Disorder
Disorder Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Set Up
Choose a short game (50 points) or a longer game (100 points). Deal a hand of 7 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down in a Draw pile off to one side. Discards will be placed face up next to the Draw pile. When the Draw pile runs out, reshuffle the discards to replenish the deck. The youngest player goes first.
Play
On your turn you select one card from your hand and place it on the board. Pick a card from the deck and add it to your hand to replace the card you played. (At any time, if a player discovers they have less than 7 cards in their hand, they can draw cards so they have 7). The first card played can be on any space on the board. Thereafter a card can be played to the left or right of any cards already played. If needed, cards can be shifted along the board without changing the order. Cards can even be played off the board as if a space is there.
Players can choose to place a card face up or face down. A face up card shows the letter and its' point value. Cards played face down as a Disorder! card are worth 1 point. A card played face down is considered wild and can be used as any letter desired. Do not announce what letter the wild card is supposed to be, since the wild card can be any letter for each player.
IMPORTANT- The first three letters played (if face up) MUST clearly be part of a word. For example playing an X next to a Z ("XZ" or "ZX") is not legal, as that would not allow a real word to be built. A player must point out this situation when it occurs or the chance is lost. If the next player claims that you have played such a combination, but you believe you are creating a valid word, you can leave it as is. However, once the Challenge occurs, you must prove that you did indeed have a correct word with the first letters or YOU must take the points from the Challenge regardless of who lost it.
The Challenge
After the fourth card is laid on the board, any player on their turn can challenge the previous player INSTEAD of playing a card. Calling The Challenge ends the round and will force one of the two players in the challenge to collect the points. You challenge the previous player when you think they have completed spelling a word on their turn or if you think the word they are spelling is not a real word. That player must now say the word they are spelling. If the word is correctly spelled and unfinished, then you lose the challenge and must take chips worth the amount of points currently on the board. If a challenged player has misspelled their word, or has spelled a word that is already finished, then he loses the challenge and must take the chips for himself.
Example 1
- John has just laid the WILD card as the fourth card on the board. You challenge John thinking he has just spelled ZOOM, a word. However, John responds by saying he was using the wild card as a K looking to spell ZOOKEEPER. You lose the challenge (since ZOOK is not a finished word) and must take chips worth 15 points.
Example 2
- John has just laid the wild card. As the next player you challenge John asking what he is spelling. He replies LICENSE, the Wild card is an E. You counter saying that the E makes it spell LICE, a word. John loses the challenge and must take chips worth 10 points.
NOTE- had John said the wild card was an O and he was trying to spell licorice, then he would have won the challenge. So remember, you only get one chance to answer the challenge and if you pick wrong you lose the challenge.
After the Challenge
After the Challenge, the cards on the board are placed in the discard pile and the person who lost the challenge and collected chips starts the next word.
Special Rule
If you see on your turn that you cannot play a card without completing a word, you can opt to take the chips for the current points on the board without playing a card. Discard the cards from the board and play a card from your hand to start a new word.
Winning
First person to 50 or 100 points ends the game and the player with the least points wins. In the case of a tie, the tied players play a round to determine the final winner. If multiple people are tied, the tied players continue to play enough extra rounds to eliminate everyone until you have a final winner.
Optional Cards
Add these action cards to the deck for a little more DISORDER! When you play one of these cards, take the action described below, and put the action card on the discard pile.
- SQUEEZE- This card allows you to play a letter or wild card in between two existing letters. Shift the letters accordingly and place your card in the empty space.
- EXCHANGE- This card allows you to take one letter off the board into your hand and replace it with another letter or wild from your hand.
- SWITCH- This card allows you to switch the positions of any two Letter or WILD cards on the board.
- PASS- This card allows you to pass your turn to the next player. The next player CANNOT challenge you but he CAN challenge the last player who added a card to the board.
Types of Words Allowed
All words in a standard dictionary are allowed except for names of people or places. Players can opt to include names of people or places for an added challenge.