Dollars to Donuts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• The Basics
• Gameplay
  • 1. Buy
  • 2. Place the Donut Tile
  • 3. Collect Victory Tokens
  • 4. Draw from the Bag
  • 5. Place a Dollar Tile (optional)
  • 6. Serve a Customer (optional)
  • 7. Fill the Specials Board
  • 8. Add New Customer (if needed)
• Neighborhood Bonuses
• Game End
• Scoring
  • Scoring Example
• Setup Variant

Components

• 4 Player Mats (pink, orange, blue, and green)
• 4 Turn Reference Cards
• 2 Solo Mode Reference Cards
• 1 Specials Board (double-sided — Solo Mode on back)
• 61 Donut Tiles
• 16 Starter Tiles (with backs matching each player's mat color)
• 39 Customer Cards
• 60 Dollar Tiles
• 1 Starting Player Token
• 1 Cloth Bag
• 100 Victory Tokens (42 plain, 28 chocolate glazed, 18 deluxe sprinkle, and 12 jelly-filled), worth 1 pt, 2 pts, 3 pts, and 5 pts respectively
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

1. Each player takes 1 Player Mat, the 4 matching Starter Tiles, and 5 Dollar Tiles (4 with plain donut holes on the back, and 1 with chocolate donut holes on the back)*. Place these Dollar Tiles next to each player's Player Mat. Put the rest of the Dollar Tiles in the Cloth Bag.

2. Place the Specials Board within easy reach of everyone. Pile the Victory Tokens by type near the matching displays on the Specials Board.

3. The last player to eat a donut or visit a donut shop is the starting player (or determine randomly). They take the Starting Player Token.

4. Each player takes their four Starter Tiles and places them on their board in any position or orientation. The only restriction on placement is that no two tiles may occupy the same row or column.

5. Shuffle the Donut Tiles and draw 6 at random, filling the slots on the Specials Board left to right. Place the remaining Donut Tiles face down in stacks at the $5 end of the Specials Board.

6. Shuffle the Customer Cards and place the deck within easy reach of everyone. Reveal the top 4 cards and place them face up near the deck.

* For easy set up, these 9 Dollar Tiles for each player fit in the 4 small cavities in the middle of the storage tray.

The Basics

In the baking world, aesthetics are paramount. Your ultimate goal is to fill your Player Mat and create as many perfectly matched donuts as possible. For each perfectly matched donut you create, you collect a Victory Token of the same type. These are worth 1 pt for each plain, 2 pts for each chocolate glazed, 3 pts for each deluxe sprinkle, and 5 pts for each jelly-filled. They may also be served to customers for even higher points.

Each mismatched donut lets you draw 1 or more Dollar Tiles from the bag. Dollar Tiles may be spent to buy tiles from the Specials Board on later turns. Some Dollar Tiles feature donut halves or donut holes you can alternately use to fill gaps on your Player Mat.

At the end of the game, the winner is the player with the highest score. To find your score, add together the following and subtract the number of open spaces left on your mat.

• Points on served Customer Cards (see Gameplay, Step 6)
• Neighborhood bonuses (see Neighborhood Bonuses)
• Pairs of donut hole tiles (see Gameplay, Step 5)
• Victory Tokens not placed on Customer Cards (see Gameplay, Step 3)

Gameplay

On your turn, take the following steps in this order:

1. Buy

Purchase a Donut Tile from those available on the Specials Board. Spend a number of Dollar Tiles equal to the cost listed at the bottom of a slot and take the tile from that slot. The rightmost tile is always free! Dollar Tiles that you spend are immediately returned to the Cloth Bag.

Important: Each Dollar Tile is worth $1 and may be spent to purchase a Donut Tile, regardless of what's on the back of the Dollar Tile.

2. Place the Donut Tile

Place the purchased tile into any empty space on your Player Mat, in any orientation. You may even place the tile so some but not all of it extends off the edge of your mat, though this isn't recommended early in the game. Donut matches made off your Player Mat are not counted for any purpose. Once a tile is placed, it may not be moved in later turns. In the rare case that you cannot place a Donut Tile, you may still choose to purchase one and place it beside your Player Mat. You do not have to purchase a tile. Whether you purchase a tile or not, the game continues and you take the rest of your turn as normal.

3. Collect Victory Tokens

Take 1 Victory Token for each donut you perfectly matched (with two identical halves).

4. Draw from the Bag

For each mismatched donut, draw a number of Dollar Tiles from the bag equal to the higher number of dollar signs between the two halves. For example, matching a plain half with a deluxe sprinkle half earns you 3 Dollar Tiles from the Cloth Bag.

Note: A single tile placement can earn you Dollar Tiles from multiple mismatches. Be sure to draw for all of them!

Exception: The rare jelly-filled donuts are worth 5 victory points when perfectly matched, but they earn no draws from the bag when mismatched.

5. Place a Dollar Tile (optional)

Once per turn, if you have any Dollar Tiles with half donuts or donut holes on them, you may place 1 of these tiles into any gap on your Player Mat. You may only place 1 Dollar Tile onto your Player Mat per turn.

• A. If you place a donut half and complete a donut, you trigger Steps 3 & 4 again. This step (Step 5) is then skipped and you proceed with Step 6 as usual. You may not repeat Step 5 under any circumstances.
• B. Donut holes are worth bonus points at the end of the game. You earn points for each pair of donut holes of each type, as shown below. The placement of donut holes does not matter. You earn the points no matter where a pair of donut holes are on your Player Mat. No points are earned for leftover donut holes that do not form a pair.

Donut holes	Value
Plain Donut Holes	1 pt per pair of tiles
Chocolate Glazed Donut Holes	2 pts per pair of tiles
Deluxe Sprinkle Donut Holes	3 pts per pair of tiles

6. Serve a Customer (optional)

Once per turn, if you have the necessary Victory Tokens, you may serve a single unclaimed customer. Take the Customer Card from the face up line and place it in front of you. Place Victory Tokens from those you have collected on matching spaces on the Customer Card. These donuts are no longer available to you to serve other customers, and they no longer count as victory points at the end of the game (instead, they earn you the same amount plus a bonus as listed on the served Customer Card).

Each customer has 3 levels of satisfaction:

• Contented: 2 donuts on the top line
• Delighted: 2 donuts on the top line, and 1 donut on the middle line
• Thrilled: 2 donuts on the top line, 1 donut on the middle line, and 1 donut on the bottom line (fully served)

A customer must be served from top to bottom. You may serve the 2 donuts on the top line, the 2 donuts on the top line plus the 1 donut on the second line, or all 4 donuts on the card. At the end of the game, each customer you've served earns you the victory points listed on the bottom line you've filled with donuts.

Each customer may only be served once, and may only be served when you claim the card. You cannot add more donuts to the card in later rounds to boost the customer's satisfaction.

Example: Sanjay is Contented with 1 plain and 1 chocolate glazed. He would be Delighted with 2 plain and 1 chocolate glazed. He would be Thrilled with 2 plain, 1 chocolate glazed, and 1 jelly-filled. These Victory Tokens are never removed from the Sanjay Customer Card, nor can they be used to satisfy other customers.

7. Fill the Specials Board

Shift all tiles to the right to fill the slot emptied in Step 1. Draw a new Donut Tile to fill the $5 slot.

8. Add New Customer (if needed)

If a customer was served, draw a new Customer Card to replace them.

Play then proceeds clockwise to the next player.

Neighborhood Bonuses

Each customer comes from one of 3 neighborhoods (Mt. Timber, The Rose District, or Sunset Heights). Players earn additional victory points for serving sets of customers from different neighborhoods, or the most customers from any neighborhood.

• You earn 3 victory points per set of 3 customers, where a set of customers is 1 customer from each neighborhood (1 from Mt. Timber, 1 from the Rose District, and 1 from Sunset Heights).
• Additionally, you earn 2 victory points if you served the most customers from any one neighborhood. You earn 4 points if you served the most customers from 2 neighborhoods, and 6 points if you served the most customers from all three neighborhoods!

In the case of a tie for most customers served from a neighborhood, the player with the most total donuts served to customers from that neighborhood wins the tie. If there's still a tie, all tied players earn the points.

Game End

The game ends when one or more of the following occurs:

• When any player completely fills their Player Mat, play continues until the player to the right of the starting player has taken their turn (until all players have taken an equal number of turns).
• When a player is unable to fill the Specials Board during Step 7 of their turn (because no Donut Tiles remain in the supply), the game ends immediately.

Scoring

Total your score by adding together the following and subtracting the number of open spaces left on your Player Mat (–1 per empty space).

• Points on served Customer Cards
• Neighborhood bonuses (3 pts per set: 1 customer from each neighborhood, and 2 pts per majority)
• Pairs of donut hole tiles placed on your Player Mat (1 pt per plain pair, 2 pts per chocolate glazed pair, and 3 pts per deluxe sprinkle pair)
• Victory Tokens not placed on Customer cards (1 pt per plain donut, 2 pts per chocolate glazed donut, 3 pts per deluxe sprinkle, and 5 pts per jelly-filled)

The player with the highest score is the best donut baker in town!

If tied, the player with the most unused Dollar Tiles wins the game. If still tied, the player with the fewest open spaces on their Player Mat wins. If still tied, those players share the victory. They open shops across the street from each other and yet somehow their businesses thrive equally. Huzzah!

Scoring Example

Source	Detail	Points
A — Points on Customer Cards	9 + 12 + 11 + 6	38 points
B — Neighborhood set bonus	1 of each neighborhood	3 points
C — Neighborhood majority bonus	Mt. Timber majority	2 points
D — Pairs of donut hole tiles	1 pair of deluxe sprinkles	3 points
E — Remaining Victory Tokens	2 plain donut	2 points
F — Empty Player Mat spaces	-1 per empty space	-2 points
Total		46 points

Setup Variant

For a more balanced and interactive set up, replace Step 4 with the following.

Beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player places any one of the 4 Starter Tiles on their Player Mat. Each other player must place their matching Starter Tile on their board in the same location and orientation. The Starter Tiles may be placed anywhere on the mat and in any orientation, but no 2 Starter Tiles may share the same row or column. Continue until all Starter Tiles are placed.

No 2 Starter Tiles can share the same row or column.