Out of Words
Out of Words Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 104 Term cards (Begriffskarten)
- 6 Overview sheets (Spielübersichten)
- 36 Letter tiles (Buchstabenplättchen): 3 each of A, E and S; 2 each of B, D, G, K, L, M, V and W; 1 each of C, F, H, I, N, O, P, R, U and Z
- 5 Marker arrows (Markierungspfeile), numbered 1 to 5
- 10 Swap tokens (Wechselplättchen)
- 1 Megaphone (Megafon)
- 1 Speech bubble (Sprechblase)
Goal
Work together to guess as many terms as possible correctly before the letters on the table run out. If your team guesses thirteen or more terms in total, you win!
Setup
- Shuffle the term cards. Shuffle the term cards (Begriffskarten) and place them as a face-down stack. Place the marker arrows (Markierungspfeile) beside them.
- Lay out the letters. Shuffle the letter tiles (Buchstaben) face down and draw 25 of them. Lay them face up in a 5x5 grid on the table. Place the remaining letters as a face-down stack beside the grid.
- Determine roles. The person who talks the most takes the speech bubble (Sprechblase) and may give the first clues. Everyone else forms the guessing team (Rateteam). The person to the left of the speech bubble receives the megaphone (Megafon).
Gameplay
Each round always follows the same steps.
- Draw a term. The person holding the speech bubble draws the top card of the term card stack into their hand, keeping the front hidden from the others. The number now showing on top of the stack determines the term you must explain. The term card lists the terms 1 to 8, and you must explain the term with that number.
- Give a clue. Choose a letter from the layout and place the marker arrow with the lowest available number on it. Then give your team a clue that consists of exactly one word and must begin with this letter.
Observe these rules when giving clues:
Not allowed:
- The secret term (or parts of it)
- Forms of the term, such as plurals or other tenses. Example: if the term is "Zahn" (tooth), you may not say "Zähne" (teeth).
- Rhymes or translations
Allowed:
- Proper names and compound words
- Word forms (adjectives, verbs, etc.)
- Guess. The guessing team discusses openly and then gives you one joint guess. If the guessing team cannot agree on a term, the person with the megaphone has the final word.
- Wrong guess? No worries! Following the same principle, give a new clue with another letter. Place the marker arrow with the next higher number on each additional letter.
- Right guess? Super! The team keeps the term card as a point. Collect your points in a separate stack.
- Give up? After at least three clues, the team may decide together to give up the round in order to save letters. The term card is then returned to the box.
A round also ends if the target term has not been guessed after 5 clues. In that case, too, the term card is returned to the box.
Round end: All letters that have a marker arrow on them go back to the box.
Special case: If the team guessed the target term after only a single clue, take the top letter from the stack and place it in the grid in the position of the letter just removed, as long as there are letters left in the stack. Strong performances must be rewarded!
- Pass on. Pass the speech bubble and all marker arrows to the next person clockwise. The megaphone is also passed on, to the left.
New Round, New Luck!
Whoever now holds the speech bubble begins the next round with a new term.
End of Game
The game ends when the last letter in the grid has been cleared. Now count the term cards that your team has collected!
- 0-12 cards: Close, but no cigar! Try again and improve your team synergy!
- 13-14 cards: Just made it! You racked your brains and won as a team!
- 15-19 cards: A team of geniuses! Your creativity is impressive!
- 20-24 cards: You are walking dictionaries and far too clever for this game!
- 25-36 cards: As if!
Variants
Simple game: If you draw a new term card into your hand, you may choose one of the 8 terms you want to explain in this round. The number on the back of the stack plays no role in this variant.
Swap tokens 1: At the start of the game, place the 10 swap tokens (Wechselplättchen) beside the term card stack. If at the start of a new round you look at your word and feel that you cannot give suitable clues for it, you may return one swap token to the box and draw a new card from the stack. If all swap tokens have run out, you may no longer perform this action.
Swap tokens 2: Give each person 1 swap token at the start. The rules for swap tokens are the same as in variant 1, except that you may use only your own swap token, and accordingly you may change the term only once.
Variant for groups of 6 or more: Always place the speech bubble between two people. These two people give clues alternately but may not confer with each other. At the end of a round, pass the speech bubble to the left, so that each person is always twice in a row in the speech bubble team.
Adjacent letters: If after your first clue the guessing team has not arrived at the target word, the next letter in the grid must be adjacent (including diagonally) to the marker arrow placed last. The numbers on the arrows show which arrow was placed last. If there are no adjacent letters left, you may "jump" to any letter in the grid.
Team vs Team
For 4-10 people, 20-30 minutes, ages 10 and up.
Face off in two teams! Work together to guess as many terms as possible and keep your letters in play. The team that can keep playing longer wins. As soon as a team has no letters left in its grid (that is, it is "Out of Words"), the other team has won immediately.
Setup: Split into two teams of equal size. Shuffle the term cards and place them as a face-down stack. Shuffle the letters and give each team 18 face-down letters. Each team then lays 16 of them face up in a 4x4 grid on the table and places the remaining 2 letters as a face-down reserve stack beside its own grid. The team whose first names together contain fewer letters begins and takes the speech bubble, the megaphone and the marker arrows.
Gameplay: The rules for clues and for guessing the words are the same as in the normal game. Make sure that within the teams the speech bubble and the megaphone are passed on with each new round.
Round end: All letters used by your team go back to the box.
- Special rule: If you guessed the target term after only a single clue, you may steal any letter from the opposing team's grid! Take this letter and place it in any free position in your own grid.
- Exception: If the opposing team has only one letter left in its grid, that last letter may not be stolen. Instead, in this case, take the top letter from your own reserve stack (the 2 tiles you did not lay out at the start) and place it in your grid.
Pass the speech bubble, the megaphone and the marker arrows to the other team. Now it is their turn!
End of game: The game ends immediately when a team has no letters left in its 4x4 grid at the start of its round, so that it cannot give a clue. That team is "Out of Words" and has lost. The team that still has letters left wins the duel!