Brainwaves: The Astute Goose Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Idea
• Components
• Setup
  • Difficulty Levels (Schwierigkeitsgrad)
• Gameplay
• End of the Game
• Solo Variant
• Cooperative Play
• Scientific Study
  • What is ...

Game Idea

For 1 – 5 players, ages 8 and up.

Who did the culprit look like, exactly? What colour was his clothing? Number cards from 1 to 6 lie on the table. Beneath them lie face-down suspects. You have memorised them beforehand. The player whose turn it is rolls the number die and the feature die. The number determines which suspect is meant, e.g. No. 3. The feature determines whether the suspect's colour, clothing item or animal is to be named, e.g. which animal did that suspect have? If the player knows the correct answer, he takes the suspect card. This card is worth one point at the end. The suspect in question in this round is replaced by a new card from the stack, which all players memorise again. In this way the display is constantly changing. And that is exactly what is meant to stimulate the brain cells in the frontal and parietal lobes that are important for mental abilities (see also the information at the end of the rules).

Components

• 25 suspects in 5 colours, with 5 clothing features and 5 animals
• 6 number cards
• 5 feature cards
• 1 number die
• 1 feature die
• 1 notepad
• 1 rulebook with information on the memory study

Setup

• Each player receives one feature card and places it face up in front of him.
• The two dice are set aside.
• The notepad is only needed at the end of the game, to record points.
• The number cards are laid out above the suspects – depending on the difficulty level, see the overview below.
• The suspect cards are shuffled and placed as a face-down stack on the table. From this stack, suspects are drawn according to the desired difficulty level and first laid out face up next to each other (see the illustration below).

Difficulty Levels (Schwierigkeitsgrad)

Difficulty level	Suspects laid out	Number cards placed above them (positions)
1 – Beginners (Neulinge)	3 suspects	4 5 6 above 1 2 3
2 – Advanced (Fortgeschrittene)	4 suspects	5 6 above 1 2 3 4
3 – Experienced (Erfahrene)	5 suspects	6 above 1 2 3 4 5
4 – Experts (Experten)	6 suspects	1 2 3 4 5 6

Tip: Start with the lowest difficulty level and increase the challenge step by step.

Note: The suspects each have three features. An overview of all possible features is given on the feature card.

• Colours: yellow, red, purple, blue, green
• Clothing features: bow tie, tie, scarf, key chain, striped shirt
• Animals: rat, dog, cat, goose, parrot

The printed rulebook illustrates the display for the Experts level with 6 suspects.

Gameplay

The players memorise the suspects and their features in the display as well as they can. After about 2 minutes the cards are turned over, so that only their backs are visible.

The youngest player begins; play then continues clockwise. When it is a player's turn, he throws both dice and then names his guess: which colour, which clothing feature or which animal applies to a certain suspect.

• The player rolls both dice. The result determines which suspect is meant (position 1 to 6) and which feature is asked about (colour, clothing feature, animal).

  • Example A: If the 3 and the clothing-feature symbol are rolled, the question is: Which clothing feature does suspect No. 3 have?
  • Example B: If the 2 and the colour symbol are rolled, the question is: What colour is the clothing of suspect No. 2?
  • Example C: If the 5 and the animal symbol are rolled, the question is: Which animal does suspect No. 5 have with him?

  Note: In a game with fewer than 6 suspects, some suspects are assigned two number cards. If only 4 suspects are played, for example, suspect No. 1 is at the same time suspect No. 5 – this is easy to recognise in the display. So if a "1" and a "5" are rolled, it concerns the same suspect.

• The player names his guess. Once the player has named the colour, clothing feature or animal aloud, he takes the suspect card from the display and looks at it secretly to himself. Was the answer right or wrong?

  • Correct: If his guess was right, the player shows the card to the other players and places it face down in front of him. This becomes his scoring pile.
  • Wrong: If his guess was wrong, all other players may now take turns guessing – starting with the player to the left of the player holding the card.
    • If a fellow player names the correct answer, the player shows the card in his hand and gives it to the successful fellow player. This player places it face down in front of him.
    • If no player gives the correct answer, the card is removed from the game and placed back in the box.

End of the Game

When the card stack has run out, play continues with gaps in the display of suspects. As soon as the dice result points to an empty position, the game ends.

All players count their won cards. The player with the most cards wins the game. The points are recorded for each player on the notepad, so that they can be compared with later results.

Solo Variant

The player chooses the difficulty level at which he wants to play and shuffles the suspect cards. The game runs as described, with the following change to the rules:

Whenever the player makes a wrong guess, the suspect goes onto a separate "error stack".

After the game ends, the player counts his won cards and also the cards of the "error stack". He subtracts the latter from the won cards and records the result on the notepad. After further solo games he can compare the results and see whether he has tended to improve.

Cooperative Play

The players can also play cooperatively in order to win as many cards together as possible: after rolling the dice, the group agrees on one answer, then the card is turned face up. If the answer is correct, the card is won; otherwise the card goes onto the "error stack".

Scientific Study

The games of the BRAIN TO GO series are small and especially fine games. But why?

Scientists of the University of Ulm (working group Clinical and Biological Psychology) examined the BRAIN TO GO series in the context of a study. The question was which brain functions are exercised by the game series. The study examined the demands on working memory (simultaneously storing and processing new information), on long-term or episodic memory (as the brain's lasting storage system) and on fluid intelligence (logical thinking).

Figure legend from the printed rulebook:

• Fluid intelligence: logical thinking.
• Working memory: simultaneously storing and processing new information.
• Episodic memory: lasting storage system.
• 1 Prefrontal cortex: part of the cerebral cortex of the frontal lobe.
• 2 Posterior parietal cortex: part of the cerebral cortex of the parietal lobe.
• 3 Medial temporal lobe: part of the temporal lobe including the hippocampus.

The games studied were: SCHWEIN ODER NICHT SCHWEIN (Pig or Not Pig), GAN S SCHÖN VERDÄCHTIG (Goose Suspiciously Good, this game), and DER LILA WAL (The Purple Whale).

Result of the scientific study: The BRAIN TO GO series exercises all three examined brain functions (fluid intelligence, working memory, long-term memory) and is therefore, in the view of the scientists, suitable for training mental abilities.

Other well-known memory games are usually "static" – the motifs rarely change position. The BRAIN TO GO series is quite different. Here the memory contents must be constantly updated, because the card motifs in hand or in the display change with every turn. As a result the player must delete an already memorised motif at a certain position from his mental workspace and must again and again memorise new motifs for that position.

The series exercises several important brain functions in the process. A good and simple "brain jogging" that is played quickly. And: the games are great fun – alone, and even more so in a social round with others. Good for young and old.

Conclusion: Simply play more often – and train your memory along the way!

What is ...

Fluid intelligence? Fluid intelligence or fluid thinking is the ability to think logically. This ability is needed, for example, to solve new problems.

Working memory? Working memory allows us to temporarily store information and simultaneously manipulate it. Working memory is needed, for example, to remember the beginning of a sentence at its end, so that one can understand the sentence in content.

Episodic or long-term memory? Episodic memory is the part of long-term memory that stores memories over the long term. Episodic memory is needed, for example, to remember a conversation that took place several hours ago.