Smug Owls Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Setup
• Gameplay Overview
• Objective
• Gameplay
• Game End
• Variants
  • Add a timer!
  • Get rid of the score!
  • Fill in the blanks!
• FAQ

Contents

• 89 Riddle cards (various blue backs)
• 17 Conjunction cards (red back, asterisk on front)
• 1 Smug Owl standee
• 1 What card
• 1 ? card
• 12 Blank cards (remove unless playing variant)

Game Setup

1. Shuffle the Conjunction cards and draw eight of them to form a deck face down (owls facing up) on the table in reach of all players. The rest can be returned to the box.
2. Shuffle the Riddle cards and divide them into two even decks. Place a deck on either side of the Conjunction card deck, face down (owls facing up).
3. Place the What card to the left and the ? card to the right, below the three decks so that one card from each deck can fit between the What and the ?.
4. Place the Smug Owl standee next to the ? card.

Gameplay Overview

Each round, a riddle is generated with the magic deck and each player tries to craft an answer to impress the Smug Owl. The player who doesn't think of an answer becomes the Smug Owl and awards cards to players for their favorite answers.

Objective

The player with the most cards after eight riddles wins the game!

Gameplay

Take the following steps each round:

1. Reveal the top card of the three decks and place each card face up below the deck it came from. With the What and ? cards on either side, this will form a complete riddle.
2. Read the riddle out loud. All players will try to quickly craft a solution to the riddle on the table.
3. When you have an answer, slap your hand on the table, but don't say your answer out loud. Continue until every player except one slaps their hand on the table.
4. If you're the last player without your hand on the table, you become the Smug Owl for this round! You will not answer the riddle and will instead judge the answers of the other players. Take the Smug Owl standee and place it in front of you.
5. Starting with the player who first slapped the table and moving clockwise around the table, each player says their solution out loud.
6. The Smug Owl then gives the three cards that formed the riddle (2 Riddle cards, 1 Conjunction card) to players for their favorite answers. The Smug Owl can divide the cards up however they want, but cannot keep any for themself.

For example, the Smug Owl might give one card each to three players, two cards to one player and one to another, or all three cards to one player for a particularly great answer.

Once the Smug Owl has distributed all the cards, the round is over. Place the standee back in the center and begin the next round with a new riddle!

Game End

Continue until all eight riddles have been played. The player with the most cards wins the game!

Variants

Add a timer!

As soon as the riddle is read out loud, start a timer for 30 seconds. Once the timer runs out, all players who do not have an answer share the role of the Smug Owl to reward the cards to their favorite answers.

Get rid of the score!

Steps 1-3 remain the same, but instead of slapping the table when you have an answer, just shout it out loud! Enjoy the "oohs" and "ahhs" from around the table. Once everyone is satisfied with that riddle, repeat with another one. In this version there is no score, no Smug Owl, and no winner—just a bunch of friends trying to think up interesting answers to the riddles before them.

Fill in the blanks!

After you've played a bit, you might have some fun ideas for your own cards, so we added a few blanks that you can write on and include in your next game.

FAQ

What if more than one person doesn't have an answer for this riddle?

No problem! If more than one person can't think of an answer, they share the role of the Smug Owl. Decide together how to split the cards amongst the other players' answers.

What if two or more people have the same answer?

No problem! All similar answers are valid. The Smug Owl still awards cards to whomever they want, so make your answer stand out!

This riddle doesn't make sense! What do I do?

There is always an answer to every riddle. That's the fun part! Challenge yourself to get really weird and creative if the answer doesn't come to you immediately. And if all else fails, you can still be the Smug Owl!

Are there any limits to what qualifies as an answer?

No! In this game, anything goes. Have fun with it!