Décorum
Décorum Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Quickstart Guide
This one-page summary appears on its own insert card at the front of the box; the full rules follow it below.
Overview
Décorum is a cooperative, hidden information game where you and your housemates share the same objective: decorate your home in a way that makes you all happy. The problem is, different things make each of you happy and nobody says exactly what they need. Can you find a happy compromise, or is it time to move out?!
Game Setup
- Put the House Board in the center of the table with the round track above (pick the side with your player count) and 3 heart tokens (for 2-players) or 5 heart tokens (for 3/4-players) to the left of the board, face-up. Place the round marker on the 1 space.
- Put the Token Board near the house board with all the object tokens on it and wall color tokens above.
Scenario Setup
- Pick a scenario envelope, take out all the cards face down.
- Give 1 big conditions card to each player. In a 3/4-player game, give each player their little conditions cards, too. In a 3-player game, distribute the red little conditions card to each player as listed on the card back.
- Set up the house board as shown on the setup card.
- Gameplay starts with player one.
Gameplay - Player Turns
- Action: On your turn, make a single change to the house. Your options are: a. Add an object to an empty slot b. Remove an object c. Swap an object for one of the same type d. Paint a Room e. Pass - No change to the house, but only if you're fulfilled
- Fulfillment Check: If all your conditions are met, say "I'm fulfilled"
- Comment: Each other player then responds to the change with a positive, negative or neutral response (examples: "I love it", "I hate it", "That's fine, I don't care")
- The next player in clockwise order takes their turn
Gameplay - Rounds
- When all players have taken 1 turn, move the round marker to the right 1 space.
- At the end of rounds 15, 20 and 25 in a 2-player game players now have a Heart-to-Heart. At the end of every 5 rounds in a 3/4-player game players now have a House Meeting.
- Instead, if there are no heart tokens remaining face-up, it's the end of the game.
Heart-to-Heart (2-Players)
- One player chooses one of their conditions to share, reading it aloud.
- The other player chooses one of their conditions to share, reading it aloud.
- Flip a heart token face-down and place it to the right of the house board.
- If this was the first Heart-to-Heart, move the round marker back to the 1 space.
House Meeting (3/4-Players)
- Each player states how they're feeling about the house so far (example: "We're getting close" or "Harry is ruining everything").
- Each player chooses one of their small conditions cards to share with any other player.
- Flip a heart token face-down and place it to the right of the house board.
- Move the round marker back to the 1 space.
Feeling Stuck? Before the first Heart-to-Heart / House Meeting, players may agree to skip ahead and have the first one early.
End of Game (Quickstart Summary)
The game ends if every player is fulfilled or at the end of the last round (with no heart tokens remaining). If every condition is met, you win!
Scoring (Quickstart Summary)
Score 3 points for every condition that was met. If all the conditions were met, score an additional 2 points for each remaining heart token.
Let us teach you how to play! Watch our how to play video at: floodgate.games/decorum
Before You Start
Décorum is played slightly differently between 2 players and 3-4 players. The 2-player game is a campaign of 20 scenarios meant to be played in order. For 3-4 players, there are 10 standalone scenarios that can be played in any order, with varying difficulty. When playing a 3-4 player game with players who have not played before, we recommend choosing a scenario with an easier difficulty, as indicated on the scenario envelope.
We'll explain the 2-player game first. You can find the differences for the 3- or 4-player game toward the end of the rule book.
Let us teach you how to play! Watch our how to play video at: floodgate.games/decorum
About the House
It's best to know a little bit about the house and what goes in it before getting things set up:
The house is made up of 4 rooms (bathroom, bedroom, living room, kitchen). Each room will always have a wall color (red, yellow, blue, or green) and can hold up to 3 objects—1 of each type.
About the Objects
There are 3 different types of objects: wall hangings, lamps, and curios. Objects come in 4 different colors (red, yellow, blue, and green) and 4 different styles (modern, antique, retro, unusual). However, not every object type comes in every color/style combination—in fact, there are only 12 different combinations! More details on all of this later.
Game Setup
Setup the game by following these steps:
- Place the house board and object board such that both players can reach them.
- Set the round track above the house with the round marker on the 1 space. Place 3 heart tokens face up (showing the "heart" side) to the left of it and return the remaining heart tokens to the box (they're not used in a 2-player game).
- Put all the object tokens on the object board in the spots that match their type and style (4 tokens per spot). Look for the matching slot and column labels.
- Place the wall color tokens near the object board.
- Return the roommate tokens to the box—they're not used in a 2-player game.
Scenario Setup
Each time you play Décorum, you'll need to pick a scenario to play. We recommend playing the 2-player scenarios in order, starting with Scenario 1 - Welcome Home.
Each scenario includes the following:
- 1 setup card that shows you how to set up the house board
- 2 conditions cards, one for each player, that shows how they want to decorate the house—These are kept face-down for now
- Possibly a surprise or two, revealed in later scenarios
To Set Up a Scenario
- Carefully take all of the cards out of the scenario envelope, keeping them face-down.
- Reveal the setup card to both players. Feel free to have a player read the story aloud now!
- Place wall color tokens in the wall color slots for each of the 4 rooms on the house board, matching the colors of each room as indicated on the setup card.
- Place object tokens from the object board into object slots in each of the 4 rooms on the house board, matching the specific objects in each room as indicated on the setup card. Some object slots may be left empty during setup.
- Give each player a face-down conditions card. Each player can look at their own card, but keep it secret from the other player. Feel free to have each player introduce their character, and read their story aloud now.
IMPORTANT: Keep your conditions a secret… for now.
About the House and Objects (Detail)
This is what your house looks like: it has 4 rooms—the bathroom, the bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen.
Each of these rooms has 4 home decor features you can change: They are the wall color, the lamp, the wall hanging, and the curio.
Note: You may know curios better as trinkets, knick knacks, tchotchkes, or bric-a-brac.
The lamp, wall hanging, and curio slots you can see in each room are called "object slots." The rectangular slot at the top of each room is the "wall color slot." If there is nothing in an object slot, it's considered an empty slot.
Each of these features (both objects and wall colors are features) comes in 4 colors, which are considered either "warm" or "cool": red, yellow ("warm" colors), green, and blue ("cool" colors).
In addition to their colors, all objects (lamps, wall hangings, and curios, but not wall color) come in four styles: modern, antique, retro, and unusual. Every type of object has both a color and a style. There are 12 combinations:
| Wall Hangings | Curios | Lamps |
|---|---|---|
| Modern Red | Modern Green | Modern Blue |
| Antique Green | Antique Blue | Antique Yellow |
| Retro Blue | Retro Yellow | Retro Red |
| Unusual Yellow | Unusual Red | Unusual Green |
As you may have noticed, every object is available in all four colors and all four styles, but not every style is available in every color. There are no "red antiques" for example.
The object board serves as a reference to help you keep track.
Keep in mind that wall color works a little differently from objects. While every object has both a style and a color, wall color only has a color.
Note: Even though each of the tokens has different art, all tokens with the same type / color / style combination are considered identical.
Conditions
During setup, you and your partner each received a list of 3 to 5 conditions which describe the way you want the house to be decorated. These conditions are your mutual victory conditions: you will both win if you both achieve all of the conditions listed on your cards. Each of these conditions will demand certain decor requirements. There are a wide variety of different conditions; here's a few examples of what you might see:
-
They could be positive: "The house must contain a lamp"
-
They could be negative: "The house must not contain a lamp"
-
They could reference specific rooms: "The kitchen must contain a lamp"
-
They could reference the floors or sides of the house: "The upstairs must contain a lamp" or "The right side must not contain a curio"
-
They could reference specific objects: "The bathroom must contain a yellow antique lamp"
-
They could reference wall color: "The downstairs must not contain any rooms painted green"
-
They could reference object colors: "The living room must contain a yellow object"
-
They could reference feature colors: "The upstairs must not contain the color blue (as objects and/or wall colors)"
-
They could reference color temperature: "The upstairs must not contain any warm colors (as objects and/or wall color)"
NOTE: red and yellow are "warm colors", green and blue are "cool colors"
-
They could reference styles: "The kitchen must contain an antique object"
-
They could reference quantities: "The house must contain at least 2 wall hangings"
-
They could also reference… many other things, we'll introduce more in the scenarios as you play!
Remember: You and your partner will have different conditions. In order to win, you and your partner must successfully fulfill all of the decor requirements specified on your condition cards.
Note: Kindly ignore the little touches of color on the house board, they don't count for conditions.
Game Overview
The game is played over several rounds. During every round, each player will take 1 turn (consisting of an Action, Fulfillment Check and a Comment). Then the round marker moves one space on the round track. After the first 15, 20 and 25 rounds, players will have a Heart-to-Heart where they share 1 of their conditions with their partner. The game ends in 1 of 2 ways: if both players, having met all their conditions, are each "fulfilled"; or after 30 rounds. The scenario is scored by how well the players met their conditions (more is better), and how quickly they did so (sooner is better).
Playing a Round
Each round is played by following these steps, beginning with Player one:
- Player one performs an action, then checks for fulfillment. Player two makes a comment. If both players are fulfilled, the game ends.
- Player two performs an action, then checks for fulfillment. Player one makes a comment. If both players are fulfilled, the game ends.
- Move the round marker 1 space on the round track. However, there might be a Heart-to-Heart opportunity or the end of the game trigger before continuing to the next round: a. If there has not been a Heart-to-Heart yet and the round marker is on the space marked 15, you must have a Heart-to-Heart. b. If there has been 1 or more Heart-to-Hearts and the round marker is on the space marked 5 or 10, you must have a Heart-to-Heart. c. If the round marker is on the space marked 15 and there are no heart tokens remaining, it's the end of the game instead.
Note: As a one-time exception before the first Heart-to-Heart, players may agree to skip ahead and have their first one early.
Player Turns
During their turn, each player Performs an Action, then Makes a Fulfillment Check, and finally their partner makes a Comment: 1 Action, 2 Fulfillment Check, 3 Comment.
Perform an Action
During your turn, you will perform 1 action, chosen from the following:
1. Add an Object
Add one object token (lamp, curio, or wall hanging) from the object board to an empty object slot.
Example: You can add a red lamp to the bathroom if it doesn't already have a lamp in the lamp slot.
2. Remove an Object
Remove one object token (lamp, curio, or wall hanging) from the house board and place it on the object board.
Example: Remove the antique wall hanging from the bathroom.
3. Style or Color Swap
If there is already an object of the type (lamp, curio, or wall hanging) you want in the house, but it isn't the style or color you want, you can "swap" that object for an object of the same type from the object board, returning the object that was there to the object board. You may not swap objects between two rooms with this action.
Example: If there is a modern curio (which is green) in the bathroom, but you need it to be yellow and/or retro instead, then you can swap the modern curio out and put a retro curio in its place.
4. Paint a Wall
Remove the wall color token from one room and put a new wall color token in its place from the supply. You may not swap the color of two rooms with this action.
Note: Walls always have a color.
5. Pass
You may take no action at all. This may only be done when all of your conditions are fulfilled.
IMPORTANT: You cannot remove an object and add a different type of object on the same turn.
Example: You can't remove a modern lamp from the bathroom and add a modern wall hanging. Instead, you would have to either remove the lamp and then add the wall hanging on your next turn, or add the wall hanging and then remove the lamp on your next turn.
Note: When you perform an action, it does not always have to work toward your conditions... sometimes you might need to make a change out of your favor to try something different.
Fulfillment Check
After Performing an Action, if all of the conditions on your own conditions card are met, you can tell your partner you are "fulfilled." If one player says that they are "fulfilled," and the other player can confirm that they are also "fulfilled," you have won the game—proceed to Scoring!
Comment From Your Partner
After you perform your action, your partner will then comment on the change you just made. They can choose one of the following types of responses:
- Positive: "I love it!" / "That makes me happy." / "I was hoping you'd bring that back!"
- Negative: "I hate it!" / "That's the worst." / "But that was my favorite..."
- Neutral: "I'm neutral to it." / "I don't really care about that." / "Meh."
Above are just a few examples, feel free to communicate your comment however you want—and using whatever language you want. Just be sure you don't tell your partner what your conditions are! You're also free to use these responses as you wish… for example, if your partner makes a change that conflicts with your conditions, but you're willing to work around it, you might want to respond with something like "I'm ok with that," or "I can work with that."
IMPORTANT: When we say no other communication, we mean it!
Except for your "positive," "negative," or "neutral" reactions, both players must be very careful not to give any "hints." Be careful not to react to your partner's actions too obviously, make your own moves too suggestively, or recite your moves in such a way that you inadvertently give away information. You should even watch your tone of voice—whenever you can, that is!
Remember: You're not trying to give away your conditions. You don't want to tell your partner what you want—you want them to figure it out on their own. After all, they should just know you, you know?
Be sure to give a comment at the end of each turn—it's very important!
End of Round & Heart-to-Hearts
Move the Round Marker
After player two finishes their turn, move the round marker up one space on the round track. This round may have a Heart-to-Heart at the end, or it may trigger the end of the game. If not, continue on with player one's next turn.
The Heart-to-Heart
Three times during the game, you will have an opportunity for a Heart-to-Heart where each player shares one of their conditions with each other.
The first time the round marker reaches the space marked 15 you and your partner must have a Heart-to-Heart at the end of the round (after player two's turn, but before the next round begins).
To have a Heart-to-Heart:
- You and your partner both tell each other 1 of your conditions, reading it aloud. You're free to decide the sharing order, and the second person can change which condition they were going to share after hearing what the first person shared. Hopefully, this will really help solve the puzzle!
- Take 1 heart token from the left side of the round track, flip it face-down, and place it to the right of the round track, showing the "X" side.
- If this was your first Heart-to-Heart, move the round marker to the 1 space on the round track.
- Continue to the next round as normal.
After the first Heart-to-Heart, you'll have 2 more—1 after 5 more rounds and another 5 rounds after that—for a total of 3. Then, there will be 5 final rounds before the game ends, for a total of 30 rounds at most. There is no Heart-to-Heart after the final round.
What if we feel stuck?
Before your first Heart-to-Heart, you and your partner can agree to skip ahead to the 15th round and have the first one early. Keep in mind, this one-time exception will leave you with fewer rounds to try to win the scenario!
What about hints?
A key to success in Décorum is making compromises, not necessarily trying to guess exactly what your partner wants. If your group finds the communication restrictions to be too constraining, you may be tempted to give each other hints. Just be aware if you do, it's now up to your group to determine how much of a hint is too much.
Should you decide to enter the murky waters of giving hints, be ready for misunderstandings, the potential for more confusion, and possibly giving away the whole puzzle by mistake -- don't say we didn't warn you! Remember, the most important part of playing Décorum is having fun.
Example: Saying "I liked it better before" could be interpreted as liking the location, when what you really liked was the color.
Ending the Game
The game can end in 1 of 2 ways:
- If both you and your partner are fulfilled. Remember: A fulfillment check happens during each turn.
- After 30 rounds—if the round marker would move off the space marked 15 on the round track and there are no more heart tokens remaining on the left side of the track.
You and your partner can reveal your conditions cards at this time. Double-check each of your conditions one last time by reading each condition aloud and pointing out how the current state of the home decor fulfills them. If both you and your partner's conditions have all been fulfilled, then congratulations: you've won this scenario of Décorum!
Scoring
If you'd like to know how well you and your partner did, you can check your score as follows:
- Gain 3 points for every condition that was met from both players' condition cards.
- If every condition was met, you also gain 2 points for every heart token on the left side of the round track.
Note: Winning sooner gives you a bigger bonus, but only if every condition is fulfilled!
Note: Each condition includes all the text next to each bullet on your card, even if it has multiple clauses or considerations.
The highest score for a 10-condition scenario is 36—how did you do?
Continuing the 2-Player Campaign
We highly recommend playing the 2-player scenarios in numerical order. You'll have a chance to follow several interweaving stories, the conditions will increase in difficulty, and a few surprises will be introduced along the way. Have fun!
Be sure to put all the cards back into the matching scenario envelope when you're done, too.
Note: You do not need to complete the 2-player campaign in order to play the 3- and 4-player scenarios.
3- and 4-Player Rules
3- and 4-player games of Décorum are very similar to 2-player with only a couple small differences. Most importantly, these are only played using the 3- or 4-player scenarios. For your first game, we suggest you play the scenario Three's a Crowd. The difficulty of each scenario is indicated by the stars on the envelope, but they may be played in any order.
Setup
Follow the 2-player setup with the following changes:
-
Flip the round track to the 4-player side.
-
Place all 5 heart tokens to the left of the round track.
-
Give each player all of the cards of their color. Each player will have 1 big card and 3 small cards.
In a 3-player game, the 4th players' small cards are distributed to the 3 players. It is very important to give each card only to the specific player indicated on the back.
The condition on this card must also be met as if it was on that players' big card.
Roommate Scenarios
Some of the 3- and 4-player scenarios include the roommate tokens. As shown on the setup card, you'll use the back side of the house board for these games (the upper left room is a bedroom instead of a bathroom, there is still another bedroom upstairs, and a living room and kitchen downstairs) and you'll start with each player's token in one of the bedrooms.
Some conditions might refer to "your room", which refers to the room with the roommate token that matches your player color and number.
In a 3-player game, the 4th player token is not used—set it aside and ignore it on the setup card.
Gameplay
Gameplay is very similar to a 2-player game with the following changes:
- After someone performs an action, any player who wants to may comment on the change in any order. You don't have to go around in a circle making comments if you don't want to.
- The Heart-to-Heart is instead called a House Meeting.
- There are 5 opportunities for House Meetings instead of 3.
- You no longer wait until the round marker reaches the 15 space for the first House Meeting. Instead, you must have a House Meeting every time the round marker reaches the 5 space. If everyone agrees to, you may still skip ahead and hold your first house meeting early.
- If the scenario you're playing uses roommate tokens, there is now a new action available.
Roommate Swap: You may move your own token (no one else's) to the other bedroom. If that room already has 2 occupants, you must kick 1 of them out to the room you just left and take their place. You may choose which player to kick out. If there is only 1 occupant in the room (only possible in a 3-player game), you may move into the room without kicking anyone out, or you can kick them out and into the other room if you want.
House Meeting
A House Meeting is similar to a Heart-to-Heart, with a few changes. During a House Meeting:
- Everyone first states how they are feeling about the house overall. For example: "I feel like we are getting close," or "Harry is ruining everything."
- Then, each player picks 1 housemate to share 1 of their conditions with: give that player the small card with the condition you'd like to share on it (keep it secret from other players). In a 3-player game, you can share the 4th player's (red) card.
Just because someone chose to share with you, doesn't mean you have to choose them back.
Example: Charlie shares a condition with Harry, Harry shares with Drew, and then Drew shares back with Harry. Harry now knows about 2 new conditions but Charlie has seen no new conditions.
At any later House Meeting, players may take back the small cards they shared earlier. They can then share those conditions with a different player during that House Meeting.
Note: You can never share a rule that wasn't originally yours (one from your big card). In a 3-player game, you can share the condition that's on the 4th player's small card, but you're still the one trying to meet that condition and can ask for it back at any time.
Once everyone has shared, remember to flip over one of the heart tokens and move it to the right side of the round track, and move the round marker back to the 1 space. Then begin a new round, starting with player one.
Ending the Game (3-/4-Player)
Similar to the 2-player game, the game can end in 1 of 2 ways:
- If all players are fulfilled.
- If the round marker would move off the 5 space on the round track and there are no more heart tokens remaining on the left side of the track.
Everyone reveals their conditions cards at this time. If all of everyone's conditions have all been fulfilled, then congratulations: you've won this scenario of Décorum!
Scoring (3-/4-Player)
Scoring is the same as the 2-player game, with a maximum (but very unlikely) score of 46 (36 points for meeting all conditions plus 10 points for winning in fewer than 5 rounds).
Glossary
Objects — Lamps, curios, or wall hangings
Colors — red, blue, green, or yellow
Styles — Modern, Antique, Retro, or Unusual
Warm Colors — yellow and red
Cool Colors — blue and green
Feature — Object or paint color
Upstairs — Bedroom and bathroom (or bedroom in 3-4P games)
Downstairs — Kitchen and living room
Left Side — Bathroom and living room
Right Side — Kitchen and Bedroom
Identical — Two or more objects with the same color, type, and style (not necessarily the same illustration)
Specific Object — Example: An unusual, yellow wall hanging
Empty Slot — An object slot on the house board with nothing in it
And/Or — One thing, or the other thing, or both things. Example: The condition "The kitchen must contain blue (as objects and/or wall color)" would be met if the kitchen has a blue curio (with red wall color), blue wall color (and no blue objects), or both a blue curio and blue wall color.
Leftmost/Rightmost Object — The object closest to the left/right wall of the room, ignoring empty slots.
Most/Least Common — A trait that must appear more/less than any other trait of the same type. Example: In a room with yellow wall, a yellow lamp, red curio and blue wall hanging, yellow is the most common color.
Inseparable — When 2 features are inseparable, they must not appear in a room without each other. Example: If blue objects and empty slots are inseparable, and the room contains a blue object, then it must also contain an empty slot. If the room contains an empty slot, then it must contain a blue object. There can be more than one of an inseparable feature in a room, as long as at least 1 of the other feature is present (ex. 2 blue objects in a room with 1 empty slot).
Credits
Game Design: Charlie Mackin, Harry Mackin, Drew Tenenbaum
Visual Design: KOMBOH / Michael Mateyko
Development: Ben Harkins
Playtesting: Cody Narveson, Jenny Ackerson, Jordan Manikowski, Jason Dafnis, Seth Zarate, Gretchen Buechler, Kelsey Carlson, Kyle Olson, Alyssa Olson, Aaron Grossman, Diana Elhard, Anna Miller, Grant Zoch, Ellen Aster, Eric Leith, Nicholas Leeman, Meghan Wolff, Maria Bartholdi, Bradley Machov, Emily Townswick, Katie Hawkinson, Erik Nystul, Sam Weinzierl, Lucas Lorenz, Emily Csuy, Alex Larson, Colleen Somerville, Emily Tinawi-Harkins, Abby Marta, Michael Guigliano, Rich Gain, Ryan Bruns, Ian Birdsall, Brett Mowers, Jason Engle, Jocelyn Chou, Jaye R, Donnie Coleman, Corey Andalora, Holly Novicelli aka GameGoddess, Jesse Hickle, Kristi Davis, Janis "Ham" Vasquez, Kelly Jean Miller, Marissa Robinson, Chuck Hurd, Raven Rurek, CBrucer, TJackson, Indiecade 2019 attendees, Protospiel 2020 attendees, and GLITCH Minneapolis Playtesters
© 2022 Floodgate Games, LLC. All rights reserved. Floodgate Games - 8014 Highway 55 - #501, Golden Valley, MN 55427 - United States
UK Importer: Asmodee UK - 6 Waterbrook Road, Alton, GU34 2UD, UK
EU Importer: Asmodee Nordics - Valseholmen 1, 2650 Hvidovre - Denmark