:: Game Rules

 

Vet mindreaders

(4 players or more; an even number of players is required)

Players divide into teams of two players per team. One player is the coach and the other player is the guesser.

One team proceeds at a time. For each team, the coach draws a card from the box and looks only at the answer. The guesser must not see either the question or the answer. The coach places the card directly on the guesser’s forehead,with the answer side facing out. That is, the question is against the guesser’s forehead, not visible to anyone, whereas the answer is visible to the coach.

The coach must now say clues that make the guesser correctly state the answer on the card. The coach cannot say the answer, nor derivations or synonyms of it in the clues. For example, if the answer is “potassium”, then the coach may say “the most common cation in the body”, or “high levels cause atrial standstill”, but the coach cannot say “chemical symbol is the letter K”, since that is a direct synonym.

The coach can provide a total of 5 clues. Another player keeps track of the number of guesses; if the guesser is correct after 1 clue, that guesser-coach team earns 100 points. If 2 clues are necessary, the team earns 80 points. If 3 clues are necessary, 60 points; 4 clues, 40 points; and 5 clues, 20 points. If more than 5 clues are needed, the team earns no points.

Bonus: an extra 50 points goes to the team if, after having correctly guessed the answer, the guesser can also guess the question (without clues from the coach) before removing the card from her/his forehead. This involves both knowledge and sheer luck, since so many questions can lead to one answer.

The game continues with one question per team, in rotating fashion, until a team reaches 500 points.