Freeze Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Props (Components)
• Behind the Scenes (Setup)
• The Performance
  • 1. Prelude: Choosing Performers and Scene
  • 2. Curtain Up: The Show
  • 3. The Curtain Falls: Guesses and Awarding of Points
  • 4. Encore! The Next Performance
• End of the Show
• Quick Rules: Game Flow
  • 1. Choosing Performers and Scene
  • 2. The Show
  • 3. Guesses and Awarding of Points
  • 4. The Next Performance

Props (Components)

• 1 Stage (box bottom with insert)
• 8 Performer cards (each shows an aspiring talent, once male, once female)
• 8 Stage cards (the front of each shows a performer in action; the back is the same on all)
• 8 Rank cards (2 each of the ranks from 1 = high to 4 = low)
• 36 Scene cards (each with four scenes in four languages)
• 16 Clips (to hold points and cards)
• 1 Sand timer (for 45 seconds of fame)

Behind the Scenes (Setup)

Place the stage on the table so that you can all see the stage itself and the box seats (the "Reserved" signs).

Each player chooses the name under which they want to conquer the theatre world. To do so, they pick a Performer card and take the two matching clips of the same colour. With one clip they attach the card to their clothing so that the female or the male side is clearly visible. The other clip they attach to the edge of the stage on the start space of the Star Scale.

As soon as all players have chosen a Performer card, find the matching Stage cards. Shuffle them and place them as a face-down pile in front of the stage.

Remaining Stage cards, Performer cards and clips are out of the game for this game session. Shuffle the Rank cards and the Scene cards separately and place them as face-down piles to the left and right of the stage. Finally, put the sand timer next to them.

The Performance

Each performance is divided into four acts:

1. Prelude: choosing performers and scene
2. Curtain up: the show
3. The curtain falls: guesses and awarding of points
4. Encore! The next performance

1. Prelude: Choosing Performers and Scene

• The performers: First you choose which four lucky players get onto the stage. Take the pile of Stage cards, draw the top four cards and slot them into the stage as shown.

• The audience: If you play with more than four players, the remaining players make themselves comfortable in the audience. To do so, lay their cards face up on the box seats in front of the stage as shown.

• The Rank cards: Each of the four performers now draws one Rank card from the face-down pile, looks at it secretly and sets it aside face down.

  Premiere? If you are playing Bühne frei! for the first time, use only the Rank cards with the light star (bottom right corner) for the first performance and sort out the others. This ensures that no rank occurs twice. As soon as you have got used to the game, you can start with all Rank cards.

• The scene: Agree beforehand whether, for the performances of this game session, you want to play the scenes marked A, B, C or D. The performers draw the top Scene card and look together at the corresponding scene in such a way that the spectators cannot see it. Then lay the card aside face down. Now the performers quickly, secretly and independently of each other think about which role in this scene might fit their drawn rank.

Which role fits which rank? In principle: let your imagination run free! To develop a feeling for it at first, here are a few suggestions:

• "On the airplane" - 1: pilot, 2: co-pilot, 3: stewardess, 4: passenger (with fear of flying ...).
• "At the circus" - 1: ringmaster, 2: knife thrower, 3: assistant, 4: "volunteer".
• "At the sea" - 1: lifeguard, 2: bather, 3: ice-cream seller, 4: pickpocket.

Of course you could just as well play the "voice from off-stage" (air traffic controller in the airplane scene), an animal (trained seal at the circus) or even an object (beach towel at the sea) ...

2. Curtain Up: The Show

• The four performers position themselves in the room so that the spectators can see them well. A spectator or performer calls "Bühne frei!", turns the sand timer over - and the show begins!
• The performers now try to play together in such a way that it is recognisable which scene they are playing and which rank they hold in it.
• Allowed: Almost everything is allowed (within the bounds of applicable law ...): speaking, moving, using objects, interacting, dancing, hopping, singing, etc.
• Forbidden: What the performers may not do: name their rank or the scene.
• As soon as the sand timer has run out, the show ends: the spectators call "Freeze!" and the performers freeze in their movement.

3. The Curtain Falls: Guesses and Awarding of Points

• Scene guess: As soon as the scene is "frozen" and the frenetic applause dies down, the audience discusses what it has actually just seen. Then it gives a joint guess of what the scene given on the Scene card is called. The audience of course does not have to be correct word for word, only in meaning. For a correct guess each player in the audience receives 1 point.

• Rank guess: Now it is about the performers' performance! Take the four Stage cards from the stage, shuffle them face down and draw one of them at random.

  The drawn performer now stands in the spotlight: all players except themselves (that is, all fellow players on stage and in the audience) now guess their rank. On the command "3, 2, 1: Guess!" all players point at the chosen performer with 1, 2, 3 or 4 fingers, depending on whether they think the performer played rank 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the scene. Now the performer reveals the secret and names their rank. Whoever guessed correctly receives 2 points; whoever was wrong gets nothing. The "guessed" performer receives 2 points if at least one player assessed them correctly. If all players were right, they receive 1 extra point for so much skill.

  (Shuffle and draw one of the four Stage cards: guess the rank of the drawn performer.)

• Said too much? Whoever revealed their rank or the scene before the guesses receives 1 minus point. You then have to forgo, where applicable, the scene guess or the guess of which rank this player held in the scene. After the guesses, of course, all performers may reveal their ranks ...

• Awarding points: Now mark your new score with the respective clips on the Star Scale. How many points there are for which guess is summarised again on the quick-reference page (see below).

4. Encore! The Next Performance

Just now a spectator, now already on the show stage: slot the cards from the audience onto the stage. If places on the stage are still free, shuffle the Stage cards of the previous performers face down and draw the corresponding number of cards, which you again slot onto the stage. The cards of the remaining players make themselves comfortable on the box seats again and are now the audience.

1. Cards from the audience onto the stage.
2. Shuffle the 4 Stage cards of the previous show and fill the remaining stage places with them.
3. Then lay out the remaining Stage cards as the new audience.

Now it counts for the new performers: shuffle all Rank cards and draw one each, take a new Scene card, turn the sand timer over and ... Bühne frei!

Note for 4 and 8 players:

• If you play with four players in front of empty stands, everyone always stays on stage and the scene guess is omitted. Alternatively, you can also play with 3 performers and one spectator each time - and then also with the scene guess.
• If you play with 8 players, shuffle the 8 Stage cards anew as soon as all players have been on stage once. This is the case after the second, fourth, etc. round. Then the players do not always stand on stage in the same constellation.

End of the Show

As soon as at least one player has collected 13 or more points on the Star Scale, the game ends. Whoever is furthest ahead now is the star of the evening! In case of a tie, several new stars twinkle in the stage sky.

Quick Rules: Game Flow

1. Choosing Performers and Scene

• Draw 4 Stage cards and slot them onto the stage. Lay the remaining cards at the box seats ("Reserved" signs).
• Each performer draws 1 Rank card.
• Performers draw the top Scene card and read the chosen scene. Secretly think up a role.

2. The Show

• Audience: turn the sand timer over and give the command "Bühne frei!".
• Performers have 45 seconds to play so that the scene and ranks become clear.
• As soon as the sand timer has run out, end the scene with the command "Freeze!".

3. Guesses and Awarding of Points

• The audience confers and jointly guesses the scene played (= scene guess).
• Shuffle the current Stage cards and draw one. On command everyone guesses the rank of the selected performer (= rank guess).
• Points awarded per player:
  • Scene guess (audience): 1 point
  • Rank guess, guessers: 2 points
  • Rank guess, guessed performer: 2 points (if guessed correctly by at least 1 player); 3 points (if guessed correctly by all players)
  • Revealing scene / rank: -1 point

4. The Next Performance

• Slot the Stage cards from the audience onto the stage.
• Shuffle the remaining Stage cards and use them (if necessary) first to fill the stage places, then lay out the rest at the box seats.