Cachamot Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Round
• Forbidden Words
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Expert Variant
• Challenges
• Answers to the Challenges

Components

• 1 slate
• 1 dry-erase marker
• 1 60-second hourglass
• 100 Word cards
• these rules

On the slate there are three spaces for words. The slate opens so that the associations can be written in secret.

• The first word 1 is the word imposed by the Word card. We call it the imposed word.
• The second word 2 is a word association linked to the imposed word. We call it the Bubble word.
• The third word 3 is a word association linked to the Bubble word. It is the word the players must find to score points. We call it the Shell word.

Goal of the Game

In Cachamot, one player makes two successive word associations, starting from the imposed word, and reveals only the first letters of the Bubble word and the Shell word. The other players try to guess the Shell word using the first letters of each word.

Guessing gives you points in the form of cards. And when you write the words, you score points if you manage to get your association guessed… but not too easily!

Setup

1. Shuffle the Word card deck and place it, number side face up, in the centre of the table.
2. Choose a player at random to take the slate and the marker. You may instead give the slate to the player most likely to be a telepath. The person holding the slate and the marker is called "the Cachamot" below.
3. Place the hourglass in the centre of the table.

The game can begin!

Gameplay

The game is played in rounds. During a round, the Cachamot makes the others guess word associations, and the other players guess.

Once each person around the table has made the others guess once, the game ends.

4 players or fewer: if you play with four or fewer players and find the games a little too short, each person may make the others guess twice instead of once.

Round

1. The Cachamot draws the first card of the deck. The number shown on the next card of the deck indicates the starting word on the card drawn.
2. The Cachamot writes this word in the imposed word space 1.
3. Next, the Cachamot secretly writes a word linked to the imposed word in the Bubble word space 2.
4. Then the Cachamot secretly writes a word that is a word association connected to the Bubble word in the Shell word space 3. Note that the Shell word does not necessarily have a link with the imposed word!

Example: Marilys is the Cachamot for this round, and her imposed word is Panda. She writes it on the slate. Panda could bring to mind Bamboo, Black, White, or Bear. Marilys chooses to associate Panda with Bamboo, so she writes Bamboo in the Bubble word space. Having associated Panda with Bamboo, Marilys chooses to associate Bamboo with Shoot. She therefore writes it in the Shell word space.

5. Finally the Cachamot closes the slate. The Cachamot must reveal only the first two letters of the Bubble word and only one letter of the Shell word.

Example: Marilys has closed the slate and so writes A in the Bubble word box, leaving BA visible for the Bubble word.

6. The Cachamot presents the slate, closed but face up, to the other players, and then turns the hourglass.
7. The players must guess the Shell word using the imposed word, the first two letters of the Bubble word, and the initial letter of the Shell word. While the hourglass runs, each person may give one single answer.
8. If a player gives the correct answer, go immediately to the end of the round.
9. If the correct answer has not been given when the hourglass runs out, whether or not everyone has made a proposal, the Cachamot writes the second letter of the Shell word in the corresponding box and turns the hourglass over.
10. Then the players who are guessing may make a second proposal; this takes place in the same way as the first time. If the word still has not been found at the end of this second hourglass, go to the end of the round.

Forbidden Words

A word that is very close to the word to be guessed? Accept it: admit that there is really little difference between joueur and joueuse, or between patate and pomme de terre. Be cool.

The following are forbidden (Mots interdits):

• Acronyms (Sigles)
• Foreign-language words (Mots en langue étrangère)
• Deliberately misspelled words (Mots intentionnellement mal orthographiés)
• A repeated word (Un mot répété)
• Proper nouns (Noms propres)
• Words of one or two letters (Mots d'une seule ou de deux lettres)

End of the Round

There can be three outcomes at the end of a round:

• A person found the word at the first hourglass: they win the Word card of the round.
• A person found the word at the second hourglass (the second letter of the Shell word has been revealed): they win a card, taken from the deck. The Cachamot also wins the Word card of the round.
• Nobody found the word after both hourglasses: nobody scores any point. The Cachamot returns the Word card of the round to the box.

Cards won are points that each player keeps for the rest of the game.

Then the Cachamot passes the slate and the marker to the person on their left. In other words, the player on the left of the Cachamot becomes the new Cachamot! A new round can then begin.

End of the Game

When every person around the table has been the Cachamot once, everyone counts their won cards. The player or players with the most cards win the game. In the event of a tie, the players tied for first place share the victory.

Reminder: if you play with three or four players, each person may be the Cachamot twice instead of once.

Translator's note: the printed rulebook gives the double-turn option for "four players or fewer" under Gameplay, but this reminder names only "three or four players". Both are reproduced as printed; the Gameplay wording is the broader one and is the rule that applies to a two-player game.

Expert Variant

After your first games of Cachamot, you may use this variant to increase the difficulty a little!

From now on, you write only the first letter of the Bubble word during the first hourglass. During the second, you reveal the second letter of the Bubble word. The Shell word will then only ever have one letter!

Challenges

Because an example is worth a thousand words, here are some challenges to train you!

(Answers on the back.)

	Challenge 1	Challenge 2	Challenge 3	Challenge 4
Imposed word	FROMAGE (cheese)	CHIOT (puppy)	BASILIC (basil)	SQUELETTE (skeleton)
Bubble word	R	PO	PE	Z
Shell word	P	S	S	C

Translator's note: the printed clues are reproduced as they appear. In Challenges 1 and 4 the Bubble row shows a single letter, although the rule above reveals two letters of the Bubble word; the printed answers ("Raclette" and "Zombi") both begin with the printed letter. The challenge words and answers are French, so the clues depend on French spelling.

Answers to the Challenges

• Challenge 1: Potato (Patate). Yes, the 2 was Raclette! By the way, Pomme de terre (potato) is also accepted.
• Challenge 2: Solfeggio (Solfège). Staff (Portée) for the 2.
• Challenge 3: Sauce (Sauce). Pesto for the 2.
• Challenge 4: Brain (Cerveau). Zombie (Zombi) for the 2.