Breadcrumbs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box
• Overview
• Setup
• Solo Mode
  • Picking the Secret Phrase and Target
  • Giving Clues
  • Revealing Guesses
  • Scoring (Solo Mode)
• Team Mode
• Shout It Out (Variant)

What's in the Box

• 200 phrase cards, with 600 target phrases
• Breadboard with 5 clue inserts
• 8 guesser loaves
• Score tokens
• 4 pens
• 4 target cards
• 1 easy-to-follow how to play guide, with solo and team ways to play

Overview

In Breadcrumbs, one player describes a secret phrase by giving clues, but they don't want everyone to get it right, so they'll need to be subtle. The guessers get one guess at it, and guessing sooner scores more.

There are two ways to play: Solo Mode, where you play as individuals, and Team Mode, where you play in two teams. Try both.

Setup

Pick a player to be the first cluegiver and give them:

• A pen
• The card holder with the secret phrases inside
• The five popped-out breadcrumbs

Give every other player a loaf. Place the breadboard and the score tokens centrally, along with the remaining pens.

Solo Mode

Picking the Secret Phrase and Target

The cluegiver picks a secret phrase to describe from the three options on the front card.

• For a game with two guessers, the cluegiver always needs exactly one player to guess the secret phrase correctly.
• For a game with three or more guessers, the cluegiver randomly picks a target token, which tells them how many of the guessers they need to get it right. The target token will tell them:
  • They need exactly one player to guess it right, or
  • They need all the guessers except one to get it right, or
  • They have a choice of who or how many players get it right, in which case they secretly write their target on their loaf.

Giving Clues

The cluegiver describes the secret phrase one clue at a time. They say each clue aloud and write a brief summary of it on a breadcrumb, then slot it into the breadboard.

Give guessers a moment after each clue to decide whether to guess the secret phrase. They only get one guess, so they need to time it right. To guess, a player grabs a pen, secretly writes their guess on their loaf, and places it face down on the breadcrumb.

Guessers should try not to react in a way that shows whether they understand the clues. If you want to speed things up, you can set a 60-second timer for clues and guessing.

Clues can be as long as you want, but they must be truthful:

• Can't be totally vague, like "it's a thing."
• Can't be a repeat.
• Can't be a broad negative, like "it's not my shoe."

Use the group's judgment if needed, and make the cluegiver redo any clue that's not in the spirit of the game. Check page six of the rules for ideas on how to give clues.

Keep laying breadcrumbs until everyone has guessed. After the fifth and final clue, anyone who hasn't guessed yet must do so.

If there are multiple guesses on a single clue, stack them.

Revealing Guesses

Flip the loaves to reveal the guesses, flipping stacked loaves together so that the earliest guess ends up on top. Then the cluegiver reveals the secret phrase, their target token, and their loaf, if relevant.

Scoring (Solo Mode)

• The cluegiver scores 3 points if they hit their target exactly; otherwise, they don't score.
• For the guessers: the first player to guess correctly scores 3 points, the second scores 2 points, and all other correct guesses score 1 point.
• If no one guessed correctly, the cluegiver loses 1 point, if they have any.

Wipe the breadcrumbs clean and move to a new cluegiver, who slides the front card to the back and picks the next secret phrase, randomly picks a target token, and starts giving clues.

Keep playing, taking turns as cluegiver, until someone reaches 10 points and wins the game.

Team Mode

Split into two broadly even teams. One team picks a cluegiver to go first, who picks a secret phrase to describe one clue at a time. The cluegiver wants their own team to guess the secret phrase correctly, and the other team to guess it incorrectly.

After every clue, both teams get one guess. Discuss it within your team, then write your guess on your loaf and place it on the breadcrumb. The cluegiver flips both loaves and says "correct" or "incorrect" for each.

The round ends when at least one team guesses it right, or once all five clues and five guesses have been made. Only one team can score the point that's up for grabs:

• If only the cluegiver's team got it right, they score the point.
• In all other cases, the other team scores the point — that includes if the other team was the only one to get it right, if both teams got it right, or if neither team got it right within five clues.

The other team now picks a cluegiver, and play repeats. The first team to reach 3 points wins.

Shout It Out (Variant)

If you're feeling energized, try the Shout It Out version. The cluegiver describes the secret phrase aloud, and both teams shout out guesses freely. The first team to guess it correctly scores 1 point. The first team to reach 3 points wins.