2023 BGG rank #24331

SticX Games: 4 Pints

2–4 players 20 min Ages 18+ 1.0/5 complexity 5.5/10 rating

About this game

In 4 Pints, you will visit a typical English pub for a nice pint of beer. Each turn, one of you will go to the bar, where four pints await you. To buy them, you must first scratch your pockets looking for a few pounds but you must be careful to control your drunkenness level and avoid elbowing and slipping. The walk to the bar can be quite an adventure! A game lasts as many rounds as the number of players. Starting with the first player, each round, players play consecutive turns until the deck of Beer cards is exhausted and all players have played the same number of turns. Your turn has 2 steps: Reveal Purchase cards: you must reveal Purchase cards one by one from the deck and place them at the center of the table. You must draw at least 1 card and you can draw as many as you want until you collect enough money to buy a pint you like from the bar, or until you decide to pass. Each time you draw a card, add its value to your total if it is a Money card, and apply its effect if it is an Event card. Buy 1 pint or pass: you can only buy 1 Beer per turn and you must pay its full price with the Money cards accumulated during your turn at the center of the table and/or your game area. When you buy a pint, place the card upright (unspilled) in your game area, in full view of the other players. If you don't want to buy anything or don't want to risk it with the Purchase cards, you may pass and end your turn. —description from the publisher

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Setup

1. Game Area: Deal one £1 Money card face-up to each player. They place it face-up in their individual game areas. 2. Shuffle the Beer card deck and the Purchase card deck separately. 3. Bar Setup: Place the Beer card deck on the table. For a 2-player game, remove 6 random Beer cards from the deck before setup; for a 3-player game, remove 3. Then reveal the top 4 Beer cards and place them face-up in a row next to the deck — this is the Bar. 4. Purchase Zone: Place the Purchase card deck face-down in the center of the table, within reach of all players. 5. First Player: Pick a first player at random. That player receives the Keg (First Player) card and places it in their game area.

Turn flow

A game lasts a number of rounds equal to the player count. Each round, players take consecutive turns starting with the first player. A turn has two steps: STEP 1 — Reveal Purchase Cards: The active player flips Purchase cards one at a time from the deck and places them face-up at the center of the table. They must draw at least 1 card. They may keep drawing as many as they want until they have accumulated enough money to buy a pint, or until they decide to stop. Money cards add their value to the player's running total. Event cards (Drunk, Elbowing, Slip, Happy Hour) apply their effects immediately. STEP 2 — Buy 1 Pint or Pass: The player may buy exactly 1 Beer card from the Bar by paying its full price using Money cards from the center of the table and/or their game area. The purchased pint is placed upright in their game area. Alternatively, the player may pass and buy nothing. After buying, passing, or losing their turn due to a card effect, the player may save exactly 1 unused Money card in their game area for future turns this round (discarding any previously saved card first). All remaining Purchase cards from the center of the table are discarded. The player to the left then takes their turn. If a pint was purchased, the Bar is refilled from the Beer deck (if cards remain). When the Beer deck runs out, play continues without refilling until the first player's turn comes around again, ending the round immediately (the first player does not play again that round). If the Purchase deck runs out at any point, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Scoring and victory

After all rounds are completed (one round per player), each player totals their points across all rounds. The player with the most total points wins. In case of a tie, the winner is the player who scored the highest single-round score. Scoring sources: Unspilled Beer cards: worth their full printed point value (e.g., an IPA worth 6 points)., Spilled Beer cards: worth only 1 point each, regardless of original value., Doubly-spilled Beer cards are discarded and worth 0 points.

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

General

The game lasts a number of rounds equal to the number of players.

A game consists of exactly as many rounds as there are players. For example, with 3 players, the game lasts 3 rounds. After all rounds are completed, scores are totaled to determine the winner.

Turn structure

The active player must reveal at least 1 Purchase card per turn.

At the start of their turn, the active player must flip at least 1 Purchase card from the deck. They cannot pass without drawing. After drawing at least 1 card, they may stop and choose to buy or pass at any time.

Turn structure

The active player may stop drawing Purchase cards at any time after drawing at least 1.

After drawing the mandatory minimum of 1 Purchase card, the player may choose to stop drawing at any point. This is the core push-your-luck decision: stop early with less money but less risk, or keep drawing for more funds at the cost of potentially triggering harmful event cards.

Restriction

A player may only buy exactly 1 Beer card per turn.

Each turn, a player may purchase at most 1 Beer card from the Bar. They cannot buy more than one pint in a single turn under any circumstances.

Resource management

A player must pay the full price of a pint using Money cards from the center of the table and/or their game area.

To buy a Beer card, the player must pay its full printed price. Payment comes from Money cards revealed to the center of the table during the current turn AND/OR any Money card saved in their game area from a previous turn. The player cannot buy a pint if they cannot pay its full price.

Resource management

After a turn ends, a player may save exactly 1 unused Money card in their game area for future turns this round.

Once a turn ends (by buying a pint, passing, or losing the turn to a card effect), the active player may choose 1 unused Money card from the center of the table and save it in their game area. This card can be used on a future turn within the same round. If the player already has a saved Money card in their game area, they must discard it first before saving the new one. All other remaining Purchase cards from the center are discarded.

Special

After a pint is purchased, the Bar is refilled to 4 cards from the Beer deck.

Whenever a player buys a Beer card from the Bar, the gap is immediately filled by drawing the top card of the Beer deck, keeping the Bar at 4 available pints. If the Beer deck is empty, no refill occurs.

Endgame

A round ends when the Beer deck runs out and it becomes the first player's turn.

When the Beer deck is exhausted, play continues without refilling the Bar until it would be the first player's turn again. At that point, the round ends immediately — the first player does not take another turn that round. Players with remaining turns between the last purchase and the first player do still take their turns.

Strategy briefing

When to stop drawing

Stop drawing as soon as you have enough money to buy the pint you want. The event cards (Drunk, Slip, Elbowing) can undo your progress or worse. Since you can supplement your drawn money with a saved £1 from your game area, consider stopping one card earlier if you're close to your target price.

Managing Drunk cards

Drunk cards accumulate dangerously fast. At 3 Drunk cards, you lose ALL your money and your turn ends. Since 1 Drunk card is discarded at the start of each turn, keep your Drunk card count low by not letting it exceed 1 between turns. If you have 2 Drunk cards and draw a third, you'll lose everything — sometimes it's better to pass early.

Protecting your pints

High-value pints (like IPA at 6 points) are prime targets for Elbowing. If you have a high-value pint and multiple opponents, consider that they will likely target it. Since spilling it twice discards it entirely, a spilled pint is also at risk. Buying cheaper pints can be less risky when opponents are likely to elbow.

Saving Money cards

You can only save 1 Money card between turns, and saving a new one forces you to discard your old saved card. Prioritize saving the highest denomination card you can afford to keep. The starting £1 from setup gives everyone an early buffer, but it should be upgraded as soon as possible.

Happy Hour timing

Happy Hour benefits every player once (in turn order), starting from whoever drew it. If you draw it, you benefit immediately. If you're last in turn order after it's drawn, you might not benefit if it reaches you just before the drawer's next turn ends the effect. Aim to buy expensive pints (IPA, Stout) during Happy Hour to maximize savings.

Bar composition and player count

In 2-player games, 6 Beer cards are removed; in 3-player, 3 are removed. This means fewer pints are available overall, making each bar purchase more impactful. With fewer beers to go around, it's especially important not to waste turns by passing unnecessarily.

Common questions and edge cases

A player draws their 3rd Drunk card, which discards all their money and ends their turn. Can they still save a Money card afterward?

No. Since 3 Drunk cards end the turn immediately and also discard ALL Money cards from both the center and the game area, there are no Money cards left to save. The turn ends with nothing saved.

A player uses Happy Hour to buy a pint at half price. Do they pay only from center cards, or can they also use a saved Money card from their game area?

They can use Money cards from both the center of the table and their game area, just as in a normal purchase. The half-price discount applies to the pint's printed price (rounded down), and that reduced total is what must be covered by available funds.

An Elbowing effect targets a player whose pints are all already spilled. What happens?

Since all their pints are already spilled (rotated horizontally), the active player must choose 1 of those spilled pints to discard entirely from the game. Spilling an already-spilled pint removes it permanently for the rest of the round.

A player draws their 2nd Drunk card (triggering 'spill 1 beer from your game area') but has no beers. What happens?

The spill effect is ignored. If the target player (yourself, in this case) has no Beer cards at all, the spill effect has no target and is simply skipped.

A player draws their 1st Drunk card (triggering 'discard 1 Money card') but no Money cards have been revealed yet. What happens?

Nothing happens. The rule explicitly states that if no Money cards are revealed, the player loses nothing.

A player already has a saved Money card in their game area and wants to save a new one at the end of their turn. What happens to the old one?

The player must discard the previously saved Money card first, then save the new one. Only 1 Money card may be saved in the game area at a time.

When a Drunk card is drawn, is it placed in the center of the table like Money cards?

No. Drunk cards are saved directly into the player's game area, not placed at the center of the table. They are not Money cards and cannot be used to buy pints.

The Beer deck runs out mid-round. Does the first player get one more turn?

No. Once the Beer deck is exhausted and the turn order reaches the first player, the round ends immediately. The first player does not take another turn that round.

When exactly is the Happy Hour card discarded?

The Happy Hour card is discarded at the start of the turn of the player who originally drew it, after it has gone around the table (or partially around, reaching them again). Each player gets to buy exactly one pint at half price before it expires.