Bartender Rules
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notice! some decks have multiple Heart Aces, make sure you only have one per deck before playing
Game can be played with a normal deck of playing cards or special Bartender cards (1 deck works for 2-4 players, make sure you have at least 20 diamonds (coins) cards to avoid running out).
To Play
Separate coins (diamonds) from deck, shuffle the main deck and the coins deck. Place the two draw piles face down on the opposite end of the market square (the center playing area).
Deal 7 cards to each player. Players immediately play bartender (KQJ) and customer (heart) cards on their bar (space in front of each player). Anytime these cards are drawn they are played immediately. Bartenders are paired with customers. (Numbers on customers are not used (except the Ace which is needed to win), and suits on face cards are not used.)
The player with the fewest paired bartenders goes first. If tied, player with fewest customers.
A player starts their turn by drawing a coin for each happy customer (bartender/customer pair) up to a hand of 7, then drawing the rest up to 7 from the main draw pile. They can play raiders against another player’s bartender to put them out of business (into the market square) and coins to win over other player’s customers and bring them directly to their own bar. A player can also start a bid on bartenders in the market square. A player may discard unwanted cards. At the end of their turn, the player can play one shovel card into the hole which ends their turn.
If a player has bartenders or customers that aren’t part of a happy customer pair at the end of their turn, turn them sideways. If they aren’t made into a pair by the end of drawing on the next turn, turned customers are discarded and turned bartenders enter the market.
To win the game, a player must obtain 4 of a kind of bartenders of one type along with a customer for every bartender, including the Ace customer card.
To defend against an attacking player, a player can play an equal or higher value raider or coin. When a player is about to lose any card, they can use a shovel to instead discard that card.
Shovels (spades) are used to “dig a hole”, which is a separate shared discard pile by the market square. Once the value of the shovels in the hole adds to 25 or more, the player who played the final shovel chooses a bartender to bury (discard) along with all shovels in the hole. If the attacked player plays a higher value shovel, the attack is prevented and instead chooses a bartender to bury. The main draw pile and shovels from the hole are shuffled and the buried bartender is placed at the bottom. Ace is worth 10.
Raiders (clubs) can be played on a bartender to raid it. If successful, the bartender is taken out of play and placed in the market (center playing field). Bartenders in the market can be obtained by any player on their turn by playing a coin card on the bartender, starting a bid. All players can participate in the bid, highest played coin card wins the bartender. To prevent a raider from raiding a bartender, a higher raider or coin card must be played. All played cards are discarded after use whether they are successful or not.
Coins can also be used to advertise to a customer. If successful the customer card is transferred to the player’s bar. An equal or higher value coin can be immediately played on that customer to keep it. A raider of equal or higher value can also be played to destroy the advertisement and keep the customer.
