Short List
Short List Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up the Game
Shuffle the question cards and place them in a pile with the question side facing up. Each of you should take an "It's my turn" card and place it in front of you. Return the rest of the "It's my turn" cards to the box.
Each of you also receives three blue crystals. Place them in front of you. These are your personal points.
Place the remaining crystals in the middle of the table—this is the general stockpile.
How to Play
The youngest player starts and is the quizmaster for the first question round. The role of quizmaster passes from player to player in a clockwise direction. The remaining players are the guessers. Depending on the number of players, you will be the quizmaster a different number of times:
- 3–4 players—thrice
- 5–6 players—twice
- 7–8 players—once
When you are the quizmaster, take seven blue crystals from the general stockpile and put them aside. These are the winner crystals for this question round. Make sure that you do not get these mixed up with the crystals for your personal points!
Then take the top question card from the pile. Read the question printed there out loud to your fellow players. You can also see how many possible answers there are to this question. Then turn the question card over. The possible answers are printed on the back. Always hold the question card in your hand so that your fellow players cannot see the answers.
Now it's the guessers' turn. The player to the left of the quizmaster begins. Is it your turn? Then you have two options:
1) Want to Suggest an Answer?
Then tell the quizmaster your answer. They must then check whether your answer appears in the list on the card and is therefore correct.
- Were you right? Excellent work! The quizmaster will give you one of the winner crystals. Add it to your points pile. Then it's your left neighbor's turn.
- Were you wrong? Hard luck! You must immediately give one of your blue crystals from your personal points to the quizmaster. They then add this to their personal points. If you don't have any crystals, the quizmaster takes a blue crystal from the general stockpile instead. Unfortunately, you are out of the current question round. You are not allowed to give any more answers to this question and will be left out of the rest of this round. It is now your left neighbor's turn.
Note: You don't have to name the answers in any particular order. As long as you name an answer that appears on the list, it counts. However, if you repeat an answer that another player has already given, your answer will automatically be deemed wrong.
2) Want to Pass?
Did that question catch you off guard? No worries—you can pass. However, you are then out of the current question round and will be left out of the rest of the round. The quizmaster returns a winner crystal to the general stockpile. So no one can earn this crystal anymore in this question round! Your left neighbor is up next.
It's My Turn! Clear the Way!
Can't wait to have your turn? No problem: simply use the "It's my turn" card to avoid waiting. Quickly place it face up in front of the guesser whose turn it actually is and give your answer.
The quizmaster checks as usual if the answer is correct. Play then continues with your left neighbor. This allows you to skip multiple players and to force them to miss their turn. The affected player can keep the "It's my turn" card and use it later themselves. You may also use several "It's my turn" cards in a row.
Note: Are there several players who do not want to wait? Then the player to put their card down first can give their answer. In case of doubt, the quizmaster must decide.
When Does the Question Round End?
Have all players been eliminated from the round and is no one allowed to answer the question anymore? Then the question round ends. The quizmaster takes all of the remaining winner crystals and adds them to their personal points.
Have you found seven answers or are there no winner crystals left due to players passing? Then the question round ends and the quizmaster goes empty-handed. In many cases, there are still a lot of possible answers to questions. That doesn't matter though: you only have to find seven of them to earn all of the points.
As their final official act, the quizmaster puts the question card back at the bottom of the pile. His left neighbor is the new quizmaster. They take the top question card from the pile, place seven blue crystals ready as winner crystals, and so the game continues. All of the other players are back in the game as guessers and the new question round can begin.
Are There No More Crystals Left in the General Stockpile?
Then you can exchange five blue crystals for one orange crystal from the general stockpile at any time.
End of the Game
As soon as the last question round ends, the award ceremony can take place. Each of you should add up your personal points. The blue crystals are each worth one point and the orange crystals are each worth five points. The player with the most points wins and can now officially call themselves "Smarty-pants." If there is a tie, the player with the most "It's my turn" cards wins. If this is also the same, then you share the victory.
All of the information has been carefully considered and checked by us. When collecting geographical, sociological data, etc., different standards apply in some cases. Depending on the source, it is also possible to find values that deviate slightly from our figures. We ask for your understanding for this. We have attempted to select categories in which the answers are absolutely certain.
Game Contents
- 190 question cards
- 8 "It's my turn" cards
- 65 crystals: 50 blue and 15 orange