Knee Jerk Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How To Play
• In The Box
• Alternate Ways To Play
  • The Perfect Beginning (4 to 8 players)
  • Friendly Feud (5+ players)
  • Around The World (7 or 9 players)

How To Play

1. The player wearing the brightest clothing hosts the first game. This player hosts the whole game. Shuffle the deck and place it facedown in front of the host player.

2. The host draws 2 cards and places them face-up in front of him/her. (See Figure A)

3. The host draws 3 cards from the deck as his/her hand.

4. The host chooses one card from his/her hand and places it to the right of the face-up cards. (See Figure B)

5. The host reads across the 3 connected cards aloud, for example: "I Feel Panicked At The Beach Because I Saw..."

6. Simultaneously, all other players call out made up endings to the scene. Players must wait for the host to finish reading the scene before they offer answers.

7. The host awards one point to the player who answered first by giving that player the LEFT-MOST card. (See Figure C)

   • If multiple players answer within a few seconds, the host chooses his/her favorite.
   • If an answer doesn't make sense, the host may deny it. He/she must immediately tell the other players why it was denied.

8. The host draws a new card from the deck and then repeats from Step 4 until one player wins:

   • 4 to 5 players = 4 points to win
   • 6 to 8 players = 3 points to win

9. The winner of the game becomes the host of the next game.

In The Box

Knee Jerk includes 55 Scene Cards, 1 Rules Sheet and 1 Ultra-Cool Tuck Box.

Alternate Ways To Play

The Perfect Beginning (4 to 8 players)

In The Perfect Beginning, the host creates the end of a situation, and the non-host players create the beginning using cards in their hands. To set up, deal 2 cards face-up as normal. Deal a 5-card hand to each player. The host reads the connected Location (blue) and Action (orange) from the face-up cards, and then makes up an ending. Each non-host player picks a card from his/her hand to use as the Feeling (green) part of the situation, and hands it facedown to the host. Shuffle all cards submitted. Reveal each card and read it aloud in combination with the original 2 face-up cards. The host chooses his/her favorite card and keeps it on the table as the leftmost card of the situation. The player who submitted that card receives the rightmost card as a point. Discard all cards that were denied. All players draw back up to 5 cards. The player to the left of the host becomes the new host. Repeat this cycle until one player wins by reaching 3 points (6 to 8 players) or 4 points (4 to 5 players).

Friendly Feud (5+ players)

In Friendly Feud, team members collaborate to create endings. Set up normally. Divide the non-host players into two teams and play as normal. However, instead of players answering as fast as possible, team members quietly discuss possible endings. Then, once both teams have decided on the best ending, each team takes a turn to read the full situation aloud with their new made up ending. (Alternate which team says its answer first each round.) The host awards a point to the team who said the best answer, and then draws a new card from the deck. Repeat this cycle until one team wins by reaching 4 points.

Around The World (7 or 9 players)

In Around The World, players from different teams face off against each other in one-to-one match-ups. Set up normally. Divide the non-host players into two teams. Line the teams up opposite each other so each player has one opponent. The two players at the start of the "line-up" play one round as normal. After the host awards a point, he/she draws a new card from the deck. Then, the next two opposing players compete, and so on. After all players have competed, all players on one team physically "slide down" one chair to create new player match-ups. Start play again at the beginning of the line-up. Repeat this cycle until one team wins by reaching 7 points.