Saturday Night Live: The Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Get Ready
• On Your Turn
• The Ambiguously Final Round
• Sudden Death
• Talk Show Showdown
• House Rules

Object of the Game

Be a winner by banking the most cue cards.

Get Ready

1. Only two teams compete in this game, and only one can win. Divide into two teams of at least two people.
2. Open the box to expose the board and set out the timers and card sleeve.
3. Without peeking, each player chooses three cards from the era decks. (For groups larger than ten, each player chooses two cue cards). The cards can come from the same deck or different decks. Choose the eras you know best to give your team an advantage!
4. Shuffle the selected cue cards and stack them face down in a play pile on the board.
5. Flip a coin (or a debit card) to decide who goes first.

On Your Turn

1. The opposing team pulls a cue card from the top of the play pile and reads it out loud. They put the cue card in the card sleeve to hide the answer, pass it to you, and start the timer.
2. Your team has 60 seconds to successfully complete the activity.

Did you achieve success or experience utter failure?

Success!

Bank It (Ka-ching!): Add the cue card to your Bank and end your turn.

OR

Bet It (Schwing!): Place the cue card on Bet It and attempt to win another card. If you're successful, you can bank your cards or continue to bet. If you blow it, you lose all the cards bet in this round.

Failure!

Cut It: Discard the card alongside the board.

Now it's the other team's turn to play.

The Ambiguously Final Round

After the last card in the play pile is played, it's time for The Ambiguously Final Round. The team with the fewest banked cards will get a chance to make a run to beat their opponent. The trailing team plays through the era decks sequentially, starting with a card from the 1970s, followed by a card from the 1980s, and so on. If the trailing team passes the leading team by one cue card, Sudden Death begins. If not, the leading team wins.

Sudden Death

The team now trailing still has a chance to tie and beat the newly leading team by successfully completing two cue cards in a row from any deck of their choice. The teams continue to take turns playing two cue cards to tie and pass each other until one team fails to win two cue cards in a row and pass the leading team.

If you draw Talk Show Showdown during The Ambiguously Final Round or Sudden Death, discard it and draw again.

Talk Show Showdown

Read this when you draw a Talk Show Showdown card.

1. Talk Show Showdown cards are All Play (both teams play).
2. The team whose turn it is chooses a performer to impersonate one of the hosts on the card. The opposing team chooses a performer to impersonate one of the guests.
3. After the host welcomes the guest, you have 60 seconds to converse in a talk show format. Each performer tries to make the other laugh, and the first performer to laugh loses the challenge.
4. The winning team banks the card, and play resumes where it left off. If no one laughs, the card is discarded, and play resumes.

House Rules

One final note: House rules can decide all kinds of things, like whether alternate names for sketches and characters are acceptable, or when it's time for a cold beverage.