Your Friend Is Sad
Your Friend Is Sad Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- Cheer Up Cards x 48
- Life Cards x 32
- Brain Cards x 56
- Turn Marker x 1
Objective
Players are trying to cheer up their sad friend!
The game is played by collecting Brain Cards and completing Cheer Up Cards by matching the icons.
Players can win the game by either:
a) Completing Cheer Up Cards and earning 13 points or more.
b) Completing 3 Cheer Up Cards with the same Sadness Sort.
Setting up the Game
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Hand out 5 Brain Cards to each player. (If anyone has a Brain Storm card, shuffle it back into the deck and give that player a new card).
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Deal 4 Cheer Up Cards face-up in the centre of the play area. These are the ACTIVE CHEER UP CARDS.
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Deal 4 Brain Cards face-up underneath each of the Active Cheer Up Cards. These are the REPRESSED MEMORIES.
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The last player who tried to cheer someone up goes first, taking the wooden turn marker with the sad side up.
Playfield
The playfield is laid out as follows:
- Cheer Up Deck with its Cheer Up Garbage pile beside it.
- Life Deck with its Life Garbage pile beside it.
- Active Cheer Up Cards in the centre of the play area.
- Repressed Memories (Brain Cards) placed underneath each Active Cheer Up Card.
- Brain Deck with its Brain Garbage pile beside it.
Note: The Cheer Up Deck, Brain Card Deck and Life Deck each have a discard pile next to them called the garbage. Both Cheer Up and Brain decks will always have four active cards.
On Your Turn
During your turn, take the following actions:
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Stop to Think Choose a Brain Card from the Repressed Memories and discard it. Replace it with a new card from the Brain Deck. (Not your hand)
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Better Yourself a. Draw two blind Brain Cards from the Brain Deck OR b. Trade for a card from the Repressed Memories with a card from your hand (Not the deck). Also, draw one new Life Card from the deck.
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Get A Life (Optional) Discard a Feelings Card or Vibe Bot (not a Brain Goop) from your hand to draw a Life Card.
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Complete Cheer (Optional) If you have them, trade in the appropriate Brain Cards to claim an active Cheer Up Card. Then replace the active Cheer Up Card with a new card from the Cheer Up Deck.
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Pass The Sad Pass the Turn Marker to the next player clockwise.
Completing Cheer
Every Cheer Up Card has a row of Brain Goop or Feeling Icons at the bottom which tell you the Brain Cards needed to complete it. At the end of your turn, you can reveal the required Goop and Feelings from your hand to claim that Cheer Up Card.
Take the Cheer Up Card and place it face-up in front of you to show that you've completed it. You earn the number of Cheer Up Points shown in the rain drop icon in the bottom right corner of the card. Then discard the Brain Cards you used to complete the Cheer Up Card.
Note: There is no limit to the number of Active Cheer Up Cards you can claim in a turn, as long as you have enough Goop and Feeling Cards to complete each. You may only claim Cheer Up Cards on your turn.
The Life Deck
Life is a jerk. He will try to get in the way of your friend's happiness.
Life Cards usually give you a special ability of some kind. They each say when to play them and what the effect is.
On your turn you can discard a Feeling or Vibe Bot that you don't plan on using to draw a Life Card.
You also draw a Life Card when you choose to trade a Brain Card from your hand with the Repressed Memories.
Warning: Life is unpredictable and sometimes these cards hurt you.
Brain Storm
The Brain Deck has a single card called Brain Storm.
If anyone draws the Brain Storm card, that player chooses to discard all of the Repressed Memories OR Active Cheer Up Cards and replace them with new cards from their respective deck. If the player drew the Brain Storm card while drawing for their hand, they would then draw another card in place of it.
Vibe Bot
The Brain Deck also includes "Vibe Bot". Vibe Bot can be used to replace any feeling needed to complete an Active Cheer Up Card.
Rainbow Brain Goop
Sometimes you'll draw a Rainbow Goop from the Brain Deck. It counts as any color Goop needed to complete an active Cheer Up Card.
Over Ten Cards
If you have MORE than 10 Brain Cards in your hand at the end of your turn, your brain is too full and you must choose one of the following:
a) Clear Your Head - Put your entire hand of Brain Cards in the Brain Garbage and draw 5 new cards.
b) Oversharing - Lay all your Brain Cards face-up on the table. Now other players can trade cards with your hand as if it were the Repressed Memories during the Better Yourself phase. This goes back to normal once you have ten or fewer cards.
Life Happens
If you have one of these cards in your hand, you can discard it during the Get A Life phase to draw two Life Cards.
Reshuffling
If at any time you run out of cards in a deck, reshuffle the discard / garbage pile for that deck creating a new draw pile.
Sorting the Sadness
The less common win condition is to cheer up your friend by "Sorting the Sadness".
There are 4 sorts of sadness in this game: Gloomy, Melancholy, Feeling Blue and Downcast.
Each Cheer Up card has one type of sadness written on it. If you get a matched set of 3 of the same sadness sort, you cheer up your friend and win the game!
Winning the Game
At the end of the game when a player has either earned 13 or more Cheer Up Points or has a set of 3 Sadness Sorts...
They get the special privlage of flipping over the turn marker, REVEALING A HAPPY FRIEND!
Friendless Mode (Solo Variant)
Sometimes it's hard to wrangle some friends together! Here is a solo mode that doesn't require any actual friends.
Setup
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Lay out 3 Cheer Up Cards with 3 Brain Cards underneath to create the play area (instead of 4 x 4).
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Lay out 10 Life Cards, face down. The functions of Life Cards are not used but are used as a "timer" of sorts.
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Deal yourself 5 Brain Cards to start.
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Shuffle the Remaining Decks as with the regular game.
Gameplay Differences
a) At the start of every round, discard a Life Card from the 10-card "timer". When you've discarded the final Life Card, that signifies the beginning of the final round..
b) The player can still trade in a feeling at the end of their turn for a Life Card (Which adds to the "Timer").
c) When trading with the Repressed Memories, you do not pick up a Life Card in this version.
d) If you finish your turn with OVER 10 cards, you must discard them and draw 5 new ones (There is no oversharing).
e) You win the game by getting 13 points or 3 of the same Sadness Sort within the time limit shown by the Life Cards.
Actually feeling sad?
We wanted to make sure that anyone struggling beyond feeling sad occasionally isn't forgotten about so we asked our friend Doctor B. (who is a leading expert in Mental Health as it relates to gaming) to address this in a more serious way:
"This game is a unique, light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek presentation of an extremely serious problem: major depressive disorder. Social contact, having a community, and feeling connected to others can all be protective factors. That said, trying to simply cheer up a friend may be helpful in the moment, but it generally isn't a long-term solution for those who struggle with depression.
Here are some warning signs that you or a loved one might be struggling with depression:
- Pervasive sadness
- No longer enjoying things
- Changes in sleep, energy level, and/or appetite
- Difficulty thinking or concentrating
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
- Thoughts of death or suicide
If you have any questions on whether you're struggling with depression or any mental health challenges, please reach out to a licensed health professional. Referral resources, crisis lines, and other mental health resources may be found through Take This' website. More information on major depressive disorder may be found through the National Alliance on Mental Illness."
R. Boccamazzo, PsyD ("Doctor B") – Clinical Director, Take This
Takethis.org Nami.org