Weakest Link Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Battery Insertion and Safety
• Set Up
• How to Play
  • Ready?
  • Round 1
• Voting
• You Are the Weakest Link
• Next Round
• Final Round
• Winning the Game

Contents

Ages 14+ · 3+ Players · 30+ Minutes

• 1x Game Board
• 1x Chip tray
• 60x Chips: 20x blue (correct), 20x red (incorrect), 30x yellow (money / bank)
• 4x Podiums and their bases
• 1x Timer
• 1x Bank tracker
• 4x Voting boards
• 2x Wipe clean pens
• 10x Weakest Link tokens
• 250x Question cards in their box (Final Round questions are at the back of the box, marked with a gold background)
• 1x Instruction sheet

Apply the stickers to the podiums, the bank tracker and the timer, as pictured on the sheet.

Battery Insertion and Safety

The timer takes 3 x LR03 AAA 1.5V batteries, which are not included.

• Batteries must be removed, charged and inserted under adult supervision.
• Do not attempt to recharge non-rechargeable batteries.
• Take special care to ensure batteries are inserted correctly, observing the (+) and (-) marks on the battery and the product.
• Remove exhausted batteries from the product and dispose of them properly.
• Do not short-circuit the supply terminals.
• Do not mix old (used) and new batteries, or batteries of different types (e.g. alkaline, standard (carbon-zinc), rechargeable (e.g. NiMH)), or batteries of a different make or brand.
• Do not dispose of batteries in fire as they may explode or leak.
• Rechargeable batteries are to be removed from the product before being charged.
• The wheelie bin symbol indicates the product and batteries must not be disposed of in domestic waste. Use collection points or recycling facilities (UK only).

Set Up

• Slot the podiums onto their bases (as shown) and rotate them clockwise into their starting position.
• Insert batteries into the timer (see the battery details above), add the sticker to the top of it, and turn it on.
• Place the chip tray in the middle of the game board (locate the triangle in the middle).
• Place the BLUE (CORRECT), RED (INCORRECT) and YELLOW (MONEY / BANK) chips into the tray. Match them with the colours indicated on the board.
• The timer can be placed in the middle of the chip tray so everyone can see it.
• Select one person to be the Banker / Question Master and place the bank tracker and question cards in front of them.
• Place a yellow money chip at the £0.00 position at the bottom right side of the tracker.
• Questions are taken from the front of the deck and then discarded into a separate pile once read. Final Round question cards are at the back of the box of cards.
• The Banker / Question Master will read the questions and keep track of the banked money during the game. The Banker / Question Master can change between players each round or have one dedicated Banker / Question Master throughout.
• Place the Weakest Link tokens in a pile on or near the board.
• Have the wipe clean pens within easy reach of all players to use for voting at the end of each round.

Each player has a podium. This is where they stack their chips to show how many questions they got correct, incorrect, and how many times they banked. Players also receive a voting board to write the name of who they think is THE WEAKEST LINK in each round.

How to Play

In each round the aim is to bank as much money as possible within the time limit. The fastest way to do this is to work together to create a chain of eight correct answers. Get a question wrong and you break the chain and lose all the money in that chain.

But: if a player says "BANK" before the question is asked, then the money is safe, and players begin a new chain of questions from scratch.

Each main game round is 2 minutes long. In round 1 the person who caused the most fuss helping to set the game board up is asked a question first.

After that, each round starts with whomever was THE STRONGEST LINK from the last round (the player that answered the most questions correctly).

After each round the Banker / Question Master can swap with another player so everyone gets a turn.

Ready?

• Start the clock by pressing the top of the timer. The sound effects indicate that the timer has started. The timer glows blue and counts down the two minutes.
• The round ends when the final music sounds and all of the lights flash.
• The timer can be paused throughout the game to help resolve any arguments or if someone drops their tokens or needs a break.
  • Pause: press the top of the timer to pause, and again to resume.
  • Restart: press and hold the top of the timer for 3 seconds to completely restart the round. The timer will power down after 3 minutes of inactivity. To restart, press the top of the timer again.

Round 1

• Each player has a podium where their CORRECT (BLUE), BANKED (YELLOW) and INCORRECT (RED) chips are secretly stacked.

• After each question is asked and answered, the player takes a chip and adds it to the stack hidden behind their podium.

• The Banker presses the top of the timer to start the round. Then the Banker takes a question card from the front of the card box and reads it aloud to player 1.

• Player 1 answers. If they are correct, they take a blue chip from the chip tray on the game board and stack it onto their podium. Making sure that the bank started at £0.00 at the bottom right side of the bank tracker, the Banker moves the yellow money chip to the £50 location on the bank tracker.

• If player 1 answered incorrectly, they take a red chip and stack that on their podium instead. The Banker / Question Master leaves the yellow money chip at £0 on the bank tracker.

• Play moves to the next player, with the Banker / Question Master asking questions and the players answering.

• As each question is answered correctly, the Banker / Question Master moves the yellow money chip higher and higher up the right-hand side of the chain on the bank tracker.

• If a player says "BANK" before their question is asked, then the yellow money chip is moved to the left-hand side and is "BANKED" there for the rest of the round. The Banker then starts a new chain with a NEW yellow money chip.

• The player that said "BANK" also adds a yellow money / bank chip to their podium stack.

• At the end of the round, the Banker places a yellow money / bank chip on the corresponding number around the edge of the game board to show the TOTAL amount of money being played for. This chip moves further around the board at the end of each round as more banked money is added to the pot.

Voting

• Once the timer signals the end of the round, players vote for who they think is THE WEAKEST LINK.
• Players write the name of that person on their voting board.
• Who do you think was THE WEAKEST LINK? Who might be THE STRONGEST LINK, and who has banked the most money? Who might be someone you don't want to go up against in the final round?
• Once names have been written down on the voting boards with the dry erase marker, players slot their voting boards into the top of their podium. Keep them hidden from view and ready to reveal.
• Once everyone is ready, players press the reveal button on the base of their podiums. Each podium spins around, revealing to everyone the name of the player that they think is THE WEAKEST LINK and also the results of how they did in the last round.
• Players can clearly see who is THE STRONGEST LINK (blue chips: answered the most questions correctly), who banked the most money (has the most yellow chips), and who really was THE WEAKEST LINK (got the most red chips).

You Are the Weakest Link

• The person with the most votes is THE WEAKEST LINK for that round and is given a Weakest Link token.
• These are collected throughout the game. Avoid them to stay in with a chance of going head-to-head in the final round.

Next Round

• Players return all their chips to the tray in the centre of the board.
• Reset their podiums and wipe their voting boards clean, ready for the next round.
• Each round starts with THE STRONGEST LINK from the previous round, who decides who goes first.

Final Round

• After 10 rounds (that's how many Weakest Link tokens there are, but you can play fewer or more rounds if you wish), the two STRONGEST LINK players (those with the fewest Weakest Link tokens, or that had the strongest penultimate round) go head-to-head to decide the winner.
• If it's a tie on the number of correct questions answered for that round, then the person that banked the most money is the strongest.
• In the Final Round it's the best of 5. Whoever answers the most questions correctly after 5 rounds wins: simple as that.
• The Banker / Question Master reads from the special "Final Round" question deck (indicated by gold background colour on the cards). These are at the back of the card box.
• No timer is needed unless you want to add to the atmosphere. Scores are recorded on the podiums using the blue and red chips, taken after each question is answered.
• Display the podiums so that everyone can see how each player is faring.
• If it's all square after 5 rounds, then it goes to sudden death: get a question wrong and that player is out of the game and is THE WEAKEST LINK.

Winning the Game

The player that ultimately gets the most questions correct wins the game, all the banked money, and is crowned THE STRONGEST LINK!