Words Are Hard Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Build the Deck
• How to Win
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • Image Examples
• Valid Words
• Additional Notes
• Variant

Build the Deck

There are 250 unique cards. A game is played using roughly 100 cards at a time. Grab a stack to create the deck and return the remaining cards to the box.

How to Win

The game ends when the deck of cards is depleted. The player who collected the most cards wins.

Game Setup

1. All players sit in a circle.
2. The deck is built and shuffled.
3. A player is selected to be the initial dealer.
   • The dealer's first opponent is the player on their left.

How to Play

1. The dealer faces their opponent and holds the deck facedown.
2. The dealer flips over the top card onto the table to reveal the image.
   • The card should land equal distance between the two players.
   • The card cannot be rotated for a better viewing angle.
3. Each player tries to quickly say a word that starts with the first letter of the image.
   • Saying an invalid word does not disqualify you. You can keep blurting words until you say a valid word.
4. Once a player says a valid word, that player is now allowed to slap the card. The first player to slap the card wins the matchup. If a player slaps the card before saying a valid word, that player loses the matchup.
5. The winning player collects the card.
   • Keep these cards separate from the deck.
6. The winning player becomes (or continues to be) the dealer and competes against the next player, proceeding clockwise.
   • If the next player was the previous dealer, skip to the following player to avoid a repeat matchup.

Image Examples

The rulebook shows two example cards here under no printed heading; the captions are transcribed as printed.

If the image is of an apple, you need to say a word that starts with the letter A. Valid words include: ace, adopt, army, about, ant, awesome, alligator, architect.

If the image is of a gorilla, you need to say a word that starts with the letter G. Valid words include: glue, giddy, gain, giraffe, gold, giant, growl, grace, go-kart.

Valid Words

Not only does your word need to start with the first letter of the image, there are some additional rules you must follow to give a valid word:

1. You cannot use the word depicted in the image.
   • Example: If the image is of a lemon, invalid words include: lemon, lemons, lemony, lemonade, lemongrass.
2. You cannot shorten the word depicted in the image.
   • Example: If the image is of a microphone, invalid words include: mic, micro.
3. You cannot use proper nouns.
   • Example: If the image is of a train, invalid words include: Tommy, Tina, Texas, Tuesday.
4. You cannot use previously-used winning words.
   • If a word was said earlier in the game but was not used to win, that word is still useable.
   • Example: If the word "swim" was already used to win, invalid words include: swim, swims, swimmer, swimming.
5. You cannot repeat your opponent's word in an attempt to slap first.

Additional Notes

1. When dealing, feel free to go fast and try to catch your opponents off guard.
2. When dealing, flip the card so you don't see the image in advance.
3. Do not rotate the cards for a better view. If you touch the card, that counts as slapping.
4. When determining the image, do not use the broad category.
   • Example: If the image is of a banana, don't think F for "fruit," think B for "banana."
5. You can use words depicted in previous images.
   • Example: If earlier in the game there was an image of a fork, the word "fork" is sill useable.
6. If neither player can think of a valid word, return the card to the bottom of the deck and flip over a new card.
7. Depending on the language and region of the players, some images might not work as intended. Simply remove any cards that don't work for your specific demographic.

Variant

Before starting the game, pick a category the group must follow. Instead of saying random words, your words must adhere to the category's theme. Proper nouns are allowed when playing categories.

Here are some suggested categories: cinema, music, sports, fashion, nature, literature, geography, history, culinary, transportation, technology.