Rankster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
  • Personalize your Game
• How to Play
  • Turn over 3 character cards
  • The Judge takes a question and makes their decision
  • The Judge reads the question and players make their guess
  • Reveal the answer
  • Example Round
• Cooperative Group Play
  • Goal
  • Each Player takes a turn to be Judge
  • After the Judge has made their decision
  • Reveal the answer
  • Start a new round
• Competitive Team Game
  • Goal
  • Teams take turns Judging
  • Home Team vs Rival Team
  • After the Judge has decided, the Home Team makes a guess
  • The Rival Team then guesses if the Home Team is correct
  • Reveal the answer and score points
  • Start a new round

Contents

• 92 Character cards
• 97 Question cards
• 15 Blank cards and 1 NEXT PLAYER card
• 3 Judge Decision cards (or wooden tokens)
• 3 Player Guess cards (or wooden tokens)
• 2 Results cards

Setup

Shuffle and place the Character cards and Question cards in separate decks face down on the table. Put the NEXT PLAYER card, Results cards and Players Guess cards on the side. Choose a player to start as the Judge and give them the Judge Decision cards.

Personalize your Game

Use THE NEXT PLAYER card as one of the character options and write names of your friends and family on the Blank cards to add as additional characters. If you are playing with THE NEXT PLAYER card, keep it always face up as one of the options and only turn over 2 new Character cards.

How to Play

Each round one player is the Judge ranking the characters and the other players try and guess that decision. For 3 to 8 players the game is cooperative. For 6 - 12 players it is best as a competitive team game.

Turn over 3 character cards

If anyone does not know any of the characters, replace that card. Everyone must know all three characters.

The Judge takes a question and makes their decision

The Judge secretly reads the question and decides how they want to rank the characters on that basis. They place the Judge Decision cards face down in front of the relevant characters. The Judge is not allowed to talk or give any hint.

The Judge reads the question and players make their guess

The Judge now reads the question aloud. The other players chat and agree what they think the Judge has decided. They place the Players Guess cards face up next to their choices.

Reveal the answer

Turn over the Judge Decision cards to see if the Players Guess matches the Judge Decision.

Example Round

The Judge's question is "Who would be the best babysitter?" The three characters are Moses, Han Solo and Madonna. The Judge places the Judge Decision cards so that Han Solo is ranked 1st, Moses is ranked 2nd and Madonna is ranked 3rd. The other players agree on their guess and place their Players Guess cards next to their choices, and then the Judge Decision cards are turned over to reveal the answer.

Cooperative Group Play

3 - 8 Players

Goal

Work together. Your collective goal is to get more answers right than wrong. It is not easy!

Each Player takes a turn to be Judge

For 5+ players everyone should be the Judge once. For 3-4 players everyone should be the Judge twice.

After the Judge has made their decision

The other players chat together and all have to agree what they think the Judge has decided. They place the Players Guess cards face up next to their choices.

Reveal the answer

Turn over the Judge Decision cards. If the Players Guess fully matches the Judge Decision then everyone wins the round. If any were wrong then everyone loses the round. Place that question card under the appropriate Results card to keep track of the score.

Start a new round

The next player becomes the Judge.

Competitive Team Game

4 - 12 Players

Goal

Divide players into two rival teams. Your team goal is to score more points than the other team.

Teams take turns Judging

Everyone takes a turn being the Judge, alternating judging between teams.

Home Team vs Rival Team

The team that the Judge belongs to is the Home Team, the other team is the Rival Team. The Home Team will have one fewer player guessing. The Judge cannot talk nor join any conversation.

After the Judge has decided, the Home Team makes a guess

The Home Team players chat openly together and agree what they think the Judge has decided. They place their Players Guess cards face up next to their choices.

The Rival Team then guesses if the Home Team is correct

When the Home team has made their guess the Rival Team then decides if they think the Home Team's guess is right or wrong. If they think that the Home Team guess is wrong, they have to propose their own alternative guess.

Reveal the answer and score points

Home Team scores 2 points. Rival Team scores 1 point.

Turn over the Judge Decision cards. The Home Team scores 2 points if their guess fully matches the Judge's Decision. The Rival Team also scores 1 point if they had correctly guessed the Home Team was right or 1 point on their own if they correctly guessed that the Home Team was wrong AND their alternative guess fully matches the Judge's Decision.

Start a new round

The next player becomes the Judge and team roles change. If teams are not evenly numbered, give the team with the fewer players extra turns to judge so that each team plays as Home Team and Rival Team an equal number of times.