Contrario 2 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Play
• End of the Game
• Variants
  • Informal and Team Play
  • "A Little Luck..." Variant
  • Two-Player Version

Components

• 160 Contrario cards
• 5 number cards (Chiffre), numbered 1 to 5

Goal of the Game

Find the most original expressions from distorted expressions.

The definitions that make up the expression to be found are:

• Opposites: VIE à Milan pour MORT à Venise
• Synonyms: Des PLEURS d'alligator pour Des LARMES de crocodile
• Words from the same word family: Le petit ROUGE pour Le grand BLEU
• Associations of ideas: Thierry Dali pour Henri Salvador

Play

Each game is played with only one side of the cards.

A first player is designated to be the reader.

The reader draws the first card from the Contrario deck, taking care to hide the side of the card to be read from the other players.

1. Then, for each of the 5 expressions, the reader does the following:

   • Reads aloud the first distorted expression to be found;
   • Listens to the other players' proposals;
   • If none of the proposals is correct, reads the first clue, listens to the proposals, then reads the second clue if needed;
   • If none of the proposals is yet correct, gives the solution.
   • Proceeds the same way for the other 4 expressions.

2. For each distorted expression found, the reader awards points to the players concerned as follows:

   • 3 points if it was found without clues;
   • 2 points if it was found with 1 clue;
   • 1 point if it was found with both clues.

3. The player to the reader's left becomes the reader and proceeds as indicated above.

End of the Game

Before the game begins, the players agree on the victory conditions.

Three options are possible:

• Score at the end of a given playing time (for example, 20 minutes);
• Score at the end of a number of cards played (for example, 20 cards);
• Total score reached (for example, the first player to reach 100 points).

Variants

Informal and Team Play

Contrario can also, of course, be played informally, simply having the expressions to be found called out to the room, and also in teams.

"A Little Luck..." Variant

The reader shuffles the deck of 5 number cards and places it face down beside them.

After having the players find the 5 expressions of the Contrario card they read, the reader does the following:

• Reveals the number on the number card on top of the deck;
• Names the player who gave the correct solution (or was the first to give it) to the expression corresponding to that number;
• Gives that player, who becomes the new reader, the Contrario card just won along with the 5 number cards. That player then becomes reader in turn.
• The first player to hold 5 Contrario cards wins the game.

Note: If none of the players gave the correct solution needed to win the "Contrario" card, that card is returned to the bottom of the deck and the reader takes a new one. If the drawn number designates an expression whose solution was found at the same time by several players, the reader turns over the next "Chiffre" card, which will designate the winner of the "Contrario" card.

Two-Player Version

The 2 players sit side by side, hiding the Contrario card drawn from the deck with a number card. The contents of the card are then revealed gradually as the proposals and solutions are given by the 2 players. The player who found the most expressions wins the card. In case of a tie, the player who correctly answered the last proposal wins the card.