Dream Team Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Spielziel (Goal of the Game)
• Material
• Spielvorbereitung (Setup)
• Spielablauf bei gerader Spieleranzahl (Course of Play with an Even Number of Players)
  • 1. Listen erstellen (Create the Lists)
  • 2. Wellenlänge messen (Measure the Wavelength)
  • Eine neue Runde beginnt (A New Round Begins)
  • Spielende und Gewinner (End of the Game and Winners)
  • So wird gesurft (How Surfing Works)
• Spielablauf bei ungerader Spieleranzahl (Course of Play with an Odd Number of Players)
• Was gilt, was nicht? (What Counts, and What Does Not?)

Spielziel (Goal of the Game)

Pairs form teams. A topic is chosen and off you go! While the sand timer runs, all players write down as many terms as possible that fit the topic. After two minutes the lists must be finished. Then it is checked which teams are on the same wavelength: the players name terms to their team partner that they assume the partner has on their list. For each match, the team surfs ahead together. Whoever is furthest ahead at the end is the Dream Team of the Day.

Material

• 70 cards with 210 topics
• 15 bonus markers in 5 colours
• 10 team stones in 5 colours
• 5 surfboards
• 1 scoring board
• 1 sand timer (running time 2 minutes)

The following rules apply to the game with an even number of players. Rules that differ for the game with an odd number of players (five, seven or nine players) are described afterwards.

Spielvorbereitung (Setup)

• Each player needs a pencil and paper (not included in the game).
• Each two players form a team together. They sit so that the same number of other players sit between them on the right as on the left (see the diagram, bottom left).
• Each team receives two team stones and one surfboard of the same colour. Both players place one stone in front of them to show who is playing with whom. The surfboard is placed next to the scoring board.
• Each team receives three bonus markers in the same colour. The older of the two team partners places them in front of them.

The player who explains the rules is the starting player. They shuffle all the cards and place them face down on the table as a deck. They set the sand timer in front of them.

Diagram caption: Seating order with 8 players (4 teams).

Spielablauf bei gerader Spieleranzahl (Course of Play with an Even Number of Players)

A round consists of two phases.

1. Listen erstellen (Create the Lists)

The starting player draws the top card from the deck, chooses one of the three topics listed on it, names it aloud and turns the sand timer over. Immediately, every player silently begins to write down, for themselves, as many terms as possible that fit the topic. (What kinds of terms may be written is stated on page 4.) Whoever sees that the sand has run out calls "Stopp!". Nobody may write anything more from that point on.

2. Wellenlänge messen (Measure the Wavelength)

In turn, it is checked whether the respective partners are on the same wavelength. To do this, the starting player first names a term that they assume their partner has written down. Important: whoever names a term does not have to have it on their own list.

The partner announces whether they have written the named term.

• If the partner has written the named term, the players of the other teams announce whether they have also written this term.

  Then the surfing takes place:

  • The surfboard of the active team is pulled 3 spaces forward on the scoring board if no player of another team has written this term.
  • It is pulled 1 space forward if players of other teams have also written this term (the surfboards of those teams stay where they are).

• If the partner has not written the named term, the surfboard is not moved. The team must give up one of its bonus markers (if it still has any) and place it next to the scoring board.

The named term is struck out by all players who have written it. It may not be named again by any team. If this happens by accident, the team concerned may name a different term.

Important: as long as the round is not finished, the teams that no longer have any bonus markers keep playing too. They also continue to surge forward on matches.

Then the left-hand neighbour of the starting player takes their turn and names a term to their partner. This continues in turn until only one team still has bonus markers. That team then surfs forward 3 spaces for each bonus marker it still has. This ends the round.

Eine neue Runde beginnt (A New Round Begins)

Each team receives its three bonus markers back. The role of starting player passes to the left-hand neighbour. This player draws a new card from the deck, names one of the topics, turns the sand timer over and so starts the next round.

Spielende und Gewinner (End of the Game and Winners)

The game ends once every player has been starting player once. The team that has surfed furthest on the same wavelength wins and is the Dream Team of the Day! There may be several winners.

So wird gesurft (How Surfing Works)

Whoever scores points moves their surfboard forward on the scoring board so that the tip of the surfboard points to the score reached. At first it covers the higher values from 31 to 60. Once a team has reached more than 30 points, it turns its surfboard over by 180 degrees, starts again at the lower end of the scoring board, and covers the values from 1 to 30 in turn.

The example on the left of the page shows Team Green with 17 points so far, while Team Red leads with 32 points.

Spielablauf bei ungerader Spieleranzahl (Course of Play with an Odd Number of Players)

The same rules apply for the game with five, seven or nine players, with the following differences:

• There is one Single-Spieler (single player). They sit at any place between the other players (see the diagram below).
• The Single-Spieler also places their own surfboard next to the scoring board at the start of the game and takes the three bonus markers and the two team stones of the same colour.
• The Single-Spieler also writes their own list for the current topic. They then name a player of their choice who is to be their Themenpartner (topic partner) for this topic. This topic partner receives one of the two team stones of the Single-Spieler, so that they have two stones of different colours in front of them.

When it is the topic partner's turn, they name a term. Then both the topic partner's team partner and the Single-Spieler check whether they have the named term on their respective lists. Whichever of the two has written the term moves their surfboard forward. Whichever of the two has not written it gives up one of their bonus markers (if they still have one).

When it is the Single-Spieler's turn, they choose any fellow player and name a term to them. This can be a different player each time, including their own topic partner.

If the named term is on that fellow player's list, only the Single-Spieler moves their surfboard forward – the fellow player does not. If the fellow player has not written the term, only the Single-Spieler has to give up a bonus marker (if they have one) – the fellow player does not.

Diagram caption: Seating order with an odd number of players: the teammates position themselves as in the game with an even number of players. The Single-Spieler takes any place between two other players.

Was gilt, was nicht? (What Counts, and What Does Not?)

1. Only nouns may be named. Adjectives, verbs and other word classes do not count.

2. Singular or plural, masculine or feminine forms count as the same term. Whether the partner has written "Kartoffel" or "Kartoffeln" – both count as the same term. "Prinz" or "Prinzessin" are also counted as the same term. The players strike all corresponding terms from their lists. They may not be named again.

3. Different spellings and spelling mistakes are ignored. "Tunnel" and "Tunell" count as the same term. Whoever writes "Mike" instead of "Mick" Jagger means the same person. "Birnenbaum" counts as "Birnbaum".

4. Synonyms and regional terms count as different terms. "Betrug", "Gaunerei", "Täuschung" or "Mogelei" count as different terms. "Frikadelle", "Fleischküchle", "Fleischpflanzerl" or "Bulette" count as different terms. If "Frikadelle" was named, only "Frikadelle" is struck out. The other terms may still be named afterwards.

   Tip: if you write several synonyms on your list, you can score matches several times over the course of the round.

5. Names of unique things and of people. The "synonym rule" (4.) does not apply here. Different designations that mean the same unique thing or the same person count as one term. This also includes generally well-known abbreviations. If "Big Apple" was said and the partner has written "New York", this counts as a match. The same applies, for example, to Ayers Rock / Uluru; Eiffelturm / Tour d'Eiffel; MoMa / Museum of Modern Art; Obama / Barack Obama; Vicco von Bülow / Loriot. The players strike all corresponding terms from their lists. They may not be named again.

6. Terms that do not fit the topic are not allowed. For example, "Hund" (dog), "Katze" (cat), "Maus" (mouse) or "Lottogewinn" (lottery win) are not typical for the topic "In Paris" and are in principle not allowed. However: if the team partners associate a shared experience with the named topic, the other players may also accept corresponding terms.

Important: in case of doubt, the majority of the other players always decides what counts and what does not count.