Bartender Rules
Notice: some decks were printed with more than one Heart Ace. Check that your deck has exactly one before playing.
What You Need
One main deck supports 2–4 players. You can play with a standard deck of playing cards or with a Bartender deck.
You also need at least 20 coin cards — two sets of 1 through 10. Early Bartender decks shipped with only one set of ten, and a standard playing-card deck holds only thirteen diamonds. Either way, pull the extra coins from a second deck so you don’t run out mid-game.
The Cards
| Card | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kings, Queens, Jacks | Bartenders | Suit is ignored |
| Hearts | Customers | Number is ignored; the Ace is needed to win |
| Diamonds | Coins | |
| Clubs | Raiders | |
| Spades | Shovels |
Wherever a card’s value matters, an Ace is worth 10.
Setup
Separate the coins from the rest of the cards. Shuffle the coins and the main deck separately and place both face down at one end of the market square — the shared playing area in the center of the table.
Deal 7 cards to each player. Each player immediately plays any bartenders and customers onto their bar, the space in front of them. Bartenders and customers are played to the bar the moment they’re drawn, on any turn.
A bartender paired with a customer is a happy customer.
The player with the fewest happy customers goes first. If tied, the player with the fewest customers goes first. If still tied, each tied player cuts the main deck and reveals a card — lowest goes first, then shuffle the revealed cards back in.
Taking a Turn
1. Draw. Draw one coin for each happy customer on your bar, up to a hand of 7. Then draw from the main deck until you have 7 cards. Play any bartenders and customers you drew onto your bar immediately.
2. Take one action. You may take a single action per turn:
- Raid another player’s bartender
- Advertise to another player’s customer
- Start a bid on a bartender in the market square
3. Discard. You may discard unwanted cards from your hand. This is the only point in the game where you may discard voluntarily.
4. Play a shovel (optional). You may play one shovel into the hole. This ends your turn.
5. Turn unpaired cards sideways. Any bartender or customer on your bar that isn’t part of a happy customer pair is turned sideways. If it still isn’t paired at the end of your next turn’s draw, a sideways customer is discarded and a sideways bartender goes into the market square.
Defending against another player’s attack and bidding on a market bartender are not actions — you can do those on anyone’s turn.
Winning
To win, you must hold four bartenders of the same rank — four Kings, four Queens, or four Jacks — plus a customer for each of them, one of which must be the Ace of Hearts.
Raiders
Play a raider on another player’s bartender to put that bartender out of business. If the raid succeeds, the bartender is removed from its owner’s bar and placed in the market square.
The owner can stop the raid by playing a raider or coin of equal or higher value.
Either way, all cards played in the exchange are discarded afterward — successful or not.
Coins and Advertising
Play a coin on another player’s customer to advertise to them. If it succeeds, the customer moves straight to your bar.
The owner can keep the customer by immediately playing either a coin of equal or higher value, or a raider of equal or higher value to destroy the advertisement.
Bidding
Bartenders sitting in the market square can be claimed on your turn by playing a coin on one, which starts a bid. Every player may bid. The highest coin played wins the bartender, which goes to that player’s bar. All coins played in the bid are discarded.
Shovels and the Hole
Shovels dig the hole — a shared discard pile beside the market square.
Burying a bartender. When the total value of shovels in the hole reaches 25 or more, the player who played the last shovel chooses any bartender in play to bury, including one of their own. The owner of the targeted bartender can play a shovel of higher value than that final shovel to stop it; if they do, they choose which bartender gets buried instead.
Once a bartender is buried, shuffle it into the bottom of the main deck along with every shovel from the hole, and the hole starts over empty.
Saving a card. Any time you’re about to lose a card to another player, you can play a shovel to discard that card instead.
