TIME’S UP

WHAT YOU NEED: The cards that come with the game, a piece of paper, a pencil, and either an hourglass or a stopwatch.

TYPE OF GAME: A guessing game.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Anyone, no matter their age.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TIME’S UP:

Time’s Up is a game that can only be played with teams. It has really simple rules, so everyone can jump right in and start playing. The main goal is to guess as many famous people as you can before time runs out. The game is made up of 3 rounds, and each round has different rules for guessing. Each team has to try and guess as many famous people as they can based on the cards they have.

STARTING THE GAME:

First things first, let’s gather up some friends and form teams of 2 or 3 players. Make sure that each team is spread out around the table, with no teammates sitting right next to each other. Now, deal out a total of 40 cards to everyone. Once that’s done, give each player two more cards. Here’s where it gets interesting – pick a color, either blue or yellow, at random.

Every card will have a name written in both blue and yellow, but only the names in the chosen color really matter for this game. The other color can be ignored completely. Take a look at your cards and choose two that you want to get rid of. These cards will be discarded and placed back in the box.

All the cards that are left in your hand, as well as the other players’ hands, should be collected and shuffled together to create the deck of cards for the game’s three rounds. And that’s it!

Get Ready to Play!

Ready for some fun? Let me tell you all about how the game works. It’s super easy to play, and you’re going to love it!

First things first, let’s talk about the gameplay. When you play this game, you have 30 seconds to make your teammates guess who you’re thinking of. It’s a race against the clock, so you’ll have to think fast!

Here’s how it works: one player from your team will draw a card. But shh, don’t say the character’s name out loud! You want to keep it a secret. Instead, you need to give your teammates clues to help them guess. It’s like a puzzle that you have to solve together!

The player with the card will do their best to help their teammates figure out the character. They might give hints, act things out, or use gestures. Get creative and have fun with it!

Remember, though, you only have 30 seconds. That’s not a lot of time, so make every second count. Work together, think fast, and try to guess as many characters as you can before time runs out.

So, are you ready to start playing? Get your team together, grab a deck of cards, and let the guessing begin! Have a blast and enjoy the excitement of trying to figure out all those characters. Good luck!

So, here’s the deal: when it’s my turn to guess in the first round, I can talk as much as I want to try and get my team to guess the character’s name. But here’s the catch: I can’t actually say the name or any part of it, not even a single letter! And I definitely can’t just give up and skip a card if I can’t figure it out. Nope, not allowed! Once the 30 seconds are up, my team gets to keep the cards they’ve guessed correctly. Then it’s the other team’s turn, and we keep going like that until all the cards have been guessed. Once that’s done, we tally up the cards we’ve each guessed, collect them all, shuffle ’em, and get ready for the second round.

In the second round, things get even trickier. Now, I have to make people guess with only one word. Yeah, you heard me right – just one single word! It might sound tough, but here’s the secret: the cards are the same as in the first round. So, if I paid attention and remembered the clues from earlier, I’ll have a better shot at winning!

When it’s the third round, I can only use gestures to act out the personalities! I need to be smart so that people can guess quickly. It’s better to stand up to make miming easier. Even though I can’t speak, I can use sound effects.

In the second and third rounds, I have the option to get rid of a card (without showing it) if I can’t make anyone guess it, but it will come back in the next turns.

Game Over!

When the third round is over, we need to tally up the points each team has earned throughout the game.

VARIATIONS

Let’s talk about some ways to make the game more interesting and fair, depending on the number of players and their experience. Feel free to adjust the 30-second timer to suit your needs.

If you have a mix of 2-player and 3-player teams in a game with 5 or 7 players, it’s best to follow these special rules:

• There will be no more teams. Each player will guess for their left neighbor.
• Both players will score points for correctly guessed cards. Place these cards between the two players.
• After guessing, it’s not the player to your left who guesses next (since they just played). Instead, it’s the player after them.
• At the end of each round, a player’s score is determined by the number of cards between them and each of their neighbors.