Seize the Bean: Extra Founders Expansion Pack Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Founders
  • Overview
  • Setup
  • Founders
  • Drafting
  • Explanation of a Founder Card
  • Example: Choosing a Group Icon for your Founder
• Gameplay Changes
  • Orders, Rewards & Ability
  • Example: Serving or Skipping a Founder
• Special Resource & Customer Group Icons
  • Pantry Discounts
  • Example: Founder Pantry Discounts
  • Word of Mouth
  • Example: Word of Mouth - Part 1
  • Example: Word of Mouth - Part 2
  • Café Achievements & Group Awards
• Adopted F&F and Founders
• Solo Mode with Founders
• Additional Founders
  • Additional Founders
• Compatibility
  • Founders

Founders

Overview

Founder Cards introduce a bit of asymmetrical gameplay and help to accelerate the game for both beginners and expert players. Each player will play as a certain Founder and use them to their advantage throughout the game. The Founder that you select during setup will likely be based on your intended strategy.

Backstory: All of the Founders shown below are real people who founded the Berlin-based cafés that Seize the Bean features on its player boards.

Setup

After the City has been entirely set up, take all of the Founders and shuffle them into a single Founder Deck. Randomly deal each player 3 cards from this Founder Deck and return any unused Founder Cards back to the box. Then begin drafting the cards as described on the next page. If you are playing with 5 or 6 players, please also see the Additional Founders section on page 27.

Heads Up: It's important that the draft only take place after all players have had a chance to look at the setup of the cards in the City, so that their strategic ideas may influence their choices during the draft.

Founders

1. Benjamin Pates (Concierge Coffee)
2. Namy Nosratifard (Concierge Coffee)
3. Pablo Fuchs (Blaue Bohne)
4. Amir Blaenkston (Blaue Bohne)
5. Yumi Choi (Bonanza)
6. Kiduk Reus (Bonanza)
7. Koulla Louca (St. Oberholz)
8. Ansgar Oberholz (St. Oberholz)
9. Morgan Love (Silo) *
10. James Maguire (Silo) *
11. Maria Olivieri (Barettino) *
12. Djamila Imberi (Barettino) *

* Where's My Café? Please note that the Café Player Boards which match these Founders can be found in the 5-6 Player Expansion. But don't worry if you don't have them; they are only aesthetically different and don't add any new mechanics or gameplay elements.

Drafting

Each player simultaneously selects a Founder card to keep from their hand of 3 cards. The selected card is placed face down in front of them, so that the other players do not know what it is. Once all players have chosen their first card, they pass the remaining 2 cards in their hand to the player on their left. Repeat this process until all players have 3 Founders cards face down in front of them. Each player then selects only 1 of their chosen 3 Founders to play the game with, and returns the other 2 cards back to the box.

You now reveal your chosen Founder to the other players, placing it in the center of your Café, just above the Stoop.

If your Founder has a Customer Group Icon that does not match any of the Customer Group Awards in the game, you will need to choose one for it to represent. In case multiple players have Founders which do not match the current Awards, you will announce your choices in turn order. Players may choose the same Customer Group Award.

Don't Forget! You may find it helpful to mark which Award you have chosen. This is typically done by having each player select a Special Resource to represent them in the game, and placing one token of that Special Resource on their Founder card, covering the original Group Icon, and the other token on the Award they have chosen.

Explanation of a Founder Card

1. Main Order
2. Main Reward
3. Side Order
4. Side Reward
5. Name & Art
6. Ability
7. Special Resource
8. Customer Group

Don't Have this Founder? Please note that the Founder depicted here is from the Founder Add-On Pack described in the Additional Founders section on page 27. It's being used in the diagram because it's the only Founder that has Main and Side Orders and Rewards.

Example: Choosing a Group Icon for your Founder

Blair drafted a Founder whose Customer Group Icon is not on one of the Awards being used in this game. Blair must now choose which Group Icon their Founder will have. Blair picks the Hungry Media Award. To show which Award they picked they put a Donut Token on the Hungry Media Award (1), and a matching token over their Founder's Group Icon (2). For the rest of the game, their Founder will be treated as belonging to the Hungry Media group.

Gameplay Changes

Orders, Rewards & Ability

Your Founder, much like a Customer, has Orders, Rewards, and an Ability. These work the same way with the Founder as they do with a Customer, with 2 big differences: the Founder is considered to be always at the start of your Line, and they are always optional to skip or Serve. If you do decide to Serve them, they must be Served first, before any other Customers in your Line. If you decide to skip them, you instead Serve the first actual Customer in your Line. You will never discard them and they cannot become Angry nor Happy. They also do not count as a Customer when it comes to any other Customer Abilities which target a Customer, such as Performers, Rebels, or Board Game Geeks. They also do not earn you any Good Reviews in the case that you win their matching Award at the end of the game, though they can help you win it.

Example: Serving or Skipping a Founder

At the start of the Serving Phase, Nima goes first and must decide if they are Serving their Founder (1) or not. Nima decides to Serve their Founder, treating them like any other Customer, paying the Resources (2) in their Main Order (3). Then Nima activates their Founder's Ability, Acting (4), and chooses to copy the Snappy Dresser's Ability, Camp Out (5). Nima activates this Ability by choosing a Customer Card from the City, the Fashion Designer, and adding this card face down to the top of their Deck (6). Since Nima chose to Serve their Founder, their first turn is over and now the next player takes their turn. Nima will Serve the first actual Customer in their Line on their second turn.

Blair now takes their first turn of the Serving Phase, also choosing if they want to Serve their Founder or not. Blair decides not to Serve their Founder, and so they move immediately to the first Customer in their Line, the Popular Friend, Serving them instead (1). After paying the Resources in their Main Order (2), Blair then activates their Ability, Attract a Customer, and chooses a Customer from the City to add to their Discard Pile (3). Now Blair is done Serving and the next player takes their turn.

Special Resource & Customer Group Icons

Just like Pantry and Style Upgrade Cards, each Founder Card adds a Customer Group Icon and a Special Resource Icon to your Café. Both of these will be visible the whole game.

Pantry Discounts

The Special Resource Icon on the bottom left of the Founder Card will act as though it's in your Pantry, reducing the number of Basic Resources you must spend when Fulfilling Orders that include it.

Example: Founder Pantry Discounts

Nima needs to Serve the Snappy Dresser in their Line (1). They pay 2 Beans for the High Quality Coffee (2) because they don't have that icon in their Pantry (3). They then pay only 1 Milk for the Soy Milk (2) because that icon is on their Founder (4), which acts as though it's in their Pantry.

Word of Mouth

The Customer Group Icon on the bottom right of the Founder Card will act as though it's in your Style Area, providing an additional icon for use during the Word of Mouth Phase, or any other time you activate the Word of Mouth Ability. In the case that your Founder has a Customer Group Icon for a Group that is not being used in your current game, use the one you chose during setup.

Example: Word of Mouth - Part 1

During the Word of Mouth Phase, Nima has a Pantry Upgrade (1) and a Style Upgrade (2) from the Fashionistas Customer Group. This would normally mean they must take a Fashionista from the City, but their Founder has the Performers Icon (3), acting as though it's in their Style Area too. Therefore, they decide to take a Performer from the City, adding them to their Discard Pile (4).

Example: Word of Mouth - Part 2

During the Word of Mouth Phase, Blair has an Upper Class Group Icon in their Pantry (1). They also have the Group Icon on their Founder (2), which they covered up during setup to indicate which Award it represents. Blair chose Hungry Media during setup and therefore must choose either an Upper Class or Hungry Media Customer to take from the City. They decide to take a Hungry Media Customer, the Indie Filmmaker (3).

Café Achievements & Group Awards

Additionally, both the Special Resource and Customer Group Icons on your Founder Card will contribute towards unlocking Café Achievements during the game. At the end of the game, the Customer Group Icon will also count towards winning any relevant Group Awards. However, if you do win such an Award, your Founder will not earn you a Good Review for it, as the Founder is not considered a Customer.

Adopted F&F and Founders

When playing with these two variants, you will have to conduct two different drafts. In such a case, always draft Founders before drafting Friends & Family.

Solo Mode with Founders

When combining this variant with Solo Mode, set up a 2 player draft. During each round of the draft, after choosing a card to keep from your own hand, randomly select a card for Starbots™ to keep from their hand. After the draft, randomly select 1 of Starbots' drafted cards, placing it in the center of their Café, just as you've done with your own. Place the rest of Starbots' selected cards back in the box. Although Starbots™ will never Serve their Founder, they will still use their Founder's Special Resource and Customer Group Icons to Attract Customers during Word of Mouth, unlock Café Achievements, and compete to win Group Awards at the end of the game.

Additional Founders

Add-On Required.

An additional 6 Founder Cards are included in the 5-6 Player Expansion, sold separately. They are also available as a standalone, add-on pack for players who do not intend to play the game with more than 4 players, but who don't want to miss out on all of the extra content. These 6 Founders work identically to the Base Founders and simply add more variation to the game.

Additional Founders

1. Adriano Rahde *
2. Rodrigo Cunha *
3. Priscilla Anton *
4. Nala Q. *
5. Salome Q. *
6. Jazzbot™ *

* What the Café? All of the additional 6 Founders pay tribute to real people who contributed massively to the creation of Seize the Bean. They don't own cafés in real life so their corresponding cafés are fictional ones, created for fun and to support some very imaginative Solo Scenarios.

Compatibility

Founders

When playing with the Founders Variant, you may draft a Founder whose Group Icon does not match any of the Awards in your current game. If this is the case, the Special Resource Tokens can be used to mark the Award you have chosen. See the Example: Choosing a Group Icon for your Founder on page 24 for more information.