2024 BGG rank #13459

Chocolates

2–4 players 15–20 min Ages 10+ 1.2/5 complexity 5.5/10 rating

About this game

When the contents of a box of chocolates are completely unknown, the discoveries can be exciting... In the game Chocolates, you want to explore the chocolate tiles bit by bit in order to make the right claims at the right time: Are exactly three white chocolates in the box? Or are they on the outside? How many triangular chocolates are there? More than round ones? Are there adjacent milk chocolates? You try to find out these and many other tricky questions in order to score the most points. Let the delicious gambling begin!

What it feels like

Variable Set-up Contracts Push Your Luck Increase Value of Unchosen Resources Abstract Strategy Deduction

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Setup

1. Before first play, press all pieces out of the punch board. 2. Shuffle all 21 chocolate tiles and place 16 of them face-down in a 4×4 grid in the centre of the table. 3. Place the remaining 5 chocolate tiles face-down next to the grid (the 'outer area'). 4. Shuffle all Prediction cards and place them in a face-down pile above the grid, with the green (tick) side face up. 5. Draw 3 cards from the pile and place them in a row to form the display. 6. Place the Overview card above the display so all players can see it. 7. Set the Nougat cube tiles aside as a common supply. 8. Choose a starting player.

Turn flow

The game is played in clockwise order. On your turn, take the following two actions in order: ACTION A — Take 1 Prediction Card (OPTIONAL): You may take 1 Prediction card (along with any Nougat cubes on it) from the display and place it in front of you. You must immediately and irrevocably decide whether to place it green-side (true) or red-side (false) up. The card stays in front of you until end of game. After taking a card, place 1 Nougat cube from the common supply onto each remaining Prediction card in the display, then refill the display back to 3 cards from the pile. ACTION B — Reveal 1 Chocolate (MANDATORY): Flip any 1 chocolate tile face up. You may choose a tile inside the 4×4 grid or one of the 5 tiles next to the grid. The chocolate stays face up in that position for the rest of the game. Then play passes clockwise to the next player.

Scoring and victory

Most total points wins; ties are shared victories. Scoring sources: Points from correct Prediction cards (the value printed on the face-up side of the card), Deductions from incorrect Prediction cards (the value printed on the face-up side of the card, subtracted), Nougat cubes collected (1 point each)

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

Setup

16 chocolate tiles are placed face-down in a 4×4 grid; 5 remain face-down outside the grid.

At game start, all 21 chocolate tiles are shuffled. 16 are placed face-down in a 4×4 grid in the centre of the table. The remaining 5 tiles are placed face-down next to (outside) the grid. These two areas — the grid and the outer area — are treated separately by many Prediction cards.

Setup

3 Prediction cards are drawn to form the display; the rest remain in a face-down pile.

After shuffling, the Prediction card deck is placed above the grid with the green (tick) side face up. Three cards are drawn and laid out as the display. The display is always maintained at 3 cards throughout the game.

Turn structure

Players take turns clockwise, performing Action A (optional) then Action B (mandatory) each turn.

The active player first optionally takes a Prediction card (Action A), then must flip one chocolate face up (Action B). These actions must be taken in this order. Play then passes clockwise.

Card play

Optionally take 1 Prediction card from the display, immediately committing to true or false.

On your turn, you may take 1 Prediction card from the display along with any Nougat cubes currently on it. You must immediately decide whether to place the card green-side (true/tick) up or red-side (false/cross) up in front of you. This decision is permanent — the card cannot be flipped again. The card remains in front of you until end of game. This action is optional; you may skip it.

Card play

After taking a card, place 1 Nougat cube on each remaining display card, then refill the display to 3 cards.

After a player takes a Prediction card from the display, 1 Nougat cube from the common supply is placed on each of the remaining Prediction cards in the display. Then the display is refilled to 3 cards by drawing from the pile. Nougat cubes are NOT placed on the newly drawn card.

Special

Flip any 1 chocolate tile face up — either inside or outside the grid.

The active player must flip exactly 1 chocolate tile face up. The player freely chooses which tile to reveal — it may be any face-down tile inside the 4×4 grid or any of the 5 face-down tiles in the outer area next to the grid. Once revealed, the tile stays face up in its original position for the rest of the game.

General

Left and right halves of the grid are fixed by the display position, not the player's viewpoint.

Several Prediction cards refer to the 'left side' or 'right side' of the grid. Because the display is always placed above the grid, the left and right halves are determined from the perspective of the display, not from any individual player's seat. This means left and right are consistent for all players regardless of where they sit.

Card play

Each Prediction card has a green (true) and red (false) side; points on front and back always sum to 10.

Every Prediction card is double-sided. The green side with a tick represents 'this prediction is true'. The red side with a cross represents 'this prediction is false'. The point values printed on each side reflect how likely or unlikely that outcome is. Importantly, the sum of points on the green side and red side always equals 10.

Strategy briefing

Timing your card claim

Waiting to claim a Prediction card lets you gather more information from revealed chocolates, but also lets Nougat cubes accumulate on other cards. Since each Nougat cube is worth 1 point and the difference between correct/incorrect can be as few as 2 points (a 5/5 card), accumulating 3–4 cubes on a card can rival the value of a correct prediction itself.

Choosing true vs. false

Every card's two sides sum to 10. A card showing 7 true / 3 false means the true condition is unlikely (hence the high reward). If you're fairly confident the condition is NOT met, placing it false-side up for 3 points is safer than risking a 7-point deduction. Conversely, 5/5 cards are neutral bets — flip them based purely on your best assessment.

Controlling reveals strategically

Action B lets you choose which chocolate to reveal. You can use this to gather information that helps YOUR Prediction cards while potentially revealing information unhelpful to opponents. Revealing tiles in the outer area can clarify outer-area predictions without affecting the grid's completeness endgame trigger.

Managing the endgame trigger

The game ends immediately when all 16 grid tiles are revealed — not just the outer tiles. If you need more information before committing to a card, try revealing outer-area tiles to delay the grid-completion trigger. However, with only 5 outer tiles, this stall tactic is limited.

Player-count card limits

In a 4-player game the end triggers at 3 cards per player, versus 4 cards in 2–3 player games. In a 4-player game, each player has fewer cards to score from, making each card's correctness and any Nougat cubes more impactful on the final result.

Exploiting known distribution

The chocolate distribution is fixed and public: 6 dark, 5 brown, 4 white, 3 green, 2 pink, 1 gold; 7 of each shape. As chocolates are revealed, you can calculate exact probabilities for remaining tiles. Cards about rare types (gold, pink) have more extreme point splits (e.g., 2/8, 7/3) reflecting their scarcity — use revealed information to bet against unlikely exact-count conditions.

Common questions and edge cases

A player takes a Prediction card and places it red-side (false) up. Can they score points from it?

Yes. A 'false' prediction is correct — and scores points — if the stated condition is genuinely NOT met at end of game. For example, if the card says 'At least 4 different types next to the grid' and only 3 types are present, the red/false side is correct and scores those points.

After a player takes a card from the display, a new card is drawn to refill it. Does the new card get a Nougat cube?

No. Nougat cubes are placed only on the cards that were already in the display when the card was taken (i.e., the remaining 2 cards). The newly drawn replacement card starts with zero Nougat cubes on it.

Are the edge/border tiles of the 4×4 grid considered part of the 'outer area'?

No. The 'outer area' refers exclusively to the 5 chocolate tiles placed next to (outside) the 4×4 grid at setup. The border tiles of the grid are part of the grid, not the outer area.

What if the grid's 16 chocolates are all revealed on the same turn that a player places their final card?

The 'all 16 grid chocolates revealed' trigger ends the game immediately. This takes precedence; the other endgame condition (card limit) also ends the game but via a different process. Either trigger occurring ends the game — whichever happens first applies. The immediate trigger (all 16 revealed) means no additional turns are taken, while the card-limit trigger grants other players one more turn.

Are diagonally placed chocolates considered 'adjacent' for adjacency-based Prediction cards?

No. 'Adjacent' means only horizontal or vertical neighbors. Diagonal placement does not count for adjacency. However, some Prediction cards specifically reference diagonal lines (e.g., 'at least 2 dark chocolates in a diagonal line') — these are separate, explicitly diagonal conditions, not adjacency conditions.

A player sitting opposite another disagrees on which side of the grid is 'left'. How is it resolved?

Left and right are always determined by the orientation of the display, which is placed above the grid. From the display's perspective, left and right are fixed for all players at all times, regardless of seating position.

How can I quickly figure out the points on the back of a Prediction card without flipping it?

The points on the green (true) side and red (false) side always sum to 10. So if the face-up side shows 6 points, the back shows 4 points.

In a 4-player game, how many Prediction cards triggers the end of game?

In a 4-player game, the end is triggered when any player places their 3rd Prediction card in front of them. All other players then take one more turn before scoring.

Can I choose to reveal one of the 5 tiles in the outer area instead of a tile inside the grid?

Yes. On Action B, the active player freely chooses to flip any 1 face-down chocolate — whether inside the 4×4 grid or among the 5 tiles in the outer area. Both areas are valid choices.