Break The Word Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview & Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
  • Difficulty Level
• How to Play
  • Round Setup
  • Playing a Round
  • The Different Types of Clue
  • Player Board
  • Leader Crown
  • Responses
  • End of the Round
• Scoring
  • Example
• End of the Game

Overview & Goal of the Game

In Break the Word, your goal is to work out the hidden 7-letter word before your opponents can. Each turn you'll reveal a new clue: Be first to crack the clues to win!

Components

• 130 Word cards
• 18 Clue cards
• 6 player boards
• 1 main board
• 1 Leader crown
• 6 pens

Setup

1. Give each player 1 player board and 1 pen.
2. Draw the top 4 Word cards from the deck. Place them in a draw pile near the edge of the table. When you've reached the end of the deck, flip it and continue playing with the other face. Never shuffle the deck of 130 Word cards: If you do, you may end up with a word you've played before. To avoid this, when you pack away the game, put the used cards at the bottom of the deck.
3. Place the Leader crown near the edge of the table.
4. Place the main board in the center of the table.
5. Take the 9 Clue cards for your chosen difficulty level (see box, below). Return the remaining Clue cards to the box.

Difficulty Level

For your first few games, draw at random 4 green Clue cards, 3 orange Clue cards, and 2 pink Clue cards.

Once you've played a few games, draw at random 3 cards of each color. This is the standard difficulty level.

To adjust the difficulty level, you can vary the proportions of the colors, but you must always draw 9 Clues in total. The more green cards you draw, the easier it will be to work out the word; the more pink cards you draw, the more difficult it will be.

How to Play

Each game has 4 rounds, as described below.

Round Setup

1. Draw the top Word card from the draw pile and place it in the center of the table.
2. Shuffle the 9 Clue cards and form a stack. One player keeps the Clue cards close by, so they can reveal them when needed.
3. From the 2nd round onwards, give the Leader crown to the player with the highest total victory points. The Leader may be different each round. If more than one player has the most points, those players "share" the Leader crown.

Playing a Round

Place the first Clue card on top of the Word card. Make sure it is oriented correctly: The white triangle with the symbol should be fully visible. Say aloud the clue that becomes visible (see below). Then place the Clue card you just used below the main board, in the leftmost free notch (e.g. the first Clue card goes in the furthest slot to the left, showing a 1).

Allow some time for everyone to note things down on their player boards before you reveal the next Clue. Make sure your opponents do not see what you write. When everyone is ready, reveal the next Clue card (place it on the Word card, announce the clue out loud, then put it in the next notch on the main board). If a player is taking too long, you can decide to allow 15-20 seconds before revealing the next Clue (count aloud). Then reveal the next Clue.

The Different Types of Clue

Green Clues. These Clues show a letter and where it appears in the word. For example, "#1 and C" indicates that C is the 1st letter in the word. The letter C could still appear elsewhere in the word.

Orange Clues. These Clues show 2 letters that are next to each other in the word, but do not show their order. For example, "A and P" indicates that the word contains the combinations "PA" or "AP". Either or both of these combinations may appear in the word.

Pink Clues. These Clues show the number of times a letter appears in the word. For example, "2 and A" indicates that the letter A appears exactly twice in the word.

Player Board

The inside of your player board is divided into colored zones, with one for each of the 3 Clue colors. The gray zone is for you to note down your ideas and try out different combinations of letters.

Leader Crown

The player(s) who holds the Leader crown (and so currently has the most points) must not know the first Clue of the current round. This means the other players, second from the round onwards, must check it discreetly.

Responses

Once you have found the word, note it down (and highlight it, if you have multiple ideas in the gray zone), then quickly place your player board face down in the correct zone of the main board:

• If 1-3 Clues have been revealed, place your player board in the +3 zone.
• If 4-6 Clues have been revealed, place your player board in the +2 zone.
• If 7-9 Clues have been revealed, place your player board in the +1 zone.

More than one player may give their response after a Clue, so make sure you're faster than your opponents!

Example: 3 Clue cards have been revealed, so you place your player board in the first zone, on top of any player boards already in that zone.

End of the Round

The round ends when:

• Everyone has given a response and placed their player board on the main board.
• All 9 Clues have been revealed and any players who have not given an answer are out of ideas (once the final Clue is given, allow a period of several seconds for players to respond).

In either case, proceed to scoring.

Scoring

On the main board, flip the stack of player boards in the +3 zone (the first zone), and check the response on the first player board. The Word cards are numbered, so you can check the correct answer in the back of this booklet.

If that player board shows the right answer, that player scores the corresponding number of points for that zone: 3 points for the first zone, 2 points for the second zone, and 1 point for the third zone.

BONUS: If you are the first player to score points this round, score 1 extra point!

The quicker you respond, the more points you can win, if you gave the right answer! If the answer is incorrect, that player scores 0 points.

Note down the points you scored in each round on your player board.

Check the remaining answers on the player boards in that zone. Next, check the player boards in the second zone in the same way (flip them and check the answers one by one), then do the same for the third zone.

The game ends after you have played 4 rounds. If you have not, set up a new round.

Example

The pink and purple player boards are playing for 3 points, the orange player board is playing for 2 points, and the teal player board is playing for 1 point. The first player to get the right answer scores 1 extra point.

End of the Game

The winner is the player with the most total points. In case of a tie, play another game to decide who wins!