In Mini Containers all players simultaneously have the cleaning jitters and a clean-up rage. The goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand (trash). The main difficulty is that you will need to separate your waste and the different waste containers will not have enough room for all the players.
Aim of the game
All trash needs to be disposed in the right containers. By playing trash cards on matching containers, players try to get rid of all their handcards. The first player who succeeds in cleaning out all his hand cards is the winner of the game.
Set up
- Shuffle all cards and form a facedown draw pile.
- Deal cards from this draw pile to provide all players with a starting hand.
- Each player receives 12 cards.
- The player who most recently took out the trash is the starting player and receives the starting player card.
Card layout
A card can be played in two different ways: as trash or as containers.
Trash
When a card is played as trash, we only look at main part of the card. What we can see here is the volume of the trash (1-7). And the type of trash:
Grey – Residual waste
Blue – Paper waste
Green – Fruit, Vegetables and garden waste
Yellow – Glas
Orange – Plastics
Here you see a Glass Trash card with volume 2.
Containers
When a card is played as containers, it must be placed sideways. Only the information on the side is important now. Each card shows two containers. The left container is slightly smaller. It has a volume of 6. The right one is slightly bigger. It has a volume of 7. Both containers match one of the 5 different types (Gray: residual waste, Blue: paper, Green: Fruit, vegetable and garden waste, Yellow: Glass, Orange: Plastic).
Here you see a card with a container with a volume of 6 Glass Trash and a volume of 7 Plastic Trash.
Gameplay
Playing Containers
The starting player is the first to play a handcard as containers and places the card in the middle of the table. Clockwise all players take a turn placing one card as containers on the table. All cards should be placed next to each other in a row.
Forming Mini Decks
All players look at their handcards and select which cards they want to try to play this round. All players put their other cards aside for this round. They won’t be used until the next round.
Each player shuffles the cards he selected for this round and forms a small personal closed draw pile.
Now all players have a small personal closed draw pile in front of them. From now on we will refer to these as Mini-Decks. All players also have a stack of cards set aside. These cards won’t be played this round.
Disposing Trash Cards
The Start player begins. In clockwise turn order all players take turns until all players either played out all cards in their mini-decks or have passed.
When it’s your turn you have two options. You either reveal the top card of your mini-deck, or you pass.
If you choose to reveal the top card of your Mini-Deck you must play it on one of the containers in the centre of the table. The type of trash needs to match the container. There should also be enough space in the container. An empty container has room for 6 or 7 units of trash. Add up the volumes of trash cards played on the container to see if there is enough free space to play a certain trash card.
When there is no container, of the right type, with enough room for your revealed card. You lose the round. This means that you must take all remaining cards in all player’s Mini-Decks. YOU DEFINITELY WANT TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING! (Players that have already passed, no longer have a Mini-Deck this round. You won’t have to take any of their cards).
Passing
At a certain point you might anticipate that the chance of revealing a card that won’t fit is too big for your liking. In this case there is another way out. When it’s your turn you clearly state that you PASS. You take all cards in your Mini-Deck plus one form the common draw pile and add them to your set aside cards. You will have to try to get rid of them in the next round. You won’t participate in the remainder of this round. The other players continue without you.
Common Draw Pile
If at any point the common draw pile is empty, you shuffle the cards in the discard pile to form a new common draw pile.
Round end
If you have passed, the round is over for you. This is also the case if you managed to play all cards from your Mini-Deck. When this is the case for all players, the round is over. The Containers in the centre of the table, and all trash cards that are played onto them, are put in the common discard pile. The Start Player passes the Start Player Card to his neighbour to the left, and all players can their set aside cards to start a new round.
End of the game
Whenever a player managed to get rid of all his cards, the game end immediately. This player is the winner of MINI CONTAINERS!
Attention! To win you must have played ALL your cards. As long as you have set aside cards, you will need another round to get rid of those cards.
Modules
Thrift shop Module
Changes in set up
Shuffle the Thrift shop cards through the common draw pile.
Changes in Gameplay
Thrift shops can be played instead of containers, not instead of trash. In contrast to containers, thrift shops have no type and no volume. Every thrift shop has enough room for 1 trash card of every type. The volume of these thrash cards is not important.
Combination with other modules
When a waste collection service card is played on a thrift shop, all trash cards on the thrift shop are removed and put on the common discard pile. The thrift shop is now fully available again.
Recycling Centre Module
Changes in set up
Shuffle the Recycling Centre cards through the common draw pile.
Changes in Gameplay
Recycling Centre’s can be played instead of containers, not instead of trash.
When a Recycling Centre is played, all players choose one of their set-aside cards (not their Mini-Deck) to play on the Recycling Centre. All players simultaneously reveal which card they play. The type of trash is insignificant. However, the player who played the trash card with the lowest unique number gets a bonus. He may play the top card of his Mini-Deck on the recycling centre. If no unique number is played, no one receives the bonus.
Combination with other modules
Waste collection service cards can be played on a Recycling Centre but have no effect. Waste collection service cards have no value and can’t earn the bonus for played card with the lowest unique value.
Terraced Housing Module
Changes in set up
Cards are dealt face up. A player receives cards until the sum of the trash cards equals 30 or more.
Changes in Gameplay
The rest of the game is not changed.
Waste Collection Service module
Changes in set up
Shuffle the Waste collection cards through the common draw pile.
Changes in Gameplay
Waste collection cards can be played instead of trash, not instead of containers.When a player plays a waste collection card it can be placed on any container. The only condition is that at least one trash card is already on the container. An empty container may only be targeted if all containers in are empty. For the remainder of the round Trash cards can’t be played on containers with a Waste Collection Service card on them.
Combination with other modules
Waste collection service cards can be played on a Recycling Centre but have no effect. Waste collection service cards have no value and can’t earn the bonus for played card with the lowest unique value.When a waste collection service card is played on a thrift shop, all trash cards on the thrift shop are removed and put on the common discard pile. The thrift shop is now fully available again.
Dummy Module
For a game with 2 players, it is recommended to use this module.
Changes in set up
Game set up is unchanged.
Changes in Gameplay
After the last player has played a container, he draws the top card of the common draw pile and plays this as an additional container.
Every round, after the last player has played a trash card, he draws the top card of the common draw pile and plays it on a container with enough free space of the matching type. If there is more than one suitable container, the thrash should be played on the most left container. If there no suitable containers, the trash card is discarded.
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Automa Module
In a 1 player game it is necessary to play with this module. In a 2-player game this module can be used instead of or together with the Dummy Module.
Changes in set up
When cards are dealt to the players, an Automa Row is also formed: Lay 6 cards closed in a row next to each other. Then lay an open card on top of every closed card.
Before the starting player plays a card from his hand, he takes one of the open cards from the Automa Row to play as a container. This must be the Automa card with highest value. If there are more Automa cards with the same highest value, the card with the type that is most present in the Automa Row, must be chosen. If this is also the case for more than one card, the starting player decides which of these cards is played.
Every time, before the starting player reveals the top card from his Mini-Deck, he plays one of the open cards from the Automa row to play as a trash card. This should always be the thrash card with the highest value, that can fit in an available container. If there are multiple Automa cards with the same highest value, choose the card which type is most present in the Automa Row. If this is also the case for more than one card, the starting player decides which of these cards is played.
When a card from the Automa row is played, it is immediately replaced by the closed card underneath it. If there no closed card under the played card, this place in the Automa row stays empty.
If no card from the Automa row can be played, the start player continues his turn.
If a player can’t play the revealed card form his Mini Deck, he must take all open cards from the Automa Row.
When the starting player has passed, or has no more cards in his Mini Deck, no more cards form the Automa Row are played this round.
Whenever the last card from the Automa Row is played, the game ends instantly. In this case no player wins.