Speed Dating
Speed Dating Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents of the Box
- 181 Women cards
- 181 Men cards
- 30 Points cards
- The rules
Object of the Game
You are searching for your soulmate and taking part in a Speed Dating event. By inventing characters, you take turns trying to charm and be charmed... Your goal? To win hearts, to convince, and not to go home alone. To do that, you must score as many points as you can.
Setup
- Shuffle the Women cards and the Men cards separately. Place them face down on the table as two separate draw piles.
- Deal face down 6 Women cards and 6 Men cards to each player.
There are as many rounds as there are players. Each player, in clockwise order, takes a turn as the suitor, the person who must be seduced. The sexiest player starts.
Turn Structure
- The suitor chooses 3 cards from their hand (their choice: 3 Women cards OR 3 Men cards) to build their character. They also choose a first name for this character.
- The suitor then introduces their character to the other players, freely, but must state the 3 chosen characteristics. As they state them, they lay their 3 cards face up in front of them, one at a time. They may develop their character as much as they like, as long as they state the 3 characteristics.
- The other players must now seduce the suitor. To do so, each of them chooses 3 cards (their choice: 3 Women cards OR 3 Men cards) to compose their ideal partner. The most inspired player goes first. The others then speak in turn. In the same way as the suitor, each must state their 3 characteristics and may develop their character.
Designating the Winner and Scoring
- The suitor chooses their ideal partner, and the other players each try to guess who the suitor will choose. When all players (the suitor as well as the others) have made their choice, they all designate at the same time, by pointing, the player they have in mind. Note: players may designate themselves if they think they have won the suitor's heart.
- The player designated by the suitor scores 1 point. The players who guessed the round's winner score 1 point each. Note: if the winner designated themselves, they therefore score 2 points.
Tie-Break (Ballotage)
- When choosing the winner, the suitor may hesitate between two players. In this case, they say "ballotage" and indicate the 2 players between whom they are hesitating.
- To resolve the ballotage, the suitor chooses a 4th card from their hand (a Woman or a Man, according to the character they built) and announces: "What I had not told you about myself is that..." The two players still in contention do the same, each choosing a 4th and last card from their hand (a Woman or a Man, according to the character they built). The suitor then chooses the winner, and simultaneously all the other players point to the one they are betting on, as before.
End of the Round
- All the Women and Men cards used are discarded. Each player refills their hand to 12 cards again (6 Women cards and 6 Men cards).
Note: at the end of each round, each player may discard up to 3 cards that do not suit them. Each player always refills their hand to 6 Women cards and 6 Men cards.
A new round begins, with a new suitor.
End of the Game
- After each player has played the role of the suitor once, count the points. The player(s) who scored the most points win the game.
Faster Variant
- At each round, the suitor simply designates the round's winner, who scores 1 point. The other players do not need to guess who the winner is.
Note: some cards refer to French cities or neighbourhoods. Equivalents for Quebec, Switzerland or Belgium are then given in small print.
Authors' Note
Any resemblance between this game and existing characters is purely coincidental. We therefore wish to reassure all our friends who wrote their thesis on Simone de Beauvoir or on puberty in chimpanzees, who collect sex toys or bilboquets, who live on vodka-Red Bull or organic vegetables: we will not denounce them.