La Cuenta Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Game Setup
How to Play
Ask for the Bill
End of the Game
Explanation of the Cards
Credits

Components

100 cards, of which:

Tapas cards (48) - three types: vegetable, meat, and fish.
Wine cards (10)
Special cards (42)

Hand increase tokens (20) - one side indicates +1 card, the other +2 cards.

Game Setup

Each player starts the game with some savings, depending on the number of players:

Players	3	4	5	6	7	8
Savings	900€	1,000€	1,100€	1,200€	1,300€	1,400€

Set aside the hand increase tokens. Gather the cards in a deck, shuffle them, and deal 5 cards to each player.

Whoever has paid a bill most recently starts the game.

How to Play

Each bar you visit is represented by a round, and each round consists of an indeterminate number of turns (orders you place to the kitchen). In each turn, the player in turn must play 1 card from their hand:

Each type of tapas has ONE stack, which opens with ANY value. The following cards of the stack must be of the SAME type and of EQUAL or HIGHER price.
You can ALWAYS play a wine card.
Some special cards are played on your turn, and others when someone asks for the bill (see Explanation of the Cards).

Once the card has been played, the turn passes to the next player on the left. Whoever has taken the turn does NOT draw a card from the deck!

If you cannot play 1 card in your turn, you must ask for the bill. You can also ask for the bill at any time, as long as the total number of cards played during the current round is at least equal to the number of players.

Ask for the Bill

Once no one wants to play more special cards (see Explanation of the Cards), whoever has asked for the bill adds up the prices of all the cards played in this round, and deducts this amount from their savings. If the amount is negative, nothing is paid. In any case, put all the played cards in the discard pile.

If someone no longer has savings, go to the End of the Game. Otherwise, follow these steps:

If the total number of cards played during the round is at least equal to the number of players, whoever paid the bill can discard any unwanted cards from their hand, and also gets a hand increase. To do so, they either receive a hand increase token, or they flip one they already have. Hands can never be increased beyond 10 cards.
If the total number of cards played during the round is less than the number of players, whoever paid the bill must discard their entire hand, and doesn't get a hand increase.

Hint: Asking for the bill early, when it is a low amount, allows you to replace the cards in your hand that you do not want and maybe increase the number of cards in your hand by 1.

In any case, you all draw cards until you have 5 cards + the number of increases (10 cards max.). If there are not enough cards in the deck, form a new deck by shuffling the discard pile.

Whoever footed the bill starts the next round.

If you start a round and cannot play any cards, discard your entire hand, draw cards to your hand size and start again.

End of the Game

The game is over when someone runs out of savings. Immediately the winner is whoever has the most savings. In case of a tie, the tied player with most cash in their pocket wins.

Explanation of the Cards

Unless otherwise stated, cards cannot be played once the bill has been asked for.

1. Tapas Cards (48)

There are 3 types: meat, fish and vegetable.

To play a tapas card, if there are already card(s) of that type on the table, the card you play must be of equal or higher price than the highest price already played of that type. If there are no cards of that type on the table, you can play a card of any price.

2. Wine Cards (10)

You can always play a wine card.

Once on the table, they are grouped in sets of up to 5 cards, whose total price scales with the number of cards. If a 6th wine card is played in the same round, another set of cards is started.

Special Cards

The special cards are split into those playable before asking for the bill, and those playable after (once the bill has been asked for):

Before asking for the bill:

Burnt Dish (8) - Play it on a tapas stack (meat, fish or vegetable) regardless of its current price. That tapas type is locked and no more tapas of that type can be played this round.
Turn Reversal (4) - Reverses the turn order for the rest of the round.
Premium (4) - Play this card when you play a tapas or burnt dish. Double the value of the card played together with this card.
Toilet (5) - You go to the toilet until your next turn. While you are in the toilet no one can target you in any way, you can't play any other cards, foot the bill nor ask for the bill.
Coffee (10) - You can only play it if there is at least 1 tapas of each type on the table (meat, fish and vegetable). For the rest of this round, nobody can play any of these cards: wine, tapas, burnt dish, turn reversal or birthday cake.
Birthday Cake (1) - CONGRATULATIONS, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! For the rest of this round, you are not obliged to play cards and you can neither foot nor ask for the bill (your friends invite you!).

After asking for the bill:

Fifty-Fifty (3) - You can only play it after you asked for the bill. Choose a player who is not in the toilet nor it's their birthday. That player foots half the bill and you foot the other half. The other player can't increase their hand.
Go Dutch (1) - You can only play it after you asked for the bill. Divide the value of the bill among all players except those who are in the toilet and/or it is their birthday. The other players can't increase their hand.
Tip (6) - You can only play it after someone has asked for the bill. The price of the cheapest tapas is added to the bill as a tip.

Credits

Author: Litus Carreras
Illustration and design: Ariadna Altimira de los Reyes
Translation: Ariadna Altimira de los Reyes
Review and editing: Jordi Rodríguez
Acknowledgments: Jiko, Miquel, Marisa, Uri and Anaïs