Espresso is essentially a multiplayer version of a standard solitaire or patience game played in real time, something like the traditional card game Racing Demons, although it has significant differences from that game. Each player has an identical set of 36 cards (9 each in 4 colors) from which a stack of 9 is randomly dealt as the "espresso" stack - this must be gotten rid of by playing to common stacks in the center of the table. These stacks must each be built up from 0 to 8 in a single color. Players have 3 other face-up cards to help them, and can turn over cards from the rest of their deck to provide further alternatives.