Mad Gab Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• The Object
• Getting Ready
• The Set Up
• The Play
• Scoring
• Winning
• The Two and Three Player Game

Contents

1,200 Mad Gab puzzles on 300 cards, the Flipper, the Timer, Scorepad and Labels.

The Object

Be the first team to reach 25 points. Points are scored when a team solves a Mad Gab Puzzle. Puzzles consist of a set of unrelated words that, when read aloud, sound like familiar phrases, names, places, etc. Example: Law Sand Jealous sounds like: Los Angeles. Teams try to solve three puzzles before the timer stops. Once time expires, the "Stealing" team may then gain points by solving any puzzles that the "Solving" team could not.

Getting Ready

When you first open your game, ready it for play by placing the Mad Gab label/stickers on both the Timer and the Flipper (See below). Mad Gab is best played by two teams. See the two and three player/team rule variations also. The teams need not be equal in number. The Mad Gab cards are color coded. The blue side is for beginners and the orange side is for experts. Start off by playing through the blue side of the deck and then go to the more challenging orange side. Mad Gab is contagious and addictive. The more you play the better you get!

The Set Up

1. Determine which team will be the "Solving" team first. They will be team A.

2. Team A chooses a player on their team to be the Coach. Team B chooses a player on their team to be the Stealer. A different Coach and Stealer are chosen for each turn. More about the Coach and the Stealer is explained later.

3. The other player(s) on team B (excluding the Stealer, who must not be allowed to see the puzzles or answers), draw three Mad Gab cards from the DRAW side of the Mad Gab box. They must familiarize themselves with the puzzles and answers because they will be acting as the judges to determine if their opponents answer correctly. They also will be in hysterics, since they know what their opponents are saying, even when their opponents do not! The puzzle answers are at the top of the opposite side of the card. Note: There are four Mad Gab puzzles on each card. The cards should be played through in the following order: (puzzle A blue side), (puzzle B blue side), (puzzle A orange side), (puzzle B orange side).

4. Team B (excluding the Stealer) loads the Flipper by sliding cards into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd slots, so that the puzzles to be played are in the order that they were drawn. (See the illustration below.) Team B next winds the Mad Gab timer to the "Average" point (Please feel free to vary the time as you get better at solving the puzzles). Finally, team B slides the Flipper face down, over to Team A's selected Coach. Team A's Coach places the Flipper in front of themselves so that once it's flipped up, the puzzle on card #1 is facing their teammates.

The Play

1. Team B starts the timer while the Coach from Team A tilts the Flipper up, revealing the puzzle on card #1 to their teammates. On the opposite side of the card, the Coach can read the answer to the puzzle in the upper right hand corner of the card.

2. Not surprisingly, the Coach "coaches" teammates toward the answer by encouraging them to emphasize certain syllables, say the puzzle faster or slower, or to listen to a certain player who may be the closest to the answer, etc. Note: The most important role of the coach is to get their teammates to say the Mad Gab puzzles ALOUD, so they can "HEAR" each other "SAY" the answer!

3. The Coach may not give any clues or hints regarding the answer. Players must solve the puzzle only by saying it aloud. This tricky element of Mad Gab is also the funniest, because players will be saying the answers and not even know it. The non-playing team determines if the playing team actually knew what they were saying, and thus answered correctly.

4. Once a puzzle is solved, the Coach pulls that card from the Flipper, revealing the #2 puzzle. At any time during play, anyone on the playing team may yell "pass" if the team is stumped. The Coach then pulls the card out of the Flipper and that puzzle is "dead" to the playing team. They may not go back to it, even if time remains.

5. Play continues in this fashion until the timer stops, or all 3 puzzles have been solved or passed on. After time has expired on a play, the Stealer has 10 seconds to solve any puzzles that were passed on or missed by the playing team. The Stealer may see any puzzle that remains in the Flipper while guessing, but must rely on memory to steal any puzzles that were passed on.

6. After each turn, the three cards are placed in the discard end of the Mad Gab box.

Scoring

1. Each Mad Gab puzzle is worth one point. Teams score one point for every Mad Gab puzzle they solve and pull from the Flipper before the time expires.

2. The opposing team scores one point for each puzzle solved by the Stealer that was missed, or passed on by the playing team.

Winning

1. Teams alternate turns, choosing a different Coach and Stealer on each turn. Play continues until a team reaches 25 points. The team that did not start the game as the solvers has the last turn to try and catch up.

2. In the event of a tie, teams choose one player from each team to sit out. These players choose the final puzzle and load that card into the Flipper. It is then tilted up to face both teams. The first team to solve it is crowned the winner.

3. Keep score on the pad provided. Longer or shorter games can be played by changing the amount of points needed to win.

The Two and Three Player Game

1. In the two player game, there is no coaching. Players simply try to figure out three puzzles on their own as they are flipped up by their opponents. Points are scored in the same way, but there is no stealing.

2. In the three player game, Player A draws the cards and handles the Flipper, Player B is the Solver of the puzzles, and Player C is the Stealer. Players rotate turns and whomever has the highest number of points after every player has had the same number of predetermined attempts at solving the Mad Gab puzzles, wins.

Have fun and remember that when playing Mad Gab...

"It's not what you SAY, it's what you HEAR!"