Silhouette
Silhouette Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Why Silhouettes?
Everything in Silhouette is deliberately shown as a silhouette, because each player is left to their own imagination to see what they see in it. Deer is deer? Certainly – but also "Wild" (game, as in wild animal), which together with a pig could lead to "Wildschwein" (wild boar). Properties can also contribute to the solution. A pig is, for example, "fett" (fat), so a combination with an eye could yield "Fettauge" (a drop of fat floating on soup). Likewise the shark can be a fish, a predator ("Räuber"), or, in combination with a lamp, even a "Hai-Light" (a pun on "Highlight", with "Hai" meaning shark). Correct spelling may be set aside in favour of creativity when giving solutions.
How Is Silhouette Played?
All cards are laid out face down. Then 2 are turned face up. The player who turned them up has the first chance to find a term that connects the two silhouettes. If they succeed, they take the pair of cards and may turn up another pair. If not, all other players may attempt a solution. If they also fail, the cards are turned face down again and the next player takes their turn.
Play proceeds clockwise. When only a few cards remain in play and the players agree that no more combinations are possible from the remaining silhouettes, each player may use the cards they have already won again. The silhouettes still in play continue to be turned up in pairs. If a term combination is found with an already won card, the player may take the card still in play.
The winner is the one who has the most cards – and thus also found the most creative solutions. But honestly: there are really no true losers in Silhouette, because everyone has so much fun that in the end everyone is a winner.
Variant 1
Instead of playing "everyone against everyone", teams of 2 or more players can also be formed, pooling their creative imagination!
Variant 2
Two cards are turned face up first. If no matching term is found, another card is turned face up, and so on. Cards that have been turned face up are not turned face down again. This gives several possible combinations. This variant is especially suited to the beginning, to get familiar with the silhouettes.
Have fun!