Three Wise Words
Three Wise Words Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 100 cards (300 secret words)
- 4 owl pawns
- 1 Owl Track board
- 1 die
- 1 answer pad
Goal of the Game
Score points by writing clever clue words and by finding what the other team wrote. The more points you score, the faster you advance on the Owl Track. The first team to reach the finish line wins the game.
Setup
Form teams of two players. Pair up with someone with whom you share a strong bond, such as your Siamese twin or someone with the same haircut as you. (Odd number of players? Then teams may have more than two players!)
Place the Owl Track on the table and put your owl pawn on the start space. Place the deck of cards face down on the table and take the die. Finally, each team takes a pencil and a sheet from the answer pad.
For children: if you are playing with children, use only the words on the yellow background, which are easier.
Playing the Game
The team that starts is the active team: it chooses its writer and its seeker for this turn. The seeker closes their eyes and the writer turns over a Secret Word card. The writer then rolls the die to determine the secret word of the turn.
Once everyone except the seeker has seen the secret word, turn the card face down. The seeker opens their eyes.
The writer secretly notes 3 clue words on the answer pad sheet. These clue words should help the seeker find the secret word.
While this happens, the other teams try to get into the writer's head to guess which clue words the writer wrote on their sheet. They note their three guesses on their own sheet.
When everyone has finished, the writer reads their 3 clue words to the seeker. The seeker gets one single attempt to find the secret word. The other teams then reveal their 3 clue words and check whether any of them match the writer's. Calculate the scores.
Tip for the Writer
If you are the writer, be creative. Find clue words that are not too obvious, so that the other teams do not find them.
For example, if the secret word is "Marteau" (hammer), you could be clever and write: "Claude", "François" and "si" ("if"). Your partner will be able to find it. But will the other teams guess these clue words? Unlikely!
(Translator's note: this example relies on French wordplay. "Marteau" is the French word for hammer, and "Claude", "François" and "si" are French words and names.)
Scoring
If the seeker found the secret word
- The seeker's team scores 2 points and keeps the Secret Words card.
- The seeker's team scores 1 point for each clue word that was not found by the other teams.
- The other teams score 1 point for each clue word identical to the writer's.
If the seeker did not find the secret word
- The seeker's team scores 0 points.
- All the other teams score 2 points.
- The other teams also score 1 point for each clue word identical to the writer's.
Owls Advance
Move the owls along the track according to the points scored. For example, move forward 3 spaces if you score 3 points.
The next turn can then begin. It is the next team (clockwise) that becomes the active team.
Victory
The first team to reach the finish line wins. In case of a tie, victory goes to the team that guessed the most secret words.
(So do not forget to keep the Secret Words card each time you find one.)
Important Rules
- Clue words must strictly be one word! "New York" counts as two words. "Belle-mère" (mother-in-law) also counts as two words.
- A clue word cannot be part of the secret word. For example, you cannot use "fourmi" (ant) for "fourmilier" (anteater).
- Two of your three clue words cannot be "rime" and "avec".
- A translation of the secret word into a foreign language is not a valid clue.
- When checking whether clue words match, treat words that share the same root as matching. For example, "outillage" (tooling) is acceptable for "outil" (tool).
(Translator's note: the rule about "rime" and "avec" is printed in the French edition and refers to French words.)
Example Turn
The secret word is Fantôme (ghost).
Active team: the writer wrote these 3 clue words and read them to the seeker: 1. Flottant (floating), 2. Halloween, 3. Flippant. The seeker's team finds the secret word, so it scores 2 points. It also scores 1 point for each clue word that no other team found. Here, they score 1 point for "flottant".
Team two: this team scores 1 point because one of its clue words matches the writer's: "Halloween". Its other two clue words, "Booooouh" and "Effrayant" (scary), do not match.
Team three: this team scores 2 points because it guessed two clue words: "Flippant" and "Halloween".
Team four: this team scores no points; none of its clue words is correct.