Celebrity Taboo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Getting Ready to Play
• Taking Your Seats and Taking Your Turns
• Playing the Game
• Scoring a Point
• Losing a Point
• Winning the Game

Getting Ready to Play

1. Buzzer Battery Insertion: Remove battery cover by pressing back clip with your thumb. Insert two AA batteries, matching (+) and (-) signs. See Figure 1. Alkaline batteries are recommended for best performance. Slide the battery cover back and snap into place.

Test the batteries by pressing the buzzer button. If the buzzer doesn't work, the batteries may be weak or improperly installed.

BATTERIES MAY LEAK if improperly installed. Remove batteries when the buzzer is not used for an extended period of time.

2. Place the buzzer and timer within easy reach of all players.

3. Card Holder: Push rubber feet into the four holes in card holder. Then apply Celebrity Taboo label. Now fill card holder with cards. Play with red side first. See Figure 2.

4. Divide the players into two teams (Team A and Team B). It doesn't matter if one team has one more player than the other.

Taking Your Seats and Taking Your Turns

See the picture below for seating.

1. Team A (in white shirts) chooses one of their players to be their first Clue-giver, and that player sits facing the card holder with the timer close at hand.

2. Team B's players (in dark shirts) sit beside or behind Team A's Clue-giver so they can see the cards as the Clue-giver plays them. Team B controls the buzzer.

3. The Clue-giver's teammates are not allowed to see the cards and they should sit opposite their Clue-giver, waiting to shout out their answers.

4. After Team A's Clue-giver has completed a turn, a member of Team B is chosen to be the next Clue-giver for their team. Seats are exchanged so that the new Clue-giver's teammates cannot see the cards and the opposing team can see the cards. The buzzer is passed to Team A.

Figure 2 caption: The red side of the cards should be facedown. The green side of the cards should be faceup but positioned as shown.

5. Teams take turns appointing Clue-givers and guessing celebrity names until all players have had one turn as Clue-giver. NOTE: If one team has one less player than the other, one player from that team is the Clue-giver twice.

Playing the Game

1. The Clue-giver draws a card from the card holder and places it on the easel, as shown in Figure 3. The name at the top of the card is the secret celebrity name the Clue-giver is trying to get his or her teammates to say. The five words below the secret celebrity name are the Taboo words the Clue-giver CANNOT say when giving clues.

Figure 3: Red side of cards.

2. As soon as a card is drawn, the Clue-giver turns over the timer and starts giving clues that will make teammates say the celebrity name. The clues may consist of detailed sentences, phrases or single word hints. See example at left. The clues CANNOT break any of the rules listed in Number 3: RULES FOR CLUES below.

Example card, "Groucho Marx" (secret celebrity name), Taboo words: HARPO, BROTHERS, CIGAR, COMEDIAN, MUSTACHE.

When giving clues for Groucho Marx, you could say, "Two of his wacky siblings were named Chico and Zeppo...He spent a day at the races and a night at the opera...On his quiz show, a duck dropped down if a contestant said the secret word."

3. Rules for Clues:

• No form or part of ANY word printed on the card may be given as a clue. Examples: If LUCILLE BALL is the secret celebrity name, "Lucy" cannot be given as a clue. If SUPERMAN is the secret celebrity name, you can't use "super" or "man" as a clue. If DRINK is a Taboo word, "drunk" cannot be given as a clue. If SPACESHIP is a Taboo word, you can't use "space" or "ship" as a clue.
• No gestures may be made. Examples: You can't form your hand in the shape of a gun to clue for "shoot," or point to your nose to clue for "beak."
• Feel free to break out into song or to do verbal imitations of a celebrity.
• You cannot say the celebrity name "sounds like" or "rhymes with" another word.
• No initials or abbreviations can be given if the words they represent are included on the card. Examples: JFK cannot be given as a clue if John F. Kennedy is the secret celebrity name. MD cannot be used if MEDICAL or DOCTOR is part of a name or a Taboo word. TV cannot be used if TELEVISION is a Taboo word.
• If an abbreviation is used as a Taboo word, you cannot use any of the words represented by the abbreviation. Example: If CBS is a Taboo word, you cannot say COLUMBIA, BROADCASTING, or SYSTEM.

4. As the Clue-giver gives clues, his or her teammates shout out possible names trying to guess the secret celebrity. There is no penalty for wrong guesses.

Scoring a Point

5. Each time a teammate shouts out the correct celebrity name, the Clue-giver's team scores a point. The guessed card remains on the easel. The Clue-giver quickly draws another card and puts it on the easel in front of the already-guessed card(s). The number of guessed cards in the easel is the number of points the Clue-giver earns for his or her team.

Losing a Point

6. Clue-givers can lose points in two ways: by getting buzzed and by passing on a card. All points lost are awarded to the opposing team.

Getting buzzed: During the Clue-giver's turn, the members of the opposing team watch the Clue-giver and the cards. If a Taboo word is used by the Clue-giver or if any of the RULES FOR CLUES are broken, the buzzer is sounded by the opposing team. This signals that the card is dead. The opposing team then quickly explains why the card was killed.

The Clue-giver removes the dead card from the easel and places it in a discard pile. Then the Clue-giver quickly draws a new card and continues playing. The number of cards in the discard pile are the points awarded to the opposing team on a turn.

Passing on a card: You may choose to pass and not play a card at any time during your turn as the Clue-giver. Pass by removing the card from the easel and placing it in the discard pile. The opposing team scores a point each time you pass.

Remember, you are racing against the timer and it may be in your best interest to pass rather than spend a lot of time on one card.

7. The Clue-giver's turn continues until the timer runs out. The opposing team watches the timer and signals when time is up.

8. If there is an unfinished card on the easel, place it out of play. It does not count in the scoring. Now count the remaining cards on the easel for the Clue-giver's team's score. Count the cards in the discard pile for the opposing team's score. Record the scores on the scorepad for each team after each turn.

9. All cards on the easel and in the discard pile are placed out of play, before the opposing team's Clue-giver starts the next turn.

Winning the Game

When all players have had one turn as Clue-giver (or both teams have had the same number of turns as Clue-giver), the points on the scorepad are totaled. The team with the most points wins the game.

In the case of a tie, each team chooses their best Clue-giver and takes one more turn to determine the winner.

Finished playing with the red side of the cards? Then, just flip them over and play with the green side!