Stroop Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • What is on the cards
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Laying cards in the middle of the table
• End of the Game
• Harder Variant
  • Stage I
  • Stage II
• Advanced Variant
• From the Publisher

Game Components

• 65 basic cards (blue back)
• 45 cards for the advanced variant (red back)

What is on the cards

Before the rules, look at the information on the cards. Each card shows 1 word (the blue strawberries are only decoration). The letters of the words have several features:

• Number of letters - words have from 4 to 7 letters (e.g. 4 letters: "MAŁE"; 5 letters: "sześć"; 6 letters: "czarne"; 7 letters: "wielkie").
• Colour of letters - the letters are yellow, green, black or ginger (rude). (Examples: "cztery" in yellow, "sześć" in green, "ŻÓŁTE" in black, "grube" in ginger.)
• Size of letters - the letters are CAPITAL or small (e.g. "MAŁE", "SZEŚĆ" versus "czarne", "wielkie").
• Thickness of letters - the letters are bold (thick) or thin (e.g. "żółte", "sześć" bold versus "czarne", "wielkie" thin).

Object of the Game

There are no rounds or player turns in this game. Everyone plays simultaneously!

During the game you will lay on the table the cards you hold in your hands. Try to lay out all your cards as quickly as possible. To win you must show observance and speed!

Setup

• Put the cards with the red back back in the box (they are used in the advanced variant).
• Shuffle the basic cards (blue back).
• Place one of them in the middle of the table, white side up.
• Then deal each player 15 cards. Players form them into piles and place them in front of themselves blue side up.

Note: if you want the game to last longer, you may deal more than 15 cards to each player (each player must, however, have the same number of cards).

• Put the remaining cards back in the box.

Gameplay

Remember that the rule "first come, first served" applies - everyone plays simultaneously.

• On the signal START! everyone takes successive cards from their piles and tries as quickly as possible to find one that matches the card lying in the middle of the table (according to the rules described below). If someone finds such a card, they lay it as quickly as possible in the middle of the table, on top of the card lying there.
• When laying cards in the middle of the table, do it so that only one card is visible - the one laid last.
• You may have any number of cards in your hand. When taking new cards from your pile, only one rule applies: take the cards from the top of the pile one at a time, card by card (not several at once).
• After a card is laid in the middle, play continues - this time you look for a card matching the one just laid. The situation in the middle of the table changes constantly, you lay more cards, so you must show observance and speed.
• If two or more players lay cards in the middle of the table at the same moment, only the fastest one leaves their card there. The others must take their cards back.

Laying cards in the middle of the table

• The card lying in the middle of the table describes the one that must be laid next.
• When looking at the card in the middle of the table, pay attention only to the MEANING of the word, not to the appearance of the letters (that is, their number, colour, size and thickness).
• When searching for a suitable card among those in your hand, pay attention only to the APPEARANCE of the letters, not to the meaning of the words.
• The person who finds a suitable card fastest lays it in the middle of the table.

Example 1: The card "RUDE" (ginger) lies in the middle of the table. All players therefore look for a card with a word written in ginger letters. The person who finds such a card fastest puts it in the middle of the table (covering the card that lay there). Examples of cards that may be laid in this case - all have ginger letters: "RUDE", "pięć", "czarne", "CIENKIE", "ZIELONE".

Example 2: Here all players look for a card with a 5-letter word. Examples of cards that may be laid - all have 5 letters: "pięć", "grube", "sześć", "ŻÓŁTE", "SZEŚĆ".

Example 3: Here all players look for a card with bold letters. Examples of cards that may be laid - all have bold letters: "grube", "ZIELONE", "wielkie", "siedem", "CIENKIE".

If a player makes a mistake and lays a card that does not match the one lying in the middle of the table, the rivals should point this out. In such a case the player takes the wrongly laid card back into their hand, and play continues.

End of the Game

The game can end in 2 ways:

a) When one of the players lays their last card in the middle of the table. That player is the winner.

b) When one of the players has no card matching the one lying in the middle of the table. In that case the player stops the game by saying STOP! and reveals their cards:

• If the player really has no card they could lay in the middle of the table, the game ends. The winner is the player with the fewest cards left. In case of a tie, the player who said STOP! wins. If that player is not among the tied players, they share the victory.
• If the player made a mistake (had at least one card matching the one in the middle of the table), the game continues, but without that player. They put their cards down in front of themselves and wait for the game to end. They still have a chance to win (they may have the fewest cards or win thanks to a tie). It is not worth saying STOP! too hastily.

Harder Variant

This variant uses the same cards as the basic game (blue backs). The game is divided into 2 stages:

• In Stage I you play as in the basic game - the card in the middle of the table describes the one that may be laid on it.
• In Stage II you play differently - the card being laid must describe the one lying in the middle of the table.

Stage I

Setup and play as in the basic game.

When Stage I ends, players keep the cards they have left! They put them in front of themselves on the table, blue side up. Then do the following:

• Shuffle the cards lying in the middle of the table.
• Deal them out equally among all players. Remember that at this point you do not count the cards left over from Stage I - you deal out only the cards that lay in the middle of the table.
• If the cards cannot be dealt equally to all players, take the missing cards from the box (during setup you put some cards back in the box).
• Each player adds the dealt cards to the cards left from Stage I, then shuffles them all together, forms their pile and places it in front of themselves.
• Take 1 card from the box and place it in the middle of the table, white side up.

Note that the more cards a player laid in the middle of the table during the first stage, the fewer they will have in the second stage.

Stage II

Stage II proceeds similarly to Stage I. The difference is in the different rules for laying cards in the middle of the table.

Laying cards in the middle of the table

• The card being laid must describe the one lying in the middle of the table.
• When looking at the card in the middle of the table, you therefore pay attention only to the APPEARANCE of the letters (that is, their number, colour, size and thickness), not to the meaning of the words.
• When searching for a suitable card among those in your hand, pay attention only to the MEANING of the word, not to the appearance of the letters.
• The person who finds a suitable card fastest lays it in the middle of the table.

Example 1: Here all players look for cards describing the one lying in the middle of the table, that is, with the words "cienkie" (thin), "sześć" (six), "czarne" (black), "wielkie" (capital). Examples of cards that may be laid: "CZTERY", "cienkie", "sześć", "czarne", "wielkie".

Example 2: Here all players look for cards describing the one lying in the middle of the table, that is, with the words "żółte" (yellow), "siedem" (seven), "grube" (bold), "małe" (small). Examples of cards that may be laid: "cienkie", "ŻÓŁTE", "siedem", "grube", "MAŁE".

Stage II ends in the same way as Stage I. After Stage II ends the game is over - the winner is determined the same way as in the basic game.

Advanced Variant

This variant consists of adding the red-backed deck to the basic cards. You can add the red cards during the basic game or when playing the harder variant.

The cards with the red back introduce a new feature of the letters:

• Direction of letters - letters may be written normally or mirrored. (Examples: normal "MAŁE", "ŻÓŁTE"; mirrored "EŁAM", "ETŁÓŻ".)

• Before the game, shuffle the red-backed and blue-backed decks thoroughly.

• This variant allows play with 5 players (no more). You may deal each player 15 cards (as in the basic game) or more, for example 20 cards. It is important that all players have the same number of cards.

• Note that the words "normalnie" (normally) and "lustrzanie" (mirrored) have more than 7 letters. This is an additional difficulty, because no card with a numeral ("cztery", "pięć", "sześć", "siedem") describes them.

• The course of the game remains unchanged.

Example - Stage I: Here all players look for a card with a word written mirrored. Examples of cards that may be laid - all have mirrored words: "LUSTRZANIE", "NORMALNIE" (mirrored), "pięć" (mirrored), "MAŁE" (mirrored), "ŻÓŁTE" (mirrored).

Example - Stage II: Here all players look for cards describing the one lying in the middle of the table, that is, cards with the words "żółte" (yellow), "wielkie" (capital), "lustrzanie" (mirrored), "grube" (bold). Examples of cards that may be laid: "NORMALNIE" (mirrored), "ŻÓŁTE", "wielkie", "LUSTRZANIE", "grube".

Note: a solo variant of the game is available on the publisher's website gry.nk.com.pl.

From the Publisher

"Gra pozorów" is the Polish edition of the American game Stroop. Its rules required us to fit the Polish words on the cards precisely. Some of you may wonder why the game has the colour ginger (rudy) and, for example, no red or blue. This follows from the rules of the game - the cards must show colours with 4, 5, 6 and 7 letters.