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The Perfect Cup — How to Play

A fast-paced barista card game · 2–6 players · ~15 minutes

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🎯 Objective

You are a barista in a lively café, rushing to serve coffee orders. Be the first player to complete three different coffee recipes — such as a Latte, an Americano and a Cappuccino — by collecting and matching the correct ingredient cards from a shared 70-card deck.

🃏 The Deck — 70 cards

Ingredients (44):

☕ Espresso ×10 🥛 Milk ×10 ○ Foam ×8 ◈ Syrup ×6 ~ Water ×6 ⚡ Extra Shot ×4

Recipes (16):

Recipe	Requires	Copies
📜 Latte	☕ Espresso + 🥛 Milk + ○ Foam	4
📜 Americano	☕ Espresso + ☕ Espresso + ~ Water	4
📜 Cappuccino	☕ Espresso + 🥛 Milk + ○ Foam + ○ Foam	4
📜 Macchiato	☕ Espresso + ⚡ Extra Shot + ○ Foam	4

Action & penalty cards (10):

🥛 Spilled Milk ×4 · penalty on draw ⏰ Rush Hour ×3 · penalty on draw 🛠 Broken Machine ×3 · play on a rival

🔄 Your Turn

Receive a card

At the start of your turn you are automatically given a card from the draw pile — unless you already hold more than eight cards.

Take one action

Claim a recipe, play Broken Machine on a rival, discard one card, or pass.

Watch the clock

⏱ 30 seconds per turn · ⏳ 15 minutes per match. Slow turns earn penalty tokens 🎟.

🏆 Win Conditions

▶Should you complete three different coffee recipes before any other player, you win the game instantly.

▶Providing that the main deck runs out — or the 15-minute match clock expires — before a winner is declared, the player with the most completed orders at that moment wins.

▶Assuming that two players are tied at that moment, a sudden-death tiebreaker is immediately played: the discard pile is reshuffled and the first tied player to complete any recipe wins.

❌ Lose / Penalty Conditions

▶Were you to draw a Spilled Milk penalty card, you would lose your next turn entirely.

▶Had you played the Broken Machine action card against an opponent, their latest completed recipe would have been entirely cancelled.

▶Unless a player holds the specific Extra Shot card, they cannot complete a complex order such as a Macchiato.

▶Were you to discard your last ingredient card by mistake, you would lose your chance to complete that recipe in the current round.

📋 Additional Rules

▶Should a player fail to complete a recipe within three consecutive turns, the recipe card will be returned to the bottom of the deck.

▶A penalty token 🎟 will be awarded to any player who takes more than 30 seconds on their turn, unless they are in the process of completing their final recipe.

▶Should a player draw a Rush Hour card, all opponents will be forced to discard one ingredient card immediately.

▶Bonus points ⭐ will be granted to the first player to complete all three espresso-based recipes (Americano, Cappuccino, Macchiato), unless the Equipment Failure card has been played that round.

🔧 Setup (all automatic in this digital version)

The deck must be shuffled thoroughly before the game begins. Seven cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are placed face-down to form the draw pile, and an empty space must be left for the discard pile. Once all starting hands have been distributed, the 15-minute timer is started and the game officially begins. — The app does all of this for you: scan the QR, enter your name, and wait for the admin to press Start.

🗣 Café Talk — Expanding Your Knowledge

Useful English to shout across the table while you play:

Speculating about rivals:

💭"She must have hoarded all the Foam — nobody has seen one in ten turns!"

💭"He might have drawn Rush Hour… he couldn't have discarded three ingredients on purpose."

💭"They may well have kept that Extra Shot since round one, waiting for the perfect Macchiato."

Talking about probability:

📊"There is a high possibility that whoever collects Espresso early wins."

📊"There is only a slim chance of completing a Macchiato without an Extra Shot."

📊"It is highly likely that slow baristas will collect penalty tokens 🎟."

Wishes and regrets:

😔"I wish I had claimed my Latte one turn earlier — the Broken Machine would never have destroyed it."

😔"If only I hadn't discarded that Espresso! I wish the deck would give me another one."

C1.2 Language Game Proposal · The Perfect Cup · Centro Colombo Americano
Final Project · English C1.2 — designed by 1v07