The Jam
The Jam Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Task Cards
At the beginning of the game a player receives randomly one Task Card of each type (3 in total). The tasks are combinations of jams and pies which players try to collect and for which they can gain extra points at the end of the game. Let's take a close look at the Task Cards.
- Jam for the winter – there are jars of jam on the shelves. If a player has managed to collect any THREE out of four jams shown at his/her Task Card by the end of the game, he/she gains 7 points;
- Pies for granny – there are pies in the basket. If a player has managed to collect any TWO out of three pies from the basket shown at his/her Task Card by the end of the game, he/she gains 8 points;
- The grand tea party – three parts of this task are shown on three different Task Cards – they are six jars of jam and two pies in total. Players gain extra points, depending on how much jam and pies they have by the end of the game. All "Grand tea party" recipes from all three task sheets are taken into a count for this task. To get points for this task a player must have at least four recipes out of the "grand tea party" recipes.
IMPORTANT! One jar of jam can only be used in one combination. If different combinations have similar pies and jam, the player must choose to which combination it will be used with.
- Yummy-yummy! – a player gets one extra point for each card that has the Ingredient shown on the task card. It regards all cards the player has on the table by the end of the game.
Playing cards
Each Playing card in game is divided into two parts: the upper part and the lower part. The lower part holds the INGREDIENT – a berry or a fruit needed to make jam. The upper part is the RECIPE, its name and numbers of points received are given there.
There are three types of recipes:
- Jam. This recipe can be made by using fruits or berries shown in the recipe;
- Pie. This recipe can be made by using the jam shown in the recipe;
- Fruit salad. This recipe can be made from several ingredients.
During the game a card can be played either as a Recipe or an Ingredient.
Getting Started
Shuffle the Task Cards (each type separately). Each player randomly draws one of each type of the Task Cards. Players check their tasks but mustn't show them to other players.
In a two player game, each player receives two of each task type.
Shuffle the deck of Playing cards and deal 4 cards to each player. Then place the top 8 cards from the deck on the table face up. This will be the Basket – Ingredients for future recipies. All the cards in the Basket need to have different Ingredients. If a card is placed on the table holds the Ingredient which is already there set that card aside. Once all eight cards are on the table, the cards that were set aside are shuffled back into the deck. If one of the cards on the table is "Karlsman" or "The Bear" they are also replaced with another card and shuffled back into the deck.
Turn sequence
The game is turn based. The first player to take a turn is the one who recently ate jam, if no one's around then the player is randomly decided. Then players take turns clockwise from the starting player. Each player's turn consists of the following phases:
- Drawing a card
- Trade
- Playing a card
- Discard
Drawing a card
A player draws one card from the deck to his hand.
If it's "Karlsman" or "The Bear" card, it immediately raffles and if the player who drew it didn't receive it, he draws another card from the deck.
Trade
A player may trade his completed Recipes (Jams, pies, fruit salads which are made/collected by you) with other players. You can only trade completed Recipes that you have already made – your jams, baked pies and fruit salads that lie in front of you on the table. Players can trade their Recipes without any limitations on quantity or quality. You can present Recipes and agree to trade next turn. You cannot trade cards from your hand or the Basket. When trading Recipes with undiscarded Ingredients (see Discard) the cards stay on the Recipe till the receiving players next Discard phase.
Playing a card
In this phase a player must play a card from his hand. He may do it one of the following ways:
- Make jam – the player plays a card that has a Jam image in the top half – this is the Recipe. The player must then place an Ingredient card on top of it – a card with a fruit or berry image on its lower half that fits that jam recipe. The Ingredient card is placed horizontally on the Recipe card face down. Cards used to make Jam can be played from the hand or from the table (the Basket). One of the cards (Ingredient or Recipe) must be played from the hand and the other must be played from the basket, you can't play both cards from one source.
- Bake a pie – the player plays a card that has a Pie image in the top half – this is the Recipe. The player must then place an Ingredient card on top of it – a card with a Jam image on its lower half that fits that pie recipe. The pie card can be played from the hand or the basket but the jam card must be played from the completed recipes on the table that the player's already got. In other words, to bake a pie, players may only use recipes they completed or traded with other players. If the Pie card was played from the basket, the player must discard one card from his hand at the end of his turn to the basket. If the Jam card used to make the Pie still had an undiscarded Ingredient on it, that Ingredient is discarded (see Discard) to the Basket.
- Make a fruit salad – Play a "Fruit salad" Recipe from the hand into play. The player must then take the necessary Ingredients from the Basket and place them face down on the salad Recipe. You may only use Ingredients in the Basket.
- Play an Ingredient – If a player can't or doesn't want to play a card by any of the described earlier ways, he must place any Ingredient from his hand into the Basket.
Discard
At the end of his turn a player must discard all cards that were played as Ingredients for Recipes (lying face down) into the Basket. The only exception is Recipes that were played this turn or received in the trade phase. In other words all the cards that weren't received this turn. All cards placed this way into the basket are placed separately even if they share similar Ingredients or Recipes.
"Karlsman" card (The Man in his Prime)
If a player gets the Karlsman card during his draw phase, he must immediately declare it and place it in the middle of the table. Karlsman reaaaaaly likes jam, that's why he'll go to the player who offers him more jam, moooar! Players take turns at placing bets starting with the player who drew the card then continue clockwise. The bet can be any amount of jam cards the player owns (the ones lying in front of the player). The bet is the sum of points from all jam cards the player is willing to give. Each next bet must be higher than the last. It is possible to pass. Once all players have placed their bets or passed, Karlsman is placed in front of the player who made the biggest bet. He will receive 7 points at the end of the game. Jam cards used as the bet are shuffled into the deck. All other bets are cancelled. If Karlsman goes to the player that drew him, that player's turn ends, otherwise he must immediately draw a new card and continue playing his turn. If all players passed, Karlsman stays with the player that drew his card, the player must discard one of his completed jams (if he has one) to the Basket.
"The Bear" (and Masha) card
If a player gets The Bear card during his draw phase, he must immediately declare it and place it in the middle of the table. The Bear will go to anyone who has the most baked pies. If different players have an equal amount of pies, the privilege goes to the player who drew the card then moving clockwise. The Bear is then placed in front of the player who won the pie draw and that player will receive 10 points at the end of the game. But by attracting the Bear, the player must discard one of his baked pies and shuffle it into the deck. If The Bear goes to the player that drew him, that player's turn ends, otherwise he must immediately draw a new card and continue playing his turn. If no players have a baked pie, the Bear, frustrated, is shuffled back into the deck.
Cone jam
This jam can be made by using any Ingredient. It can be used to bake any pie. And most important of all it can be used to replace any jam when completing a task. Sadly the cone in the lower half can only be used to make Cone jam and nothing more.
End of the game. Choosing the winner
Once all cards are gone from the deck players must skip the first phase (drawing a card). The game continues till no player has cards on his hand. It's time to count the points.
Each Recipe in front of a player gives the amount of points shown on the Recipe card. These points are added to the points gained by completing tasks from the players task cards. The player who has the most points is the winner.
In case of a draw, the winner is the one who gained most points in the yummy-yummy task.
In a two player game, players gain points from all task cards received at the start of the game.
"The Jam" for kids
Anyone can play "The Jam", parents with their children, kids, even those of preschool age. When playing with children it is recommended to change some of the rules:
- Don't use task cards
- Don't trade
- "Karlsman", "The Bear" and Cone jam are removed from the deck
- When counting points, task points and points from Recipe cards aren't included.
At the end of the game, the player who has the most Recipes in front of him is the winner. Later on, once the children understand the concept of the game, you may add the trade sequence and task cards. The children will try to trade with each other to get the necessary Recipes for their task sheets. The winner is the one who completes the most tasks.
"The Jam" Travel
For a comfortable game of Jam you usually need a lot of space. But if you want to play Jam while traveling somewhere or just don't have enough space for some reason try "The Jam. Travel".
There are three differences from the main rules:
- Recipes made by a player aren't placed in front of him, but are placed in a separate pile face down next to him – these are still his completed recipe cards. Only a freshly created Recipe (with Ingredient cards) is placed on front of the player. In the discard phase when the Ingredients are placed in the Basket, the Recipe is placed in that players separate pile of completed Recipes.
- During the trade phase a player may choose from 1-3 cards from his Recipe pile and blindly (without showing the cards) trade them with another player. The chosen player cannot refuse a trade and must also trade the same amount of cards back to the trading player, also blindly. Players may only trade like this once a turn. Players may discuss Recipes they may want to get but trades are always done blindly. You cannot trade more Recipes then the player has. You cannot trade Recipes made on the previous turn, Recipes with Ingredients on them that are yet to be placed in the Recipe pile.
- When a card is placed in the Basket, if it has the same Ingredient as one of the cards already in the Basket, it is placed on top of it forming a pile. If a Fruit salad card is to be placed in the Basket, it is always placed at the bottom of the pile with the similar Ingredient.
Have a finger in the pie!