Cheers (1992)
Cheers (1992) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Game Board
- 1 Plastic Spinner
- 1 Printed Spinner Board
- 8 Character Pawns
- 8 Free Turn Chips
- 32 Wooden Nickels
- 1 Card Tray
- 480 Napkin Trivia Cards
- 50 Normism Coaster Cards
- 50 Cliffism Coaster Cards
The Object of the Game
To win. What else?
And, Here's How to Get Started
First of all, everybody pick a colored pawn that represents the Cheers' character that most closely resembles your own personality and place it on its matching colored square on the game board. You can choose from: Carla (pink), Cliff (red), Norm (brown), Frasier (yellow), Lilith (white), Sam (blue), Rebecca (purple), or Woody (green). For those of you who think the cards are big blocks of paper wrapped in cellophane - Wrong! You must unwrap them. The round ones go face down on the Normism and Cliffism spaces on the game board and the square ones go in their own tray (you know, the one they were in inside the box). Next, if you haven't done it yet, punch out the Wooden Nickels and place them on the spaces indicated on the game board (yes, the color on the nickel matches where it goes on the board). Don't forget to punch out the Free Turn Chips and place them on the board on their spot, too (next to Melville's). Also, while you are punching, punch the printed spinner board out. And, the spinner will be much easier to use if you carefully punch the plastic spinner piece through the spinner board.
The Spaces on the Board and What They Mean
Starting Squares - The color of each character's Starting Square matches the color of the character pawn. Everybody starts the game on their own colored square.
Wooden Nickel Spaces - You must land on Wooden Nickel Spaces and correctly answer a Normism or Cliffism to get a Wooden Nickel. You need to get one Wooden Nickel of each color (blue, green, purple, and red) to win the game. We have made it easy on you by putting eight of these squares on the board - two of each color. They are the color squares with an "N" or a "C" (for Normisms or Cliffisms) on them.
Directional Spaces - The Directional Spaces send you to another space on the board. If you land on one after moving your character, you must go where directed and then answer a trivia question to determine if you continue playing. ("Go to Exit" for example, would send you to the space labeled "Exit.") These can be helpful to move around the board more quickly. These are good things, so use them.
Carla's Dare Space - When you land on a Carla's Dare Space you can dare another player to do something fun. (Goofy things like hop on one leg, sing "Happy Birthday," get everyone a refreshment, etc.) If the other player carries off the dare, they get a Free Turn Chip that they gotta use on their next turn. If they don't use it, they lose it. If they don't carry off the dare, you get a free turn right then. It's up to you guys to figure out if they pulled off the dare. You can make up whatever you want as your dare. If you can't think of any, here's a few we came up with:
- Sing the theme song of Cheers
- Let another player restyle your hair
- Get everyone a refreshment
- Bark like a dog for 15 seconds
- Hop around the room for one minute
- Kiss the person to your right
- Name five popular bands from the 70s within 15 seconds without saying "Uh" or "Um"
- Say the alphabet backwards within two minutes
- Recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" all the way through on one try
- Give an impersonation of your Cheers character
Now Let's Get on with It
Everybody spins (no, don't get up and spin around, spin the spinner) to see who goes first. The person with the highest spin starts the game. In case of a tie, have a spinoff (we don't really know what that is, but it sounds good). Spin again if the pointer lands on a line.
The person starting the game spins again and moves his character the number of spaces shown. You can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, but you can't land twice on the same space during one move. This is sometimes harder than it sounds. International mothers' rules apply in this game: no jumping on or over the furniture or through walls. You don't do it at your house, what makes you think you can do it here?
After moving your character, you have to answer a question from the trivia cards, the ones that look like beverage napkins. The person on your right asks you the question. How do you know which question to ask? You match the color the spinner is pointing to with the color of the question on the trivia card. Clever - huh? If you answer the question correctly, you get to go again. If you miss it, the person to your left goes, and so on. We haven't set a time limit on how long a person can take to answer a question, but you can if you're playing with one of those slow-pokes.
What now? You keep playing until you can land directly on a Wooden Nickel space. You can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, but you must hit it exactly. The object here is to collect one each of the four different colors of Wooden Nickels. It doesn't matter which color square or which letter ("N" or "C") you attempt first. When you land on a Wooden Nickel space, the person to your right asks you a Normism or Cliffism (whichever corresponds to the space you landed on).
Normisms (N) - These are quotes of Norm's where you fill-in-the-blank. Just try to think of what Norm would say. The answers are on the bottom of the cards.
Cliffisms (C) - These are quotes of Cliff's. You have to identify whether Cliff actually said them or not. ("Yes, Cliff said this" or "No, Cliff did not actually say this" is how this works. "Yes" or "No" is printed on the bottom of the card. Careful, these are tricky.)
When you're right, you're right, and you get a Wooden Nickel that matches the color of the space you are on. If you're wrong, the next person takes their turn and you have to wait for your next turn to do anything about it. When your turn comes back around, you have to spin again, move off the Wooden Nickel space, and then try to get back on. Sounds easy, but don't forget that you can't land on the same space twice in one move. You can get the four Wooden Nickels by answering any combo of Normism and Cliffism questions. You don't have to land only on "N's" or only on "C's." As long as you get one of each color Wooden Nickel, we don't care how you do it.
And another thing: if you are playing a male character in the game, like Sam, you can't go into the Ladies' bathroom to get that color nickel. You have to go to the Men's Room. The same rule applies to the female characters.
Contact with Other Players
You can also get Wooden Nickels the lazy way - steal them from other people when they aren't looking! No, that's not fair. Here's how you can do it and get away with it. Land on another player's space at the end of a move and win one away from them. They will choose a Normism or Cliffism for you to answer. If you get it right, you can take any one of their nickels you want. But, if you get it wrong, you have to go all the way back to your starting square. Be sure you want to risk it!
What happens if a player is on a Wooden Nickel space when you land on them? You get to choose between going for the nickel or challenging them for one of theirs. This rule also applies when you land on another player's space when they are on a Carla's Dare. You can challenge or dare them.
Winning the Game
After you have gotten one each of the four different Wooden Nickels, you win the game.
Here are Some Hints on Expert Playing
To make it harder to play and more challenging, don't read the multiple choice answers on the trivia cards. It's a lot harder to come up with the answer without any help!
Another way to make it more difficult to play, like in 9-ball, is to get solids first - no wait we don't have those, we have Normisms and Cliffisms. So, if you got your first Wooden Nickel by answering a Normism correctly, then you must land on Wooden Nickels with "N's." The same could go for Cliffisms. If your first Wooden Nickel is from a correctly answered Cliffism question, then you can only get Wooden Nickels by landing on "C's" and correctly answering the Cliffism. You keep track. (You can forget about the bathroom rule, you should be good enough to sneak in and out without getting caught).
You can play this game with two to eight players and you don't have to have pairs to play!
Ages 12 and up.
Cover panel, as printed: "Bonus points if you noticed that the airplane on the front is upside down. We wanted to see who was paying attention!"