Theming: What’s the point?
In the recommended Basic Game, Cutting Chai, 2-4 players run tea stalls at a mela. Prepare chai in saucepans, serve customers in the shared 3 by 3 queue, collect money and receipts, and earn half-stars. The game ends when someone reaches four full stars, or when the Evening Customer is served or leaves in disgust.
The basic rhythm
- Make green tea from a green leaf and water, black tea from a black leaf and water, or milk tea from a black leaf, water, milk, and sugar. Lemon cannot be added to milk tea.
- On a turn take one main action, then any number of free actions; a Chai Garam card can buy one extra main action.
- A careful, specific service earns the customer’s printed payment and can earn a half-star; a simple service only pays the base rate.
Setting up: How to get started?
For the Basic Game, prepare the customer deck by placing the Evening Customer face-down between two roughly equal halves of the shuffled remaining customers. Remove one Water card per player from the Basics deck for starting supplies, remove Pakora snacks, and remove the zero-cost medium saucepans for players. Make three face-up cards for each of the Tea Leaf, Basics, and Additives markets; the Snacks deck stays face-down.
Table checklist
- Shuffle the Goal deck and reveal 3 Public Goals for 2-3 players or 4 for 4 players. Deal 9 customers into the Mela’s 3 by 3 grid.
- Put coins, half-star tokens, negative tokens, Chai Garam cards, and the three face-up saucepan piles within reach.
- Give every player a Tapri, Basic upgrade board, 12 cups, 3 upgrade tokens, one zero-cost medium saucepan, one reserved Water, one Chai Garam card, one personal Goal, and a reference card.
- The most recent tea drinker is first player. The second player draws a Tea Leaf; the third draws a Tea Leaf and Additive; the fourth also draws a Basics card.
Rounds and Phases
Turns proceed clockwise. On your turn take one main action, any number of free actions, and at most one Chai Garam card. You may hold at most two Chai Garam cards. A Pick action takes up to three market cards, with no more than one face-down Snack; immediately refill each face-up ingredient taken. Ingredients are hidden and the hand limit is nine, checked after picking.
Turn sequence
- Use free actions before, between, or after main actions. Prepare chai by putting an entire recipe, plus optional additives, into one saucepan, then immediately add cup tokens equal to its size. Ingredients cannot be changed once cups are placed; discard them when its final cup is served.
- Pick ingredients or take a Serve action. To serve, have at least one cup of the matching chai type ready and choose one row or one column of the Mela; serve one to three customers in it, skipping is allowed.
- For each served customer choose simple or specific service and partial or complete fulfilment. Simple service needs only the chai type and pays 1 rupee per black/green cup or 2 per milk cup. Specific service matches the listed type, leaf, and additives, pays the printed amount, and earns a half-star from a celebrity or critic if completely served.
- Add negative tokens to every unserved customer to the left of any served customer in that row. Each such customer loses 1 rupee per cup per token; discard one whose tolerance is reached. If you disgruntled anyone, take one negative token yourself.
- Take payment, then a receipt only if you alone supplied every cup; otherwise discard the completed customer. Return cups and negatives, slide each row left, and refill it to nine customers. Serving at least one cup to three Mela customers in one row or column on a turn gains a Chai Garam card.
Useful reminder
Claim a completed Public or Personal Goal as a free action for a half-star; receipts spent for goals are discarded. Refill a claimed Public Goal, or draw a new Personal Goal, at turn end. Each pair of half-stars immediately unlocks one upgrade. Once per turn, you may buy a saucepan into an empty one of your three slots; emptying one wastes its chai and gives you one negative token per cup.
Scoring
End the game at the end of the turn in which a player reaches four full stars, serves the Evening Customer, or causes that customer to leave through intolerance. Score 1 point per full star and 0.5 per half-star, 0.5 per complete 10 rupees after resolving your negative tokens, 0.5 per six unused receipts, and 0.5 per six unserved chai cups. The highest total wins; break a tie with the higher star rating, then share victory.
Endgame
The Advanced Game, Kadak Chai, changes the target to five full stars and adds customer tags, the Funfair bonus track, specialisations, and personal queues. This teach uses the Basic Game; do not mix those advanced rules into it.
Terminology
- Mela: The shared customer grid; service is restricted to one row or column.
- Specific service: A cup matching all of a customer’s stated requirements.
- Negative token: A penalty that reduces a customer’s payment and counts towards their tolerance.
- Receipt: A completely fulfilled customer claimed by a single player.
- Chai Garam card: A card discarded for an extra main action or to clear negatives from declared customer orders.
Official rules
This teach follows the supplied Chai Garam rulebook’s Basic Game rules.