Monster Café
Monster Café Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Setup before each game
Choose the 5 families of Monsters you want to play with. You will find suggestions in the Menu booklet. Put the other Monster families back into the game box, as you won't need them during the game.
- Put the Coffee tokens within easy reach of everyone.
- Certain Monsters need particular tokens. Put these within easy reach of everyone (see the Monsters à la carte booklet).
- Leave the centre of the table empty, as the Monster cards will have to reach it.
Setup before each round
Shuffle the Monster cards and place them in a pile, within easy reach of everyone. Each player draws 10 Monster cards (12 when there are only 2 players). The remaining Monster cards are discarded and won't be needed for the game.
- a. Each player chooses 3 Monster cards that they put, face down, in front of them. This will be their Rear Line. At any time during the game, a player can look at their Monster cards in their own Rear Line.
- b. Then, simultaneously, the players reveal their remaining Monster cards and put them, face up in front of them, above their Rear Line. These form the Front Line.
The First Player is the one who has the fewest Coffee tokens. In the event of a tie, the First Player is the one who saw a Star Wars movie recently. (So it might be a good idea to watch a (good!) Star Wars movie before playing!)
Latte Newbie
The LATTE NEWBIE is the ideal combination to start playing. We advise this combination for the first 2 or 3 games. After that, you will be able to look at the Menu with its 18 coffees, classified by Strength!
A model setup for 3 players according to the Latte Newbie is illustrated in the rulebook. Players have prepared the Cookie tokens (Cakosaurus) and the Whipped Cream tokens (Snorkel) for the game.
Goal of the game
A game of Monster Café is played in 2 rounds. Players use the different Monsters to earn as many Coffee tokens as possible. At the end of the 2 rounds, the player who has the most wins!
The rounds
At the start of each round, set up the game as explained in the Setup section (before each round).
How to play
Each player takes their turn, starting with the First Player. During their turn, each player must take the following actions:
- They choose a Monster card in a Front Line where there are more than 3 Monster cards. It can be their own Front Line, or any other player's.
- They place that Monster card at the centre of the table.
- They use the power of that Monster card.
Then, it's the turn of the player on their left.
Notes
- NOTE 0: No player can have fewer than 3 Monster cards in their Front Line and fewer than 3 Monster cards in their Rear Line.
- NOTE 1: Some Monster families do not have special powers.
- NOTE 2: Some Monsters require tokens. From time to time (very rarely), as tokens are limited in numbers, you won't have enough. That means that if a power (and its corresponding token) interests you, don't wait.
- NOTE 3: (if you're the only one reading the rules, don't share this tip) There can very well be two different tokens on a Monster card in the Front Line...
- NOTE 4: You could be forced to play a specific Monster card (towards the end of a round, for example) whose power is no longer applicable. It's rare, but it happens, and it's well played on your adversaries' part. In this case, don't apply the power!
End of the round
A round ends as soon as every player has only 3 Monster cards left in their Front Line. It's then time to distribute the Coffee tokens. Each player reveals the Monster cards from their Rear Lines (leave them in the rear, separate from the other cards).
NOTE: Certain powers might have revealed some Monster cards from the Rear Lines during the round.
For every family of Monsters at the centre of the table, check which player has the majority in their Front and Rear Lines combined. Don't forget that Monster cards from the Rear Line are worth double!
The player who has the most of any one family wins as many Coffee tokens as there are Monster cards from that family at the centre of the table. In the event of a tie, nobody wins Coffee tokens for that family.
Once all of the Coffee tokens have been distributed, a new round begins.
Example with the REX Monster
PLAYER 2 has 2 REX cards, none in their Front Line and 2 in their Rear Line, and those are worth double. It means they have 4 REX. PLAYER 3 also has 2 REX cards: 1 in their Front Line and 1 in their Rear Line, which is worth double. It means they have 3 REX. PLAYER 2 wins the Coffee tokens associated with the 2 REX in the centre of the table.
In the illustrated example, there is a tie between PLAYER 1 and PLAYER 3 for another family: nobody wins those 4 Coffee tokens.
End of the game
The game ends after the second round. The player who has the most Coffee tokens wins! In the event of a tie, the player who won the most Coffee tokens during the second round wins (Cookie tokens and Mummy tokens not included). If there is still a tie, players share the victory... or you can play a round of 421 or of rock-paper-scissors (our favourite) or have a thumb war. If anyone's parent is a law enforcement officer, that player automatically wins in the event of a tie!