgrade marker
• 4 Small bonus workers
• 6 Wooden game pieces

All of the above are provided as 4 sets in the player colors (red is shown as the sample image throughout the rules, also in all following images).

Setup of the Game Board

Place the game board in the center of the playing area. Next to it, place the bonus action/round end board.

Each player chooses a player color and takes a brewery board, placing it in front of them along with the following components of their chosen player color as their personal supply: 2 tagged workers (one with 1 and one with 2), 2 untagged workers, 1 truck, 2 small bonus workers, 1 upgrade marker, 2 discs, 1 beer bottle marker, 1 cube, 1 beer barrel.

Setup of the brewery board is explained on the two following pages (see Setup of the Brewery Board and Player Components below).

Shown here is the setup for 4 players. For setup changes for 3 or 2 players see the appendix.

1. Find the 4 starting cards and randomly distribute them to the players. Depending on their position, each player places their beer barrel on the corresponding number of the turn order track and places 1 of their untagged workers below it.
2. From the 64 action cards, sort out the 12 starting action cards marked with "S" in the bottom right corner and set them aside for now. Mix the remaining 52 action cards well and stack them face down above the brewing level track on the right side — that is the draw pile.
3. Reveal 6 cards from this deck, and place them face up from left to right above the brewing level track. This is the card display. Subsequently, there are 6 cards on display above the track, 1 above each green space.
4. Each player places their beer bottle marker on space "1" of the brewing level track.
5. Mix the 5 green objective cards, and place one of them randomly and face up on the third (right) space of the objectives area on the game board. The remaining objective cards are not needed for this game, put them back in the box. Alternatively, players can agree on an objective card instead of taking one randomly. This is recommended if all players are familiar with the game. Variant: You may cover one or both of the pre-printed objectives with an objective card, either randomly or by choice. This is recommended for experienced players.
6. Each player places one of their discs on space "0" of the income track on the round end board.
7. Each player places one of their discs on space "0" of the victory points track.
8. Place the neutral worker "Experience 2" and the neutral truck on their designated spaces in the turn order action area.
9. Take all coins, barrels, beer tiles, improved barrel depots, blocking tokens, and all other components in player colors and place them as a common supply next to the game board. Additionally, sort the 6 types of extension tiles by type and place them in the supply as well, with the first player bonus tile on top of each respective stack. Each player adds a set of wooden brewing dials to their personal supply, consisting of Pils, Export, Lager, Stark, Weizen, and Alt.

Note: Except for Lager, these are typical German types of beer and therefore are not translated.

Setup of the Brewery Board and Player Components

1. Each player places the starting card they had received before face up below their board. This card is the first card in their personal card display. Additionally, each player takes 1 set of brewing dials: Pils, Export, Lager, Stark, Weizen, and Alt.
2. Mix the previously set aside 12 starting action cards (see Step 2 of Setup of the Game Board), and deal 3 of them randomly to each player. These are the initial hand cards of each player. The hand cards are always kept secret and must not be shown to the other players.
3. Each player takes coins of the value indicated on their starting card from the common supply and adds them to their personal supply next to their brewery board.
4. Each player takes 2 brown barrels from the common supply and places them in their barrel depot and/or on the dark spaces in their cellar as indicated on their starting card.
5. Each player takes 1 large and 1 small cover tile and places the large one on top of the 3 beer types Pils-Export-Lager, and the small one further down on the beer types Stark-Weizen. Initially, only the Alt beer type is visible and can be brewed.
6. Each player takes 8 blocking tokens from the common supply and places 5 of them into the slots of the overlay tiles. The remaining 3 tokens are placed on the three rightmost actions in the administrative area in the lower section of the board.
7. Each player takes a set of cellar tiles and places the large one on the upper 3 light spaces of their cellar, the 2 medium-sized ones on the 2 light spaces of each of the middle rows, and the small one on the bottom light space of their cellar. Arrange the two medium-sized tiles randomly.
8. Each player places their second untagged worker on the designated space to the left in the administrative area.
9. Each player places their cube on the first space of their progress track (below "+3").
10. The players will use the spaces for extensions, for a brewmaster card, and retirement spaces for retired workers only later in the game.

Summary of Game Flow

Each game round consists of 2 phases.

Phase 1: Action phase. Each player takes their turn at least five times. During their turn, they perform one action, which can potentially be followed by a bonus action if it's a worker action. No one can choose to skip their turn - if a player is still able to take an action, they must do so. If a player is unable to take any more actions, they are skipped in the turn order.

Phase 2: Round end phase. The players follow 5 steps during the round end phase.

Summary of the Action Phase

Starting with the player whose beer barrel is in the first position in the turn order area on the game board, and then proceeding in the order of the remaining barrels, players take their turns, performing 1 action during each turn. This sequence continues, and when it's a player's turn but they are unable to perform an action, they are skipped. Once no player can perform an action anymore, the action phase ends. As of now, players are usually referred to as "brewmaster".

In their turn, each brewmaster MUST perform ONE of the following actions. The order of actions is up to each brewmaster, and the numbering below is not indicative of any particular sequence.

1. Worker Action - The brewmaster places one of their own tagged workers on an available action space of a worker action on the game board and performs the corresponding action. Each brewmaster always has 2 tagged workers (tagged with experience 1 and 2 at the start of the game) and performs this action twice per game round. However, if the brewmaster has the neutral gray worker (experience 2), they perform this action three times in this round. They may then perform a bonus action if applicable.
   • 1B. Bonus Action - The experience level (number) of each player's 2 tagged workers and also of the neutral gray worker is important. When placed on a space with an experience value, after the worker action, the brewmaster may perform an additional bonus action after the worker action IF the sum of the worker's experience and the experience value of the action space is at least 6! They can then deploy one of their small bonus workers in the bonus action area. See the example below and Bonus Actions further on. A bonus action is never a standalone action!
2. Turn Order Action - The brewmaster moves their own untagged worker in the turn order area on the game board to determine their position for the next game round and receives the corresponding immediate bonus. Each brewmaster performs this action once per game round.
3. Truck Action - The brewmaster places their own beer truck on the game board. Each brewmaster typically performs this action once per game round. However, if the brewer has the neutral gray truck, they perform this action twice in this game round.
4. Administrative Action - The brewmaster moves their own untagged worker in the administrative area of their brewery board to one action space in the administrative area and performs that action. Each brewmaster typically performs this action once per game round.

Important note concerning 1. Worker Action:

• Each action area provides action spaces for 2 workers, 1 in the upper half and 1 in the lower half.
• Only a maximum of 1 worker can be on each space, with one exception (see the Exchange action space).

Example Bonus Action

Player Red places their worker with experience 2 on an action space with an experience value of 4. The sum is 6! After their worker action, they place one of their small bonus workers on the bonus action board, if available.

Summary of the Round End Phase

The round end phase consists of 5 steps, which are dealt with in sequence after no player can perform an action anymore. If at least 1 player has reached at least 20 victory points in the previous action phase, the game ends after the round end phase, followed by the final scoring!

• Step 1: Brewing process. Each brewmaster must apply 1 rotation on each coop containing a brewing dial (and may optionally perform 2 rotations). See details under Round End Phase below.
• Step 2: Retrieve game pieces & new player order. The players reset or retrieve all their deployed game pieces. See details under Round End Phase below.
• Step 3: Worker Upgrade. Each brewmaster who had used their upgrade marker during the action phase now performs a worker upgrade. See details under Round End Phase below.
• Step 4a: Check hand limit. All brewmasters possessing more than 3 hand cards (or 6 cards if applicable) must place excess cards onto the discard pile.
• Step 4b: Refill the card display. Put the leftmost face up card on the discard pile. Shift all cards to the right of it 1 step to the left, and reveal 1 new card from the draw pile at the right end of the display. See details under Round End Phase below.
• Step 5: Income at the round end. Depending on the position of their disc on the income track each brewmaster earns 0 coins, 1 coin or 2 coins. See details under Round End Phase below.

Anatomy of the Action Cards

All 64 action cards have 3 usable, color-coded sections. Depending on the action, when played, a specific section is used or added to your own display; and the other two sections have no effect. A gray section has no significance.

Please note: One of the 3 usable sections on each card is always empty. Important: When a card is played to utilize a section, it is referred to as a card of that color. A "beige-brown card," for example, means that the beige-brown section is being used. Similarly, there are "purple cards" and "white cards."

Beige-brown section: You play this card as a beige-brown card, adding it to your personal display. See details under The Card Sections below.

Purple section: You play the card as a purple card for a beer delivery, then discard it. See details under The Card Sections below.

Name and illustration of the card (historical character, building, vehicle, object, etc. from the world of beer). Many serve as decorations only with a gray background. Brewmasters on a white background have a function, see The Card Sections below.

White section: You play the card as a white card to use the special action of its card text, then discard it, except you play it for its master brewer character and tuck it under your brewery board. See details under The Card Sections below.

Don't forget: Only beige-brown cards go into your own display! Purple and white cards are discarded after use, except for master brewer characters!

1. Worker Actions (1-8)

For worker actions on the game board, each brewmaster always has 2 tagged workers* to deploy on one of the 2 action spaces of a worker action. There are 8 numbered worker actions on the game board. In addition to your own tagged workers, there is also a neutral gray tagged worker with experience 2 available. Only one brewmaster per round can receive this worker through the turn order action (see Turn Order Action below), allowing them to perform a total of 3 worker actions during this round.

The numbering of the actions below is for reference and labeling purposes on the game board, and does not represent any specific sequence!

When playing with only 2 or 3 brewmasters, not all action spaces are available. The changes are outlined in the appendix, and the numbers play an important role in this context.

*Reminder: These workers are tagged with a number, indicating their experience level. At the beginning of the game, each player has their two workers with experience 1 and 2. These can be upgraded to 3 and 4 during the course of the game.

1.1 - Brewing Beer

You use this action to brew beer. The brewing level (at the top of the game board) of each brewmaster indicates how many brewing dials they can place on their brewery board with a single action. However, another prerequisite is that they have enough available coops. Brewing beer is explained in full detail under Brewing Beer below.

Brewing level: Each brewmaster starts at level 1 and initially can only place 1 brewing dial, thus they can brew only 1 beer.

Coops: Initially, each brewmaster has 1 available coop for "Alt" on their board. With brewing level 1, they can brew 1 "Alt."

Note: Some cards and one of the four administrative actions on the brewery board allow the action "Brewing Beer." This is indicated by the number 1 with an exclamation mark in the small green space. With such an action, only 1 (type of) beer can be brewed, regardless of the brewmaster's brewing level.

1.2 - Rotations

By using this action, the brewmaster rotates their brewing dial(s) X times. Here, X is the sum of the numbers in all the dial icons in the beige-brown section of their own card display (beige-brown cards). The number X of rotations can be divided among any of your available brewing dials.

Note:

• The brewing process of each beer takes a certain amount of time. In this game, we measure this production time in "rotations". Only when the indicator bar of the brewing dial reaches the "0" mark, is that beer fully brewed and is moved to the cellar. More details on this can be found under Brewing Beer and Round End Phase below.
• Each brewmaster starts the game with 1 card (their starting card) in their personal display, which allows 2 rotations.

1.3 - Improving Brewery Progress and/or Removing a Blocking Token

There are 3 options for this action:

• By paying 1 coin, both of the following options can be performed; otherwise, only one.
• Improve the brewery progress on your own brewery board (move the marker on the progress track 1 space to the right).
• Remove 1 of the 8 blocking tokens in your own brewery (to unlock additional spaces in your brewery).

Note: You may remove blocking tokens from areas of the brewery that haven't been developed yet. The brewmaster will then possess the "knowledge" of a new beer type, but the brewery is not yet ready for it.

1.4 - Taking X Barrels and/or Moving X Barrels ↓

The number "X" of barrels is equal to the number of corresponding icons in the beige-brown sections of your own card display (beige-brown cards).

There are 3 options for this action:

• By paying 1 coin, both of the following options can be performed; otherwise, only one.
• Take X new barrels from the common supply and put them in your barrel depot.
• Move X barrels from your own barrel depot* to the cellar ↓.

*If the brewmaster has the upgraded barrel depot, they always have 1 "virtual" barrel there. When moving barrels to the cellar, they then take 1 barrel from the common supply (if they have a free space for it). The brewmaster can either move barrels and then take new ones, or vice versa. However, they must always complete one action entirely before starting the other.

Note: You can only use barrels from your own cellar to fulfill orders!

1.5 - Playing a Hand Card - White Section

When using this action, the brewmaster plays one of their hand cards as a white card, using the white text area in the lower section of the card, or the master brewer character. Each player starts the game with 3 hand cards. These cards are always kept hidden until they are played.

Note:

• Hand cards can be played in 3 ways. The functions of these ways are explained under The Card Sections below.
• You can also play hand cards by using administrative actions on your brewery board.

1.6 - Upgrading a Worker

To perform this action, the brewmaster has to pay 1 coin into the common supply. Then, they place their upgrade marker on the appropriate space on the round end board to carry out a worker upgrade in Step 3 of the round end phase. Multiple upgrade markers can be placed on that space.

Note: The full details of the upgrade process are explained under Round End Phase below. Additionally, some cards provide the opportunity for upgrading. Since each player only has 1 marker, no brewmaster can perform more than one upgrade per round.

1.7 - Brewery Extension

To perform this action, the brewmaster must pay 3 coins into the common supply. Then, they place one of the six extension tiles from next to the game board into the top available slot on the right side of their brewery board. Each brewmaster can place 4 out of the 6 available extension tiles for selection, and they place the remaining 2 tiles next to their board. All extension tiles of the brewmaster must be different.

The first brewmaster to build a specific extension gains 1 victory point.

Note: The advantages and effects of the 6 extensions are explained under Extension Tiles below.

1.8 - Taking 2 Coins

When performing this action, the brewmaster immediately takes 2 coins from the common supply.

Special Action Space - Worker Action & Truck Action - Exchange

This action space does not have a number and is an exception to all the others because here any number of workers and/or trucks can be used, as indicated by the infinity symbol. Exchanging means giving up 1 beer tile from the cellar or 1 coin or 1 barrel from the cellar to gain either 1 victory point or 2 cards or 1 coin; the choice is up to the brewmaster. If you pay 1 coin, you can make this exchange twice (of course, it doesn't make sense to pay 1 coin to get 1 coin, or even to do this twice).

Note: Cards are taken from the open display or from the face down draw pile.

1B) Bonus Action After a Worker Action

A brewmaster can deploy one of their small bonus workers if the combined experience of the deployed worker and the experience value of the chosen action space reaches at least 6. If they no longer have any small bonus workers available, the bonus action is forfeited, and there is no compensation.

The small bonus workers are placed on the bonus action board next to the game board. This board is divided into two areas - the basic area and the improved area. In each area, all actions are always available for all players to choose from, and any number of small bonus workers can be deployed there.

Basic bonus action area (top area): Here, any number of small bonus workers can be used. There are always 7 bonus actions available to choose from.

Improved bonus action area (lower area): Here, any number of small bonus workers can be used. There are always 5 bonus actions available to choose from. However, this area can only be used if the brewmaster has at least 2 "lightbulb" icons!

Note: You will find these "lightbulb" icons on the beige-brown cards of your personal card display.

The Bonus Actions in Detail

Basic area:

• Take 1 coin
• Play 1 card as beige-brown card to your personal card display
• Take X barrels
• Move X barrels ↓ (Note: X is the value of your own card display — beige-brown cards)
• Apply 2 rotations
• Brew 1 beer
• Remove 1 blocking token

Improved area (note: for these actions you must have at least 2 "lightbulbs"):

• Pay 1 coin and complete 1 order
• Pay 3 coins and build 1 brewery extension
• Take 3 cards from the open display and/or from the face down draw pile
• Apply X rotations
• Gain 1 victory point

2. Turn Order Action

Each brewmaster has an untagged worker in the turn order area on the game board. When performing this action, the brewmaster thereby determines their position for the player order in the next round and which immediate bonus they receive.

Note:

• Before the game starts, the initial player order is determined by the starting cards. On the turn order spaces 1-4, the current player order for the current game round is always indicated by the colored barrels of the players.
• During the round end phase, the new player order will be determined and set.

The 8 action spaces provide the following immediate bonuses:

• Take 1 card from the open display or from the face down draw pile.
• Take 2 cards from the open display and/or from the face down draw pile.
• Take 1 coin.
• Take 3 cards from the open display and/or from the face down draw pile.
• Take the neutral gray truck and place it in front of you (additional action!).
• Play 1 card from your hand as beige-brown card to your personal card display.
• Gain 1 victory point, and record it at once.
• Pay 1 coin and take the neutral gray worker and place it in front of you (additional action!).

Note: Usually, one brewmaster or potentially two will have 1 additional action with the assistance of the neutral worker or truck, that is, a sixth action, if at all. However, it may also happen rarely that only one brewmaster will have 2 additional actions, and extremely rarely even 3!

3. Truck Action

Note: With a truck token, only one of the four action spaces featuring a truck symbol can be used. A truck action is never linked to a bonus action! In addition to your own beer truck, there is also a neutral gray bonus truck available. This truck can only be acquired by one brewmaster per round using the turn order action (see Turn Order Action above), and thus they can perform a second truck action.

The Four Truck Action Spaces

9 - Taking 2 coins: Just like with the worker action 1.8, here, 1 brewmaster can take 2 coins per round from the common supply by using a truck token (the number 9 is relevant only in a 2- or 3-player game).

Complete an order: Here, each brewmaster can play a purple contract card using a truck token to complete a beer delivery. To do so, they must have the appropriate beer tiles and barrels in their cellar! Barrels in the barrel depot cannot be used for beer deliveries (they must be moved to the cellar first)!

1st player bonus: The first brewmaster who places a truck here can additionally move a barrel from their barrel depot to their cellar (before or after the action).

Barrel or card: Here, each brewmaster can use a truck token to either acquire 1 barrel or move 1 barrel from their barrel depot to their cellar or take 1 card from the open display or the face down draw pile.

1st player bonus: The first brewmaster who places a truck here additionally takes 1 coin from the common supply.

Special action space worker action & Truck action - Exchange: Exchange (see the Exchange action space under Worker Actions above).

Note: The infinity symbol ∞ indicates that the number of game pieces (workers and trucks, or only trucks) on this action space is not limited.

4. Administrative Action

The players perform this action on their own brewery board. The brewmaster moves their untagged worker in the administrative area to one of the available action spaces and performs that action. However, at the beginning of the game, only the left action "Remove a blocking token and apply 1 rotation" is available. All other actions are still blocked by these blocking tokens.

These are the available action spaces:

• The brewmaster removes any one of their blocking tokens and applies 1 rotation for 1 type of beer. They may use only one part of this action.
• The brewmaster plays 1 beige-brown card from their hand, adding it to their personal card display.
• The brewmaster brews 1 beer (regardless of their brewing level, they can only brew exactly 1 beer with this action).
• The brewmaster plays 1 white card from their hand and uses its white section.

Note: You may remove blocking tokens in any order.

Brewing Beer / Brewing 1 Beer

A number with an exclamation mark like in this example "1!" means that only exactly 1 beer can be brewed, regardless of the position of the brewmaster's brewing level marker at the top of the game board.

When performing the worker action 1.1 - Brewing beer, the brewmaster must first check the following criteria:

a) How many types of beer can you brew? A brewmaster's brewing level marker on the game board indicates how many types of beer (brewing dials) they could brew at most with the worker action 1.1. The marker indicates that the brewmaster can brew 1 beer, e.g. Alt.

b) How many unblocked coops do you have? There are 6 coops on each brewmaster's brewery board, once each for Pils, Export, Lager, Stark, Weizen and Alt. For a brewing dial, you always need a corresponding available coop.

Reminder! At the start of the game, 5 out of the 6 coops are still blocked by blocking tokens and 2 cover tiles. Initially, each player can only brew 1 Alt!

c) How long does the brewing process take for each type of beer you want to brew? The duration of the brewing process is indicated and measured by rotations. When brewing beer, you need the wooden brewing dial specific to that type of beer, which you place on the coop. The sum of the upper big number above the coop and the number above the current position of the marker on your own progress track determines the number of necessary rotations (duration) to complete brewing the beer. The brewing dial is initially placed in a way that aligns the bar on the wooden dial with the number of required rotations.

The number 3 above the Alt coop and the marker on the progress track (+3) mean that the brewing process for Alt currently takes 6 rotations. The octagonal brewing dial is then placed in a way that the bar aligns with the number 6. Therefore, 6 rotations are needed until the brewing process is complete, and the Alt is brewed.

Once the marker's bar, through completed rotations, reaches the number 0 of the coop, the beer is brewed. The brewmaster then takes the corresponding beer tile from the common supply and immediately places it on an empty space in their cellar. Each space can hold only 1 barrel or 1 beer tile, and if there is no empty space, they cannot take the beer tile, or they can clear an occupied cellar space by discarding the existing barrel or beer tile without compensation (returning it to the common supply). The brewing dial must be placed back beside their brewery board in any case.

Note: The more advanced the progress is, the shorter is the duration (number of rotations) of the brewing process for all types of beer! (See also Brewery Progress below). The coops for Stark and Lager always require a minimum of 4 rotations. All other types, upon completing progress, only require 3 rotations! The big number at the top always indicates the minimum number of rotations.

Card Display and Brewing Level Track

Card display: Above the brewing level track at the top edge of the game board, there are always 6 face up action cards, 1 above each green space. The card display is linked to the brew level below it. Each brewmaster always has access to cards that are up to their own brewing level or to the left of it - so at the beginning of the game, only the leftmost card is accessible. When cards are taken from the display, it is replenished at the end of the brewmaster's turn. Shift all face up cards to the left as far as possible to close all gaps. Then place new cards from the draw pile face up on the empty right spaces, from left to right, until there are 6 face up cards again.

Brewing level marker: By increasing their brewing level, the brewmasters do not only expand their card selection, but also the number of beer types they can brew when using a worker action 1.1 - Brewing beer (see Brewing Beer above).

Those who have reached the last space on the brewing level track can also claim the second part of the final scoring and score coins at the end of the game (see End of the Game below).

The Card Sections

Beige-brown Section

To utilize the beige-brown section of a card (referred to as the "beige-brown card"), place it in your own card display. These cards are laid out overlappingly so that the upper beige-brown section remains visible and can be used depending on the situation. The visible icons serve multiple functions: They determine the quantity "X" of barrels that can be obtained or moved when using the worker action 1.3 and also determine the number of rotations you can apply.

Lightbulb icons signify the ability to use improved bonus actions and they also have an impact on the final scoring.

Many cards show an immediate effect below the upper row of icons, indicated by the flash icon. Immediate effects take place as soon as the card is played.

The 4 columns show (from left to right) the number of lightbulb icons, the number of new barrels, the number of barrels to be moved, and the number of rotations.

Reminder! At the start of the game, the respective starting card is always the first beige-brown card in your own display.

Possible immediate effects:

• Gain 1 victory point
• Take 1 coin
• Apply 2 rotations
• Take 1 card (from the display or draw pile)
• Take 1 barrel
• Move 1 barrel ↓

Several immediate effects can be indicated by a single flash icon.

Purple Section

The purple section of an action card (= purple card) is used for beer deliveries. With the truck action "Complete an order" (see Truck Action above), the brewmaster can play a card from their hand to deliver beer. Alternatively, orders can also be completed in the "improved bonus actions" area or through certain "white cards." Delivering beer means returning the required brewed beer tiles and beer barrels from your own cellar to the common supply.

The purple order section always displays precisely which beer tile(s) and how many barrels the brewmaster needs to deliver. If only the word BEER is mentioned, any type can be delivered.

As a reward for this, you gain victory points almost always, sometimes something else as well and/or a bonus (1 coin, 1 card, an additional victory point, etc.), if the brewery extension "Truck fleet" is listed and you have already built this extension.

Order section example: The requirement is to deliver 1 Weizen and 1 Alt beer as well as 2 barrels. In return, the brewmaster gains 4 victory points. If they have built the "Truck fleet" extension, they also take 1 coin additionally.

White Section

The white section of an action card (= white card) provides special one-time actions, as written in the card text. Often, this can be used to benefit from specific effects, make use of advantages, etc. After the effect is used, the card is discarded.

Note: If a card text contradicts the rules, the card text takes precedence. Card texts are applied as far as possible. If a brewmaster, for instance, can only apply 3 rotations instead of 5, that is allowed. Similarly, if the brewmaster, for example, has no more blocking tokens left, they naturally cannot remove any more and will simply ignore that part of the text.

Furthermore, there are special master brewer characters among the white cards, who provide a permanent effect and are placed at your own brewery board. Cards featuring a master brewer character, linked with the white text box, can provide a permanent effect. When you play a white card for this master brewer effect, slide the card underneath your own brewery board at the designated spot, so that only the card text and the master brewer remain visible.

The effect of this text remains in effect permanently, as long as this master brewer is "active" in your own brewery. In each brewery, only 1 master brewer character can be active at the same time. If you want to play a different master brewer character, you take the previous one back into your hand, so you can use the card for a different purpose later on.

Characters and other illustrations on a gray background have no function, they merely serve as decoration.

Objective Cards

1 card is face up on the game board. As explained during setup, at least 1 of the 5 green objective cards is always on display as an objective.

By fulfilling an objective, the brewmasters can earn victory points throughout the game. To fulfill an objective, the brewmaster must "sacrifice" one of their small bonus workers, which is then no longer available to them for the remainder of the game.

The first player to fulfill an objective places their small bonus worker on the 3-point space and immediately marks this on the victory point track. Only one other brewmaster can gain 2 victory points if they are the second player to fulfill that objective. An objective can be fulfilled any time during a player's turn if they meet its condition (and the objective is not already occupied). This does not count as an action.

Note:

• You cannot fulfill an objective at the round end "just like that".
• At the start of the game, each brewmaster only has 2 small bonus workers available, which are usually used for bonus actions. You should consider well "sacrificing" a small bonus worker for an objective (or with the "Laboratory" extension on the round end board, see there), however this may be worthwhile.
• Small bonus workers "sacrificed" like this remain in their place for the remainder of the game!
• When building the brewery extension "Machine Hall," the brewmaster gets hold of their 2 additional small bonus workers from the common supply.
• In a 2-player game, each objective can only be fulfilled once for 3 victory points (see appendix, setup for 2 players).

All objectives (1-2 imprinted on the game board, 3-7 as cards):

1. You must have 3 identical beer tiles in your cellar (not turn them in).
2. You must have 4 different beer tiles in your cellar (not turn them in).
3. You must have built 4 extensions.
4. You must have removed 6 blocking tokens from your brewery board.
5. You must own 7 barrels* (not turn them in).
6. You must have 4 lightbulbs in your personal card display.
7. You must have reached brewing level 4.

*Barrels in your depot and your cellar are added together. With the improved barrel depot, the brewmaster automatically has a permanent barrel that counts towards the "7 barrels" objective. There is no physical barrel token present; it is taken from the common supply when the brewmaster moves barrels to the cellar.

Extension Tiles

The game includes 6 different types of extension tiles. For each type, the number of tiles available is equal to the number of players. Each brewmaster can use the worker action 1.7 Brewery extension (see Worker Actions above) to purchase expansion tiles, and each player can have a maximum of 1 tile of each type. Some white cards allow for building extensions at a lower cost.

Only the player who builds a specific type of extension tile first immediately gains 1 victory point. (Only the top tile of each stack shows the corresponding icon.)

Each brewmaster adds their first four extension tiles to the right of their brewery board from top to bottom. The fifth and sixth extension tiles are simply placed next to their brewery board. With the second, third, and fourth extension, a one-time immediate effect is triggered, as indicated on the brewery board. Similarly, each extension tile provides a one-time immediate effect, regardless of where it is placed. The truck fleet and the laboratory also have a permanent effect.

Beer filter: The brewmaster removes one of their two overlay tiles. Additionally, they may apply up to 3 rotations immediately.

Truck fleet: The brewmaster takes a barrel depot with 5 storage spaces and 1 coin from the common supply. The new barrel depot covers the imprinted one, and any barrels already placed there are moved to the new depot. Additionally, many beer orders provide additional earnings if you have built the truck fleet.

Cooling system: The brewmaster removes one of their two overlay tiles. Additionally, they increase their brewing level by 1.

Laboratory: The brewmaster immediately places one of their small bonus workers at "Step 1." on the round end board. From now on, at the end of each round, they can rotate each of their own brewing dials twice (they must do it once, see Round End Phase below), and additionally they can apply up to 2 rotations immediately.

Attention! To build this extension, the brewmaster must "sacrifice" a small bonus worker; otherwise, they cannot build this extension! If they currently don't have one in their supply, they must use one that is already deployed (but not one that has already been "sacrificed").

Malt factory: The brewmaster immediately takes one beer tile of their choice from the common supply and puts it directly into their cellar. In doing so, they can even take a type of beer they currently cannot brew. Additionally, they can move one barrel.

Machine Hall: The brewmaster gets hold of their 2 additional small bonus workers from the common supply.

Note: By removing an overlay tile, the brewery expands and gains additional coops. Any remaining blocking tokens on the respective coops remain in place.

One-time Immediate Effects of the Second, Third and Fourth Installed Extension (imprinted on the brewery board)

• For their second installed extension, the brewmaster can immediately play a card from their hand as a beige-brown card in their personal display or take one card (from the open display or the draw pile).
• For their third installed extension, the brewmaster can immediately increase their brewing level by 1.
• For their fourth installed extension, the brewmaster can immediately increase their brewing level by 1 or gain 1 victory point.

Blocking Tokens

At the start of the game, 8 blocking tokens block 8 spaces on each brewery board. When a blocking token (for example, through the administrative action) is removed, it is also removed from the game. Five blocking tokens are placed in slots, each one blocking a new type of beer. These blocking tokens can be removed even while the overlay tiles are still in the brewery. Essentially, by removing the blocking tokens, you gain knowledge about new types of beer. However, in order to brew these new varieties, the brewery must first be developed by the brewmaster by removing the overlay tile(s).

Initially, the following 8 spaces are blocked:

• All coops except Alt.
• 3 administrative actions: Brew 1 beer, play a beige-brown card, play a white card.

Brewery Progress

On each brewery board, there is a progress track for the brewery. This track indicates how many additional turns each brewing dial must be rotated during the brewing process (refer to Brewing Beer above).

By using the worker action 1.3 Improving brewery progress and/or removing a blocking token, the progress can be enhanced, resulting in the brewing dials requiring fewer rotations or, in other words, shortening the duration of the brewing process. Additionally, this track offers three different bonuses that the brewmaster can get during the course of the game:

• Hand limit 6: The brewmaster is now allowed to keep 6 hand cards for the next round instead of just 3.
• Income at the round end +1: The brewmaster moves their disc one step up on the income track of the round end board.
• Victory Point: The brewmaster gains 1 victory point immediately.

Barrel Depot and Improved Barrel Depot

Initially, the barrel depot on each brewery board provides space for 3 barrels. When a brewmaster receives new barrels, they must always place them in their barrel depot first. These can only be moved to the cellar using the effect/action of moving barrels.

You can only use barrels from your cellar to complete orders! However, any barrels in the depot are already in the brewmaster's possession, which is important for the objective of owning 7 barrels, for example.

When building the extension "Truck fleet," the brewmaster takes the tile for the improved barrel depot that can hold 5 barrels. This tile covers the old barrel depot. Apart from the 5 storage spaces, the improved barrel depot also always has a permanent "virtual" barrel (left side). With the action or effect of moving barrels, the brewmaster can always move at least one barrel (from the common supply) into their cellar. This permanent "virtual" barrel also counts towards achieving the objective of owning 7 barrels.

Historical note: In former days, breweries used to have their own barrels and would lend them out with beer deliveries. As a result, they had to retrieve, maintain, and clean "their" barrels before they could be used again. In the game, this is represented by the effect/action of moving barrels.

Round End Phase

The round end phase consists of 5 steps, which are dealt with in sequence for all players after no player can perform an action anymore.

Step 1: Brewing Process

Each brewmaster must apply 1 rotation for each of their current brewing dials. For each brewing dial whose marker reaches Level 0 as a result, they must immediately place the corresponding beer tile (from the common supply) into their cellar. If there is no empty space, the brewmaster must still return the brewing dial to their supply – in this case, they cannot take the beer tile. Each space can hold only 1 barrel or 1 beer tile, and if there is no empty space, they cannot take the beer tile, or they can clear an occupied cellar space by discarding the existing barrel or beer tile without compensation (returning it to the common supply). If a player has built the "Laboratory" extension (and has thus "sacrificed" a small bonus worker on the round end board), they may apply a 2nd rotation for any of their brewing wheels if they wish.

Note: Beer tiles that now enter the cellar and thereby would complete the objectives of "3 identical beer tiles" or "4 different beer tiles" can only be claimed in the next action phase.

Step 2: Retrieve Game Pieces & New Player Order

All brewmasters retrieve their deployed tagged workers and their truck, as well as their small bonus workers from the bonus action board. However, small bonus workers "sacrificed" for Step 1 on the round end board and for achieving an objective are never taken back.

Reset the untagged workers of all brewmasters deployed in the turn order area. The one placed furthest to the left is moved to the 1st space, the one in the second-highest position to the 2nd space, and so on. Then, using the colored barrels, the new player order for the next game round is established according to the ranking of the untagged workers.

Each brewmaster resets their untagged worker in the administrative area of their brewery to the starting space. The neutral gray worker and neutral gray truck are returned to their respective bonus spaces in the turn order area.

Step 3: Worker Upgrade

Brewmasters who have placed their upgrade marker on the Step 3 space enhance the experience of one of their tagged workers (more precisely, they hire a new one and retire an old one). They place the "old" worker on the corresponding retirement space on their brewery board and take their worker tagged with one more experience from the common supply. But before the "old" worker retires, they render one final service to their brewery and tidy up the cellar: The tile next to their retirement space is removed, freeing up to 2 additional cellar spaces that can be used in future. Additionally, each removed cellar tile provides one or two one-time immediate bonuses.

• Retrieve your upgrade marker.
• Place the "old" worker on the appropriate retirement space of your brewery board, remove the adjacent cellar tile, and make use of the corresponding bonus.
• Take a new worker, improved by one experience, from the common supply. This one is at your disposal starting from the next round.

Bonuses of cellar tiles:

• Large tile: The brewmaster increases their brewing level by 1 and moves their disc 1 space up on the income track of the round end board.
• Medium-sized tile: The brewmaster gains 1 barrel and moves 2 barrels to their cellar or removes 1 blocking token.
• Medium-sized tile: The brewmaster increases their brewery progress by 1 step or plays 1 beige-brown card from their hand, adding it to their personal card display.
• Small tile: The brewmaster puts one beer tile of their choice from the common supply directly into their cellar or increases their brewing level by 1.

Return removed cellar tiles to the game box.

Reminder: Exactly 1 beer tile or 1 barrel can be on each empty space in the cellar!

Step 4a: Check Hand Limit

Each brewmaster who has more than 3 or 6* hand cards must discard excess cards.

*If a brewmaster has reached at least the fourth space on their brewery progress track, they increase their hand limit to 6.

Step 4b: Refill the Card Display

Put the leftmost face up card from the display above the game board on the discard pile. Shift all cards to the right of it 1 step to the left, and reveal 1 new card from the draw pile at the right end of the display.

Step 5: Income at the Round End

Depending on the position of their disc on the income track each brewmaster earns 0 coins, 1 coin or 2 coins. The icon on the round end board indicates that the brewmaster moves their disc 1 space up on the income track.

End of the Game

At least one player has achieved 20 victory points or more.

Final scoring part 1 - all brewmasters. Once a brewmaster has achieved a minimum of 20 victory points, this triggers the end of the game. The current round is played to completion, including the round end phase. Then, for each lightbulb icon they have in their card display, each brewmaster can discard 1 beer tile from their cellar in exchange for 1 victory point. However, the lightbulb icons are not spent by this action.

Final scoring part 2 - all brewmasters who have reached the last space of the brewing level track. All brewmasters who have reached the last space of the brewing level track can now proceed with the second part of the final scoring. Each eligible brewmaster can now pay 1 coin for each lightbulb icon in their card display to gain 1 victory point for each.

Winner of the Game. After the final scoring is complete, the brewmaster with the most victory points is the winner of the game. The winner can boast to be the master brewer!

In case of a tie for the most victory points, the tied player who possesses more beer at this moment, including all beers in the cellar and those not yet brewed, wins. If a tie still remains, the tied player with more barrels on their entire brewery board wins (including the virtual barrel from the improved barrel depot). If the tie is still not broken at that point, the brewmasters tied in the latest tie share the victory.

Appendix

Changes in Setup and Game Play for 3 Players

During setup, only the 3 starting cards 1-3 are dealt to the players; card 4 remains in the box. As usual, each player receives 3 start action cards marked with "S," and the remaining 3 are shuffled into the action card draw pile.

For a game with 3 players, the game includes 6 "Setup cards - 3 Players." These cards are shuffled face down during setup, and 1 of them is drawn randomly and revealed. All cards display 3 or 4 action spaces that are not available throughout the game. These are covered with the provided cover tiles.

Covering Action Spaces: Each worker action 1-8 on the game board has a number and the letters a (upper action space) and b (lower action space), except truck action 9. The drawn cover card for this game indicates which actions are available only 1x (or action 9 not at all) for the entire game. These action spaces are covered with a semi-circular cover tile each.

Variant extension tiles: Only 3 tiles of each type of extension tile are used, and the tile with victory point bonus for the 1st player remains in the box.

Changes in Setup and Game Play for 2 Players

During setup, only the 2 starting cards 1-2 are dealt to the players; cards 3 and 4 remain in the box. As usual, each player receives 3 start action cards marked with "S," and the remaining 6 are shuffled into the action card draw pile.

In the objectives, all spaces for 2 victory points (2nd position) are covered with small bonus workers of an unused player color, each objective can only be completed once!

For a game with 2 players, the game includes 2 "Setup cards - 2 Players." During setup, 1 of them is drawn randomly and revealed. In a 2-player game, either all worker actions 1-8 are available only once, or only 7 worker actions are available once and the truck action 9 is not available at all.

The action spaces indicated on the drawn cover card for this game are covered with the provided cover tiles, as described above.

Variant extension tiles: Only 2 tiles of each type of extension tile are used, and the tile with victory point bonus for the 1st player remains in the box.

Credits

Author: Thomas Spitzer Graphics: Harald Lieske Editorial: Henning Voss Rule book & Editing: Ferdinand Köther Layout: INDEGO GmbH

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