Inside the Box
Inside the Box Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Every round one of the players becomes the leader and finds out which package others have to find. After that they lay out category cards, hinting at what's in it.
The objective of the other players is to guess the package and place their token onto it. The closer the token is to the correct package — the more points the player gets.
The first player to get 25 points wins.
Contents
- Point tracker board
- 38 category cards
- 75 package cards
- 18 player tokens
- 6 point-tracker markers
- A pair of plus and minus cards
- 25 placement cards
- The rulebook you're reading right now
Game Setup
- A. Place the point tracker board at the center of the table.
- B. Shuffle the package cards. Lay out 25 cards into a 5x5 grid. This is the storage. Put the rest of the cards back in the box.
- C. Take the plus and minus cards. Place the minus card below the bottom left card of the storage and the plus card — below the bottom right card.
- D. Shuffle the category cards, stack them up into a pile and put it on the table face-down.
- E. Do the same with the placement cards.
- F. Give each player a marker and 3 tokens of the same color. The tokens go in front of the players, picture-side facing up. Place the markers at the 0 on the point tracker board.
- G. Appoint the first leader. Let it be the last person to have sent a package.
You can start playing now, reading the rest of the rules as you go along.
Gameplay
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The leader takes the top placement card and looks at it, not letting anyone else see. The checkmark shows the package others will have to find.
Example: Bobby takes the card and compares it to the storage. The card marks the octopus — that is the package others will have to find.
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Then the leader takes the top two category cards. He reads the first one out and places it below the storage, putting it closer to either the plus or the minus, depending on how well the package fits the category. Right after that the leader does the same with the second category card. Cards can be placed in one or several rows but it's best not to cover one card with another so that all the categories are visible at all times. When placing the cards, the leader can comment on their decision, without getting into too much detail.
Example: Bobby reads out the first category: «Can be a tattoo». Bobby comments: «Hmm, well, it's not too common, I guess, but I think there are tattoos like that out there». He places the card somewhere in the middle between the plus and the minus. He then reads out the second category: «Can be disassembled». You definitely can't disassemble an octopus so Bobby places this card right below the minus.
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All the players, except for the leader, take one of their tokens and place it onto the package that they think the leader is talking about. The tokens can be placed in one of three ways: Directly onto one of the cards, in-between 2 cards or in-between 4 cards (see more below, under "Ways to place a token"). Once you've placed a token onto the storage, you can't move it.
Note: if there is already a token on a card or in-between cards, you can't place another one in the same spot.
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When the players are done placing their tokens, the leader takes another category card from the top of the pile, reads it out and places it in-between the plus and minus. The players make their guesses again and place another one of the tokens each. Then the leader takes another category card from the top again. The players place their last remaining tokens.
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The leader reveals the placement card and shows which was the correct one.
Ways to Place a Token
- If you think you can guess the package and you are confident, place the token directly at the center of the card. This way is the riskiest but if you guess correctly — you will get the maximum amount of points which is 4.
- A token can be placed in-between two cards, where their edges connect, either vertically or horizontally, or at the edge of the storage. You will get 2 points if one of these packages is the correct one.
- You can also place a token in-between four packages or at the corner of the storage. You will get 1 point if one of these packages is the correct one.
End of Game and Victory
Play until one or several players simultaneously get 25 points — that player or players become the winner.
Two-Player Game
Gameplay Overview
Every round, one of the players becomes the leader and the other becomes guesser. Both play as a team. The one guessing has 5 tokens – 5 attempt to guess the leader's package. A round is over when the package is guessed correctly (in this case the players gain 4 points) or the guessing player is out of tokens but fails to guess the correct package (in this case the player loses one of the tokens and therefore has one attempt fewer to guess for the rest of the game).
The goal of both players is to get 25 points before one of the players loses all of their tokens.
Set Up
Flip the tokens to the letter side. Give one player 5 blue tokens and the other – 5 red tokens. Place a marker of any color onto the 0 space on the point counter. Set up the rest of the game as usual.
Tip: If you want to make the game more challenging, give each player 4 tokens instead.
Gameplay
Play by the usual rules with the following changes.
After the leader reads out and places the first two category cards, the other player has to place their token onto a card they think is the correct one. In this version of the game, tokens can only be placed on the center of a card – you can only guess one package at a time.
If the guesser makes a mistake, the leader draws another category card and a new token is used to guess.
As soon as the guessing player places a token onto the correct package, the leader says "Correct" – and the round ends. Move the marker 4 spaces ahead.
If the player guessing has used up all their tokens and still couldn't guess correctly, the round ends: the player loses one token (putting it back into the box) – there will be fewer attempts in the following rounds. The marker doesn't move.
Before beginning the next round, the player collects their tokens off of the cards and then the players switch roles: the guesser becomes the leader and the leader becomes the guesser.
Example: the correct package is the seal. The leader places the first two category cards: "Useful on a deserted island" and "Sold at the supermarket". The guesser assumes it's the parrot and places a token onto the corresponding card. The player is wrong so the leader draws another category card: "Dangerous to your health". The guesser places a token onto the horse card. Wrong again, so the leader draws a new card: "Can be a tattoo". Now the player guessing is certain that the seal is correct so they place a token onto a corresponding card. "Correct!" – declares the leader. The marker is moved 4 spaces ahead and the round ends.
End of Game
The game ends in one of two cases:
- The marker passes 25 on the point tracker – congratulations, you've won! Great teamwork!
- One of the players loses their last token – unfortunately you lost. Give it another go to learn to understand each other a bit better.
Teamplay
During setup flip the player tokens to the letter side and split up into two teams (the teams don't have to be even): blue and red. Place 2 markers of respective colors onto the point tracker board. Give each team 9 tokens of their color: 4 for the leader and 5 for the players.
Each team chooses their leader and each of them takes a placement card. Play as usual but both teams act at the same time, so the sooner the players place their tokens — the better. If a spot on the storage is taken by a token of one team, the other team can't place their token on it. The leaders put their team's tokens onto their category cards so they don't get mixed.
At the end of the round, the leaders wait for both teams to place their last remaining tokens and only then they reveal the correct packages. Then add up all of either team's points and move the markers accordingly. The leader doesn't get any points. Appoint a new leader and play the next round. The first team to get 25 points wins.