It's a Balloon!? Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Instructions
• Contents
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Scoring
• End of the Game
• Variant: Cooperative Game

Instructions

Permitted

• Circle the octopus.
• Encircle the shape of the star.
• Start at the top of the headphones and draw a half circle with its open side facing downwards just until you hit the umbrella.
• Draw a square with its edges touching headphones, octopus, camera and umbrella.
• Draw a half circle with its open side facing rightward.
• Draw many small lines from the circle facing all directions.
• Start just beneath the top end of the octopus and draw a triangle with its peak facing upward.

Prohibited

• Draw a wavy line through the umbrella.
• Draw an ellipse from the umbrella to the octopus.
• Draw a line of roughly 2cm just next to the octopus.
• Draw a cylinder in the middle of your board.
• Draw a hat. (Objects are generally not allowed.)
• Draw a smiley. (No objects allowed except for the preprinted symbols.)
• Start at the top third of the octopus and draw a rectangular triangle.

Words don't have to be guessed exactly. For example, when the word is ghost, specter would be correct as well. If the word we're looking for is toothbrush, then brush wouldn't be an acceptable guess, as it's too generic.

When in doubt, decide as a group whether the answer counts or not.

Contents

• 8 Drawing boards
• 8 Pens
• 1 Hourglass
• 1 golden bonus marker (big)
• 1 silver bonus marker (small)
• 156 Keyword cards with 312 words

Setup

1. Give a drawing board and a dry-erase pen to each player.
2. Shuffle the Keyword cards and form a facedown pile within reach of all players.
3. Put the hourglass and the two bonus markers in the middle of the table.
4. Only when playing with 3 players: Use only the silver bonus marker.

Gameplay

All players take their personal boards and keep it secret from the other players for the rest of the round.

Each personal board has a Victory points area at the top and a Your guess area at the bottom, with a grid of preprinted symbols in between.

The starting player draws 2 Keyword cards from the draw pile. Each card features two words: the first word is worth 1 point and the second is worth 2 points. Choose one of the 4 words available.

Flip over the hourglass to start the round. Draw the chosen word as accurate as possible while explaining every step to the other players.

Everyone else follows the instructions and makes their recordings on their tableau.

It is only allowed to use the following explanations:

• Simple forms such as lines, (half) circles, points etc.
• Directions such as left, right, up and down
• Explanations that follow the depicted symbols on your player board

Not allowed are length specifications (e.g. "a 3 cm long line"), complex shapes (e.g. "Cylinder", "house" or "zigzag line").

For example, it is possible to say the following:

"Start at the bottom right of the octopus and draw a line to the forefinger of the hand."

An overview with more examples is provided on the backside of this rulebook.

Whoever thinks he or she has guessed the word writes it on their personal tableau, puts it down face-down and takes the biggest bonus marker available (if there is one left). At this point you're no longer allowed to change your answer.

The golden marker scores 2 extra points, the silver one 1 point. But only if the word was guessed correctly.

Everyone else can listen to the explanation until the hourglass has run through. When the time is over there's a last chance for everyone who hasn't yet written an answer to note a word.

Scoring

Afterwards everyone reveals their tableau and reads out their answer aloud. Then the correct answer is revealed.

Everyone with the correct answer scores as follows:

• 1 point
• or 2 points when in possession of the silver points marker
• or 3 points when in possession of the golden points marker

Wrong answers never give any points!

The explaining player scores points for every correct answer: 1 or 2 points per correct answer depending on the point value of the word. The maximum number of points that can be scored this way is 6 points.

Victory points are tallied on your personal board in the designated area at the top.

Then return all bonus markers to the center of the table and continue playing with the next player clockwise drawing 2 cards and choosing a new word to explain: A new round begins.

Example: Karola, Claudio, Petra and Jana are playing It's a Balloon!? Jana has just explained and the others have guessed the following:

• Karola: Giraffe + golden marker
• Claudio: Elk + silver marker
• Petra: Giraffe

Giraffe was the correct word, therefore points are awarded as follows:

• Karola: 3 points (golden marker)
• Claudio: 0 points (wrong answer)
• Petra: 1 point

Giraffe is a 2 point word so Jana gets 2 points for every correct answer, a total of 4 points.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as every player has explained once (only when playing with 3 people, the game ends when all players have explained twice). Now compare your victory points to determine the winner. In case of a tie, tied players share the victory.

Variant: Cooperative Game

Bonus markers are not used in this variant. The rest of the setup is the same as in the base game. (Remember to play 2 complete cycles when playing with only 3 players.)

You all score together: 1 or 2 points (depending on the value of the chosen word) for every correct answer. The maximum number of 6 points doesn't apply in this variant.

At the end of the game, tally your points and compare with the following table to see how well you performed as a group.

3 players	4 players	5 players	6 players	7 players	8 players	Result
0-5	0-5	0-8	0-12	0-16	0-20	Well that was nothing but hot air.
6-10	6-10	9-16	13-24	17-32	21-40	Seems you run out of gas at some point during the game.
11-13	11-13	17-22	25-32	33-44	41-60	Great. You take it to the sky.
14-17	14-17