Less Is More Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Idea
• Game Material
• Setup
• Gameplay
• End of the Game

Game Idea

In every round one player becomes the Guesser. The other players receive a term, which they now try to describe using as few letters as possible. For example, to explain "Banktresor" (bank safe), players could write "Geldhaus Schrank sicher". Or perhaps just "Geld Schrnk sichr", because players may leave letters out of words. The Guesser tries to guess the term with the help of the clues. The player who needs the fewest letters and at the same time is "understood" by the Guesser receives points for it together with the Guesser. Whoever has the most points at the end wins the game.

Game Material

• 102 term cards
• 6 writing boards
• 6 erasable pens
• 6 player cards
• 6 score markers
• 2 score cards +10

Setup

Each of you receives 1 score marker, 1 pen and, in the color of your choice: 1 player card and 1 writing board.

Place your player card in front of you with the "Less is More" side face up.

Put your score marker into your matching colored score track (on the start space 0) in the side wall of the box bottom.

The term cards are shuffled and placed as a stack for everyone. Since the cards are printed on both sides, only the terms on the underside, which are not visible, are used.

Place the 2 score cards +10 next to the game box.

Gameplay

1. The youngest player becomes the Guesser of the first round. The other players are the clue givers. In the next round, the next player in clockwise order becomes the Guesser.

2. The Guesser first decides on a difficulty level by naming the corresponding color or level: Green (easy), Yellow (medium) or Pink (difficult). The Guesser then draws a term card and shows it to the clue givers, without looking at the terms himself. Now all clue givers know which term they are to describe. The Guesser places the card face down in front of himself, with the shown side facing down.

3. Now all clue givers try, simultaneously, to describe the term. To do so, everyone writes one or more words on the larger inner surface of their writing board. No communication among the clue givers or with the Guesser is allowed. Each clue giver may be as detailed or as brief with the description as he wishes. But beware, the game is not called "Less is More" for nothing: the words may also be written in shortened form and letters may be left out! Each clue giver may shorten his description as he sees fit and as seems understandable (hopefully to the Guesser). The fewer letters a player uses, the sooner he can show his clue to the Guesser and the more points there are for it.

   Afterwards each clue giver counts the letters he has used. The number of words does not matter, and spaces do not count either. He turns the writing board over, writes the number of letters on the number field and holds it concealed (or turns the board toward himself) until all clue givers are finished.

   Example: Nina tries to describe the term Urlaubsreise (vacation trip) as follows: HAB I GEBUCT. She notes the number 10 (for 10 letters) on her board.

   What must be observed in the descriptions?

   • A. All descriptions must be legible and written exclusively in capital letters. Questions from the Guesser are not allowed. At no time, not even while the Guesser is guessing, may the clue giver read his description aloud.
   • B. No words or abbreviations may be used that are identical to the term to be guessed or its word stem. Example: if the term "Schreibmaschine" (typewriter) is sought, one may not use, for instance, the word "schreiben" as a description. This applies to every form of the word, and so words such as "schreibe, schreibst, schriebst, geschrieben" but also "Schrift" would not be allowed, since they share the same word stem.

End of the Game

Rounds are played until every player has been the Guesser once. Then the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

In case of a tie, the player with the shorter first name wins.