Hot & Cold Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
• The Pair
  • Confirm a Temperature Card
    • Temperatures
  • The Clues
  • Tips
• The Detectives
  • Steal a Cold Card
  • Guessing a Secret Word
  • Clarifications
• End of Round and Scoring
• New Round
• End of the Game

Components

• 200 Secret Word cards (two words on each card)
• 30 Temperature cards: 10 Hot cards, 10 Warm cards, 10 Cold cards
• 1 Ice Cube card holder
• 1 confirmation board
• 80 Score tokens (50 value 1 and 30 value 5)
• 1 hourglass (90 seconds)

Setup

1. Create a face-down deck with the Secret Word cards.
2. Create a face-down deck with the Temperature cards.
3. Place the confirmation board, the card holder and the hourglass in the center of the table.
4. Place the game lid in the middle of the table so that all players have access to it. It will be used during the game.
5. Each player starts with 5 tokens (value 1) placed in front of them.
6. Put the rest of the tokens into the box lid forming a general supply.

How to Play

The two most warmed-up players sit side by side forming the starting pair. They will try to make each other guess as many Temperature cards as possible in 90 seconds by giving a clue related to their secret words (see "The Pair").

During the pair's turn, the other players take the role of the detectives. Their goal is to steal Cold cards and guess the pair's secret words (see "The Detectives").

Every time a new round starts, a new pair plays (in clockwise direction) until every player has been in a pair once with their neighbor on the right and once with their neighbor on the left.

A player can't play in a pair twice in a row during the first table round, except for 3-player games.

Example: Player A and player B form the first pair. Players C, D and E are the detectives. The following round, players C and D form the second pair. Players A, B and E are the detectives. Then players E and A form the third pair and so on. (Seating around the table: A, B, C, D, E.)

The Pair

The pair's goal is to confirm as many Temperature cards as possible by giving clues related to the secret word while, at the same time, preventing the detectives from stealing their Cold cards or guessing the secret word.

Draw a Secret Word card and place it in the card holder. Look at the secret word on the upper part of the card and make sure the detectives don't see it. If you don't like that word, you can agree with each other to use the word at the bottom of the card.

Shuffle the Temperature cards and separate them face down into two piles of the same size. Each member of the pair takes one pile.

Put the confirmation board between you. Here you will place the confirmed Temperature cards. When you are ready, turn the hourglass.

You have exactly 90 seconds to confirm as many Temperature cards as possible!

Confirm a Temperature Card

Temperatures

In order to make your partner guess your temperature, you will have to give a clue more or less related to your secret word.

• Hot: A clue that is very close to the secret word. Example: the clue "leaves" for the word "tree."
• Warm: A clue that is distantly related to the secret word. Example: the clue "paper" for the word "tree."
• Cold: A clue that has nothing to do with the secret word. Example: the clue "shoes" for the word "tree."

One of you draws a Temperature card without showing it to the detectives nor your teammate. Give a clue out loud that corresponds to your Temperature card, in regards to your secret word.

Example: Your secret word is "tree." You draw a Hot card and decide to give the clue "leaves."

Your teammate will try to guess the temperature by assessing how close (hot/warm) or far (cold) the clue is to the secret word.

Example: Your teammate considers that "leaves" is very close to the secret word "tree" and therefore says "hot."

• If the guess is correct, place the Temperature card face up on the confirmation board. You will score one point at the end of the round.
• If the guess is incorrect, discard the Temperature card face up on the table.

Now it's your partner's turn to make you guess their Temperature card and to quickly give a clue related to the secret word.

Continue alternating until the time ends.

The Clues

• It is not allowed to change a clue after announcing it.
• The clue must only be one word, with no additional information.
• The clue can be spelled or repeated if asked.
• The clue must refer to the meaning of the secret word.
• The clue cannot be a synonym of the secret word.
• The clue can't refer to the spelling, number of letters or pronunciation of the secret word.
• The clue must make use of information shared and understood by all players.
• It is not allowed to use the same clue more than once during the same round - even if the secret word has changed (see "Guessing a Secret Word").
• It is not allowed to use clues in a foreign language.
• It is not allowed to use the words hot, warm or cold as a clue.

Tips

• While a player thinks about the clue they want to give, their teammate can look at the next Temperature card and start thinking about their own clue in order to save time.
• Choose your clues wisely, since the associations are not always obvious.

Example: The clue "table" could be hot for the word "tree" (both are made of wood), but it could also be cold (it is not always made of wood).

The Detectives

As the pair tries to guess as many Temperature cards as possible, the detectives can score points by stealing Cold cards and guessing the pair's secret words.

Steal a Cold Card

If you are a detective and you think that the pair just gave a clue for a Cold card, you can try to steal that card by yelling "Cold!" and putting one score token (value 1) in the game lid.

• If you were right (and you were faster than the pair's guessing player and the other detectives): you take the Cold card and place it in front of you. It will be worth 2 points at the end of the round. The pair continues the round by drawing a new Temperature card.
• If you were wrong: the player with the Temperature card tells you so and your score token is lost. The pair's guessing player may still guess the Temperature card (hot or warm).

Example: The pair is playing with the word "tree." One of them draws a Warm card and gives the clue "paper." A detective puts a score token into the box and then yells "Cold!" Unfortunately, it's wrong, so their score token is lost.

Guessing a Secret Word

If you are a detective and you think you have guessed the pair's secret word, you can try to steal the card by putting one score token (value 1) in the game lid and saying the word.

• If you were right: you receive the Secret Word card and place it in front of you. It will be worth 4 points at the end of the round. The pair draws a new Secret Word card and continues the round with a new word and the remaining Temperature cards.
• If you were wrong: your score token is lost. The pair keeps playing with the same secret word.

Example: One of the pair's players gives the clue "forest" for a Hot card. One of the detectives connects it to "leaves," which was hot, and "paper," warm. They put a score token into the box, yell "tree" and, since they are right, they steal the Secret Word card and the pair has to draw a new card to continue.

Clarifications

• A detective without score tokens can't steal Cold cards nor guess the secret word. Use your tokens wisely!
• Players can at any time exchange 5 score tokens (value 1) for 1 score token (value 5).
• True synonyms of the secret word are considered a correct guess. Only the pair can decide if a word is a true synonym of the secret word. Example: "teacher" and "professor" may be considered as synonyms.
• The detectives must play fairly and not make the pair lose time in vain. If an interruption makes them lose too much time, one of the pair's players can stop the hourglass until the situation is resolved.

End of Round and Scoring

The round ends either when the time is over or when the pair finishes all their Temperature cards.

• The pair: The pair count their confirmed Temperature cards and score 1 point per card. They both take the corresponding score tokens.
• The detectives: Each detective individually scores 2 points per Cold card stolen and 4 points per Secret Word card. They separately take their individual score tokens.

New Round

After adding the scores, discard the Secret Word cards you used. Recreate a Temperature deck and shuffle it.

It is the next pair's turn to make each other guess the Temperature cards by using a new shared secret word.

End of the Game

The game ends when every player has been in a pair twice, once with their neighbor on the right and once with their neighbor on the left.

The player with the most points at the end of the game will be the winner.