Welcome to the Pie Rats of the Carob Bean Farm Game!

Are you ready to embark on a wild and exciting adventure with the Pie Rats? I’m here to guide you through the game rules, so get ready to set sail!

Objective

The goal of the game is to retrieve the stolen treasure from the Carob Bean Farm and bring it back to your ship, the Jolly Pastry. Along the way, you’ll encounter various challenges and obstacles, so be prepared for anything!

Setup

To start the game, each player chooses a Pie Rat character and places it on the starting space at the farm. The treasure cards are shuffled and placed face down, forming a draw pile next to the board. The game begins with the youngest player.

Gameplay

On your turn, roll the dice and move your Pie Rat character along the paths. Each space you land on will have an action associated with it. Follow the instructions on the space to see what you need to do.

There are a few types of spaces you may encounter:

• Pie Spaces: If you land on a Pie Space, you get to draw a Pie Card. These cards contain special abilities and can give you an advantage in the game.
• Obstacle Spaces: Some spaces have obstacles that you must overcome. Roll the dice and try to get the required number to pass the obstacle. If you succeed, you may continue your journey. If you fail, you’ll have to wait until your next turn to try again.
• Treasure Spaces: When you land on a Treasure Space, you can choose to draw a Treasure Card. These cards represent pieces of the stolen treasure, and you’ll need to collect all of them to win the game.

Be careful, though! Croc the Guard is patrolling the farm, and if you land on his space, you’ll be sent back to the starting space. Avoid him if you can!

Winning the Game

To win the game, you’ll need to collect all the Treasure Cards and make your way back to the Jolly Pastry. Once you’ve done that, congratulations! You’ve outsmarted Croc the Guard and reclaimed the stolen treasure.

Remember, the journey won’t be easy, but with a little luck and strategy, you can become the ultimate Pie Rat hero. So gather your mates, roll the dice, and set sail for the Carob Bean Farm!

In the game Pie Rats of the Carob Bean Farm, I become a Captain of the Rats and my goal is to recruit a crew of disloyal rats. Together, we plan to steal as many pies as possible from the farmer’s wife.

The value of each pie is determined by its weight. The heavier the pie, the more rats it takes to steal it, and the more points it is worth. The objective of the game is to accumulate the most points by the end and become the winner.

Now let’s talk about the 5 types of cards in the game.

First, we have the Captains.

When you play the game Pie Rats of the Carob Bean Farm, you and your fellow players will each choose a Captain to guide your crew to victory. All Captains start with the same abilities, so you’ll have a fair chance from the start. Captains are incredibly valuable and can’t be taken away from you or removed from the game. They have two important qualities: Charisma and Strength.

Charisma is a measure of how persuasive your Captain is. It determines their ability to lure Crew Members away from rival Captains. Strength, on the other hand, measures the power your Captain brings to the table. It determines how many strength points your Captain contributes to the overall strength needed to win a pie.

Crew Members

Hey there! Let me tell you all about your awesome crew! Your crew members, or CMs for short, have two important stats: Loyalty and Strength.

Loyalty is all about how well a CM sticks with their Captain. It’s like the bond that holds your crew together. You want high loyalty to keep everyone happy and united.

Strength, on the other hand, is all about power. It tells you how much strength a CM will add to the total points needed to loot a pie. The stronger your crew, the better chances you have of getting that precious loot!

Got Charisma?

When you play with these special cards, they give your Captain extra charm. This makes it easier for your Captain to convince crew members to join your team and leave the other Captain’s crew. These cards are called Charisma cards, and they are meant to be used for offense. You can’t use them to stop another Captain from convincing your crew members to join their crew.

What do the charisma cards do?

How do I use the charisma cards?

Hey there! Let me break down these cards for you. These cards are what your Captain and crew are competing for. No pressure, right? Each pie has two important stats that you should keep an eye on.

First, there’s the weight, which you can find in the bottom left corner. To successfully loot this pie, both the Captain and the entire crew need to have a combined strength that matches or exceeds the weight of the pie. So basically, the stronger you are as a team, the more likely you are to be able to snatch that delicious pie!

Now, let’s talk about points. You can find the points of each pie in the bottom right corner. These points represent how many points you’ll earn when you successfully loot the pie. So, the bigger the points, the sweeter the reward!

Setting Up

1. First things first, grab all the Pie cards and give them a good shuffle. Once you’re done shuffling, deal out 10 Pie cards face down. This pile is your draw pile for the Pie cards. Oh, and don’t peek at the unused Pie cards. You won’t need them in the game. Of course, if you want to make the game longer or shorter, you can adjust the number of pies in your draw pile. But the standard setup is to have 10 pies.

First, we need to pick a Captain from the Captain cards. Any Captain cards that aren’t chosen won’t be used.

Next, we need to mix together all the Crew, Charisma, and Action/Item cards. These are the ones that have “Pie Rats of the Carob Bean Farm” on the back. Each player gets dealt 3 cards, which they can look at. The other cards are put face down to create the draw pile. We also need a discard pile next to the draw pile, where we’ll put any cards that are discarded.

Now we need to decide how we’re going to play during Phase 6, when we’ll be looting a pie.

Who’s Going First?

If we’re not sure who should go first, we can go by who ate pie most recently. If there’s a tie, then it’s whoever ate the most pie.

If it’s still a tie, then it’s the person who helped the most to clean up the table. You should take the Lead Player card and place it in front of you on the table.

Don’t hide tabled cards (cards in play) at any time during the game. If another player asks to see your tabled cards, you must show them.

Game Play

There are 6 phases in each round. The player with the Lead Player card goes first in phases 2-6. Play continues clockwise from the Lead Player.

Phase 1 – Reveal A Pie

Reveal a Pie card. Draw a card from the Pie deck and place it face up on the table.

This is the card that all the Captains are trying to steal. It’s possible that Pies from previous turns are still “on the window sill,” so there may be multiple Pies for the Captains to steal.

Phase 2 – It’s Time to Show Your Charm

Hey there! Now it’s time to bring out your Charisma cards and show off your charm. Just place your Charisma cards next to your Captain. Oh, and here’s a friendly tip – if you have a Charisma card in your hand but don’t play it during this phase, you’ll have to wait until the next turn to play it to the table. So make sure you don’t miss this opportunity!

Remember, you can only use Charisma cards that you tabled in phase 2. Don’t try to use them in any other phase, it won’t work. Keep them handy for this moment!

Note: You can keep your cards for the next turn if you want. You don’t have to show your playable cards. And if you’d rather keep your cards a secret, go ahead, nobody will mind.

But keep in mind, if you choose to keep cards in your hand, you’ll draw fewer cards later on. In phase 6, you can draw up to three cards, but if you saved one card during a previous phase, you’ll only be able to draw two.

Phase 3 – Adding Crew Members

Now it’s time to add Crew cards under your Captain. Remember, you don’t have to put all your crew on the table, but any Crew cards that you keep in your hand can’t be used to steal a pie.

Phase 4 – Make Your Decision (Defend or Attract)

Now it’s time to make a choice! You can either defend one of your Crew Members (CM) by turning them sideways or announce that you’re going to attract a CM from another Captain.

Remember, you can’t do both at the same time. It’s either defending or attracting, unless you have a special card that says otherwise. During this phase, no cards are placed on the table and no Rats are lured away from other Captain’s Crew.

If you choose to defend a CM, no one can steal it from you. This might be a good option if your CM is strong but not very loyal. On the other hand, if you decide to attract a CM, your cards will look something like the example below:

When I turn my CM sideways, I’m protecting it from being swayed by another Captain’s crew. However, in phase 5, I won’t be able to lure a CM to join my crew from another Captain because I can only choose one of two options.

Phase 5 – Luring Crew Members to Your Crew

During this phase, Captains who didn’t protect a CM in phase 4 try to attract CM from other Captains’ crews. To do this, you must consider two numbers.

The first number is the total charisma points of your Captain. To calculate this, add the charisma from the Captain card (found at the bottom left) to all the charisma cards placed next to the Captain.

So here’s the thing – let’s say I’m playing this game, right? And in this game, there’s this Captain character. Now, this Captain has a certain amount of charisma points that they can use to try and convince another Captain’s crew member to jump ship and join their own crew.

Now, how do you get these charisma points? Well, the Captain card itself gives you 3 points, which is pretty cool. But there’s also this little bonus called the Hooked Hand, which gives you an extra point. So when you add those up, you end up with a total of 4 charisma points.

And let me tell you, these charisma points are important. They’re like your secret weapon when it comes to swaying someone to your side. It’s all about that persuasion, you know? You want to be able to convince them that joining your crew is the best thing they could ever do.

So, when you’re playing this game, don’t forget about your charisma points. They could be the difference between recruiting a new crew member and losing out to another Captain. And trust me, you don’t want to miss out on having a strong crew. It can mean the difference between winning and losing in this game.

Now, let’s talk about the second number you need to know – the Loyalty value of the rat you’re luring. To calculate the Loyalty, you’ll want to add the Captain’s Charisma to the Loyalty of the CM, which you can find on the bottom left of the Crew card.

Take a look at the example below. The first CM in the image has a Loyalty of 2 (3 for the Captain’s Charisma minus 1 for the CM’s loyalty), while the second CM has a Loyalty of 4 (3 plus 1).

So, here’s the deal. If I want to steal a Crew Member (CM) from another Captain, I gotta have at least one more charisma point than the total loyalty of that CM. Easy enough, right? But here’s the catch: I can only poach one CM from one Captain per turn. Bummer.

Now, there’s one exception to this rule. Sometimes I got cards, like the Charm card, that let me lure away more than one CM. And here’s the deal with those cards: once I use ’em to snatch a CM, I gotta toss ’em. No hoarding allowed!

Keep in mind: I can only use charisma points to go after CM for my Crew. They won’t help me defend against some sneaky Captain tryin’ to swipe my CM. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Alright, let’s break this down with an example. Meet Captain Red Hook, the dude with the Hooked Hand. He’s got his eye on one of Captain Petronella’s CM. He wants to bag ’em. But, Captain Red Hook better check his charisma points against the CM’s loyalty before he makes his move. Can’t blame a guy for tryin’!

When I first saw Captain Petronella’s first CM with a loyalty of only 2, I realized that Captain Red Hook could potentially steal that CM and keep it for a future turn. It’s interesting how Captain Red Hook has his own natural charisma of 3, separate from his Hooked Hand.

The second CM’s loyalty for Captain Petronella is 4. Even with his Hooked Hand, Captain Red Hook’s total charisma only adds up to 4. That’s not enough to persuade the second CM to join his crew. To win over the second CM, Captain Red Hook needs at least 5 charisma points.

Now, let’s talk about Captain Petronella’s third CM with a loyalty of 3. Captain Red Hook can lure this CM away, but it will require him to use his Hooked Hand. If he decides to take Captain Petronella’s third CM, he will have to discard the Hooked Hand card.

When a CM is enticed away, they are oriented sideways to indicate that they cannot be enticed away again during this phase.

Step 6 – Grab The Pies

It’s time to gather the Pies! All you need to acquire a Pie is a combined strength (Captain + CM) that matches or surpasses the weight of the pie. The CM who participate in collecting the Pie are placed in the discard pile as they have left to enjoy their portion of the Pie.

If you have any additional CM, they will remain and assist the Captain in gathering the next Pie. The Captain can only grab 1 Pie per turn.

Since there are certain cards that can disrupt a player’s ability to acquire a pie at the last moment, here are some options for handling the Step 6 situation.

Here’s the main rule for looting Pies: When it’s a Captain’s turn to loot a Pie, they can shout, “I’m looting a Pie!” This freezes them and their crew, keeping them safe from any harm or other cards, even ones that can be played anytime.

Now, the Captain can calmly decide which CM they want to use to help them steal a Pie. But if the Captain can’t loot a Pie, they have to discard their strongest CM.

If multiple cards have the same strength, the one with the highest loyalty is considered the strongest. Remember, the Captain doesn’t have to shout, “I’m looting a Pie!” but it protects them from cards like the Carob Bean and Kidnapping. You can only shout “I’m looting a pie!” when it’s your turn.

Hey there! I’ve got two different ways you can play phase 6 of the game. Let me break it down for you in simpler terms.

Option 1: The “Nice” Alternative

You can choose to be nice and never play mean cards against the opposing Captains during the Loot a Pie phase. It’s all about fairness and good sportsmanship. No one will try to ruin your plans by kidnapping your strongest CM or feeding a Carob Bean to a strong CM. Just a heads up, this version of Phase 6 might make the game last longer, so keep that in mind.

Option 2: The “Aggressive” Alternative

In this option, anything goes. Any Captain can play any card that can legally be played, whenever they want. So, you better watch out! You never know what surprises might come your way. But remember, this version of Phase 6 might make the game last longer too.

Here’s the important thing: You and your fellow players need to decide how you want to play Phase 6 before the game starts. It’s a crucial decision that sets the tone for the rest of the game.

1. If you choose option (a), a Captain must call “looting a pie” to freeze the game.
2. If you choose option (b), the game freezes on phase 6.
3. If you choose option (c), the game can never be frozen.

If you don’t make a choice, the default game play is option (a). So, make sure you and your friends agree on how you want to play phase 6. It’s all part of the strategy and excitement of the game.

Next Round

After every Captain has had their chance to loot a Pie, we need to reset our hands. Any Charisma cards that we didn’t use will stay with us, and the same goes for any Crew members we have left.

Now is the time for us to discard any cards that we don’t want to use anymore. If you have less than 3 cards, draw until you have 3. Pass the Lead Player card to the person on your left and start Phase 1 again.

If we run out of cards in the draw pile, we need to shuffle the discard pile, flip it over, and use it as the new draw pile.

The game rounds will continue until all the pies are looted. The player with the most points at the end wins. If there’s a tie, here’s what we consider:

1. The player with the most points wins.

2. If there’s still a tie, the player with the highest combined weight of all their pies wins.

3. If we still have a tie, the player with the most pies wins.

If I meet all three of the criteria mentioned above, we have a tie! But if you’re not satisfied with a tie, let’s determine the winner by following these rules:

1. The player who ate pie most recently is the winner.
2. If multiple players have tied in terms of the most recent pie consumption, the player who ate the most pie overall wins.
3. If multiple players have tied in both the most recent pie consumption and the overall pie consumption, the player who obtained the first pie among the tied players is declared the winner.