Unplug Play

Each player takes a piece of paper and draws a line down the middle. On the left side, each player should make a list of three items, two words each. The first item should be someone or something funny. The second should be something odd or strange. The third should be something disgusting. Remember, each item must be exactly two words long. Players should leave the right side of the page blank to write down the other players’ responses while the game is being played.

Next, players should create the “Silence Cards.” These are index cards which will be handed out to every player in the game before each of the four rounds. There should be four sets of silence cards. Each set will contain a number of cards equivalent to the number of players in the game.

Three of the sets of cards will all be blank index cards. Clip each of these three sets together with a paper clip or rubber band. Before clipping the fourth set together, place an S on the back of every card but one, which will remain blank. Shuffle that pile well so no one will have any idea which is the blank card. Now clip that pile together as well, and then shuffle each of the four piles, keeping them face down so nobody can see the S pile. Then take the clips off and stack the cards on top of each other in one big pile.

Players must attempt to identify a funny item, an odd item, and a disgusting item from three different players.

Before each round, players each take one card from the top of the pile without showing anyone what they picked. Each player looks at the back of his or her card privately. If players have a blank card, they will proceed as normal. If a player has an S on his or her card, he or she must remain silent for that round.

For the first round, each player has the choice of saying one of his three items out loud. It doesn’t matter which—funny, odd, or disgusting. At the count of three, all players say their two-word items aloud at the same time.

IMPORTANT: In this game, you want people to hear your item, so say it loud . . . but you also want to hear the other items being said at the same time.

Once players are done shouting their items, they write down, on the right side of the page, any items they heard from the other players.

TIP: If you managed to recognize who said what, then put that down next to the items as well. Most of the time, you may be able to focus on only one other player, but there’s certainly a chance you will hear more.

Round two begins when players each take another card from the pile. Again, if players don’t have an S on the back of their card, they must shout out the next item at the count of three with everyone else. There are four rounds, so players must shout out each item at least once.

IMPORTANT: Once the S cards come out, whichever round it happens to be, there’s no reason to select cards from the pile in the following rounds.

NOTE: If you are the unlucky one to NOT get an S card in all four rounds, you will be shouting one of your items twice . . . and for one of those times, it will be ALL BY YOURSELF while everyone listens and chuckles.

At the end of the four rounds, players must choose and circle three items as their final guesses. From the items heard in the four rounds, players guess one item from each type: one funny, one odd, and one disgusting . . . and each one should be from a different player in the game in order to earn the bonus points! Players take turns reading their guesses aloud, and the other players confirm whether the guesses were correct in order to tally the points.

Players earn 1 point for guessing an item correctly as long as he or she identifies the correct category and the specific player from whom it came. A player also gets 1 point every time another player guesses his or her item correctly. (For example, if Player 1 guessed that Player 2 had Moldy cheese as her disgusting item, but Player 2 actually had it as her odd item, neither player earns any points.)

NOTE: If two people manage to come up with the same item for any of the types, then the guesser gets to choose which player he or she wants to go with for that item. Both the guesser and the player who shouted the word get 1 point for a correct match . . . but players do not earn bonus points if they have more than one item from the same person or if they have two items of the same type.

If your three selected items were from three different players and the three different categories (funny, odd, and disgusting), you get bonus points. That number is equivalent to the total number of players in the game. So, with seven total players in the game, if you achieve the bonus objective, you get seven extra points!

NOTE: The player who shouted his or her item out in complete silence has a point advantage ONLY for that item since everyone will most likely pick that one item. However, most people won’t even listen to him or her after that, knowing that they can’t pick any more of that player’s items if they want to earn the bonus points. In addition, the other players have another advantage over that player for bonus points since they are all one step closer to having three different types.