Decipher
Decipher Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Puzzle Makers create secret words and Word Seekers try to guess them.
During play you become a Puzzle Maker for one round and a Word Seeker for the other rounds. The game ends after each player has been the Puzzle Maker once.
Whoever scores the most points wins the game.
Setup
Before the first round: Each player chooses 3 Guess Tokens of one color. Put the 5 point Decipher Token and 2 point Bonus Tokens to the side.
Players decide on the word length (3-6) for this game. Longer words are more difficult to decipher.
One player is chosen to be the first Puzzle Maker.
Components
- 3 Guess Tokens per player (in 4 player colors)
- 3 Bonus Tokens
- 1 Decipher Token
- 1 Word Rack
- 20 NO-Tokens
- 82 Letter Tiles (letters + specials)
- 1 Pencil + 1 Scoresheet Pad
- 48 Letter Pieces (8 blue, 16 yellow, 8 green, 16 red)
- 1 Double-sided Decipher Board (a word with 6 letters starts here; a word with 4 letters starts here; a Letter Zone)
Creating the Secret Word
As Puzzle Maker you turn the box your way, so the secret compartment faces you. Insert the game board vertically into the slot. This is to hide the components from the Word Seekers while you build your word.
Put the word rack back in the inlay (put the word rack here, so you can see the ABC with the right side up). Slide the rack towards yourself, so it covers the middle letter pocket. Then put all of the letter pieces shown on the letter tiles of your word in the secret compartment.
Use the letter tiles and word rack to create a secret word that fits the word length chosen for this game.
Valid Words
- Dictionary words like BOX, RED, and TOOK (not proper names, abbreviations, slang, or words in a foreign language)
- Correctly spelled words
- Words the group you are playing with will probably know
Close the word rack and turn it around, then open it again (1. close, 2. turn around, 3. open). Now you see the secret word in the way the Word Seekers will see it as they make guesses (which is upside down, right to left for you).
Double check that the letter pieces match your word! Slide the word rack carefully down the ramp into its final position.
Place the Decipher board as shown with the appropriate side face up (A for 3 or 5 letter words, B for 4 or 6 letter words).
Put the 3 bonus tokens and the decipher token on their spaces on the board.
Deciphering the Secret Word
How to Decipher a Letter
Use the Letter Piece Game alphabet on the box as your guide. The same pieces can be used to make different letters. Note: Hyphens and apostrophes count as letters.
Turns
The first Word Seeker is the one to the left of the Puzzle Maker. Then the Word Seekers take turns clockwise. For each turn:
- The Puzzle Maker picks one letter piece from the secret compartment and gives it to the Word Seeker.
- That Word Seeker taps the piece in a letter zone on the board and asks: "Does this piece go here?"
- The Puzzle Maker replies "Yes!" or "No!".
- If NO: The Word Seeker covers the symbol of the letter piece in this letter zone with a NO-token. Then the same Seeker must try to place the letter piece in another zone until they get a "Yes!". They may choose any letter zone where the piece has not been rejected.
- If YES: The Seeker places the letter piece in its correct letter zone.
- If there are still more than 3 pieces left hidden, start the next turn. If not, the Bonus Mode starts.
As the round progresses, the Seekers will start to see the word form before their eyes. But the Puzzle Maker will get a point for each placed NO-token.
Bonus Mode
The Puzzle Maker announces the start of Bonus Mode when a Word Seeker correctly places a letter piece, and there are only 3 letter pieces left in the secret compartment.
These last 3 pieces are not handed out until the Word Seeker whose turn it is asks for a letter piece. Now, each time a Word Seeker asks for a Letter Piece, they must give the Puzzle Maker a 2 point Bonus Token from the board.
Guessing
At any time during the round, any Word Seeker can try to guess the secret word. To do so, the Word Seeker gives one guess token to the Puzzle Maker and calls out their guess and spells the word.
- Wrong Guess: Play continues for the current Word Seeker. If a Seeker has made 3 wrong guesses, they are out for this round. (If they had an unplaced letter piece, the next Word Seeker must guess its location.)
- Right Guess: The word is revealed and the round ends. The next player clockwise is the new Puzzle Maker (until every player has been the Puzzle Maker).
End of a Round and Scoring
A round ends when the secret word is guessed or when all guess tokens have been used (or if all Word Seekers choose to not guess any more). In all cases, the Puzzle Maker reveals the word rack with the secret word to the Word Seekers.
Token values: Decipher Token 5 points; Bonus Token 2 points each; Guess Tokens 1 point each; NO-Token 1 point each.
All Word Seekers get points for:
- Each of their leftover guess tokens.
The Word Seeker who guessed the secret word gets additional points for:
- The Decipher token.
- Each bonus token still on the board.
The Puzzle Maker gets points for:
- Each NO-token on the board.
- Each bonus token received for the last 3 pieces.
- Each guess token received for a guess.
- If the secret word wasn't guessed: the Decipher token.
Players' scores and the secret word are noted on the scoresheet. Note: You can use each page of the sheet for 2 games. Write down the players' names in turn order, beginning with the first puzzle maker. One column is for the secret words, and the totals of the players are kept in the point fields. The grey background of the point field shows which secret word belongs to which player.
Example
Tina guessed the word. She gets 5 points for the Decipher token, 4 points for two leftover bonus tokens and 1 point for one leftover guess token. Ben gets 2 points for two leftover guess tokens. Lee's word as Puzzle Maker was PANDA. Lee gets 3 points for 3 NO-tokens on the board, 2 points for one bonus token and 3 points for three used guess tokens.
If the next player hasn't been Puzzle Maker yet, return all letter pieces and tiles before that player takes the Puzzle Maker role and creates their secret word.
End of Game
The game ends after each player has been Puzzle Maker once. In a two player game each player is Puzzle Maker twice. Add up the totals for each player on the scoresheet.
The player with the most points wins the game. Tied players share the win.