Captain Obvious Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component List
• Setup
• Round Steps
  • Step 1: Prepare!
  • Step 2: Write!
  • Step 3: Pass the Boards!
  • Step 4: Cross Out!
  • Step 5: Guess!
  • Step 6: Check Results!
• End Game
• Writing the Sentence
• Gameplay Example
• Variants
  • Variable Game Length
  • Variable Sentence Length
  • Switch Up the Editors
  • Faster/Controlled Round Length
  • Three Player Game

Component List

• 10 player boards
• 10 markers
• 55 cards
• 1 die
• 64 point tokens
• Active Player badge
• This rulebook

Setup

• Every player takes a board and a marker, then signs their name on their board.
• Place the point tokens and the die nearby, within reach of all players.
• Shuffle all the cards together and place them nearby.
• The player who first decided it would be a good idea to play Captain Obvious takes the badge and becomes the first Active Player.

Then, follow the steps below!

Round Steps

Step 1: Prepare!

The Active Player picks a number from 1 to 7, then draws and reveals the top card of the deck. The word corresponding to the picked number is the Current Word for this round.

The word list printed on the card's illustration is:

1. POWDER
2. ROOF
3. NUMBER
4. SNAKE
5. DUST
6. BRAKE
7. PAGE

The Active Player rolls the die. The result is the Sentence Length: the number of words that must be included in the sentence (no more, no less). The Current Word is included in this count and must be used exactly once.

Step 2: Write!

In secret, all players simultaneously write a Sentence on their board that follows these simple rules:

• It contains the Current Word (the word can only be used once! It may be pluralized, but it must remain a noun!)
• It has the correct Sentence Length (all words count, including the articles!)
• It must be grammatically correct and must make sense (but it doesn't need to be true or grounded in reality!)

Remember! Aim for the sentence to be obvious! Any doubts? Consult the 'Writing the Sentence' rules on the next page.

Step 3: Pass the Boards!

All players pass their boards to the player on their left (clockwise). Everyone should now have a board with a Sentence they did not write!

Step 4: Cross Out!

All players cross out 1 word from the sentence on the board just passed to them. Try to cross out the word that will be the hardest to guess!

• You can't cross out the Current Word!
• You can't cross out any articles (a, an, the)!

In this step, aim to make the sentence not obvious anymore.

Step 5: Guess!

During this step, each player acts in turn, beginning with the current Active Player:

• The Active Player reads the sentence on the board they are holding. When doing this, they replace the word that they crossed out with a "BEEEEP" sound (or something similar).
• All the remaining players (except for the one who wrote the sentence) try to guess the missing word, all at the same time! All guessing happens simultaneously and can begin right after the Active Player starts reading the sentence.

First come first serve! When someone shouts a correct answer the turn is over and no more guessing is allowed for that sentence. Will you be the first to shout out the correct missing word!?

Please note: Each player can only guess once but there is no penalty for guessing wrong! You need to shout out your guess before other players, but you also need to be certain about your choice! You have to guess the exact word. If the crossed-out word is "GO", the answer "WENT" is wrong. Likewise, if the crossed-out word is "DO" then the answer "DOES" is wrong, and so on.

• If the word was guessed correctly, both the guesser and the writer of the sentence are awarded 1 point. If no one guessed correctly, the Active Player (who crossed out the word and read the sentence) is awarded 1 point.
• If 2 or more players shout the correct word at the same time, they each get 1 point. If you are not sure (or cannot agree) who was first, consider it a tie.
• The Active Player passes the badge to the left.

Repeat STEP 5 until every player has had a chance to read a sentence! After that, proceed to STEP 6!

Step 6: Check Results!

All players count the points they've accumulated during the game. If any player has 10 or more points, the game ends. Otherwise, return to STEP 1!

End Game

The game ends once one or more players have at least 10 points. The player who accumulated the most points, wins and becomes Captain Obvious!

In case of a tie, all tied players share their victory!

Writing the Sentence

• The CURRENT WORD can only be used ONCE!
• The sentence must be grammatically correct and must make sense. You must write a sentence that has both a proper structure and an actual meaning. It does not, however, need to be true or grounded in reality.
• The Current Word must remain a noun. You cannot transform a noun into an adjective. Likewise, you cannot use words derived from the Current Word. For example, you cannot change the word "Cheese" to "Cheesy".
• Singular or plural. When the Current Word is, for example, "Dog" you can use "Dog" or "Dogs" as you wish.
• All words count, including the articles a, an, and the. "The dog will not go to the park" is an 8-word sentence.

Gameplay Example

The Current Word is "computer" and every player writes a 5-word sentence, then passes their board to the neighbor on their left. Marta is holding the board with a sentence written by Margaret, which is "MY COMPUTER IS VERY SLOW". Marta crosses out the word SLOW.

When Marta reads the sentence, they say out loud: "My computer is very BEEEEP." Immediately, all other players (except Margaret, who wrote the sentence) call out a word that they think is the one Marta crossed out.

Vlad is first to guess the missing word slow, so Vlad gets 1 point. Margaret also gets 1 point, because they wrote an obvious sentence! If no one had guessed the crossed-out word, Marta would have gotten 1 point and no one else would have gotten any points at all.

Variants

Variable Game Length

Your group can decide to play any number of rounds, changing the number of points required to win, for example, to 15 (to make the game longer) or to 5 (to make it shorter). Some groups don't track points at all – this is up to you!

Variable Sentence Length

A player chooses the sentence length for everyone to use. Alternatively, the player with the fewest points does this.

Switch Up the Editors

Before the players pass the boards to their neighbors, they agree to pass the boards one, two, or three times so the writers can have their sentences edited by a different player each round.

Faster/Controlled Round Length

During the writing part of the round, players can set a timer to 1 or 2 minutes. This can be used to increase the challenge of the game or maintain a steadier and more balanced pace among players.

Three Player Game

• The game lasts until any player accumulates 10 points.
• In every round, the players alternate between passing the boards to their left and right.
• The player guessing has 2 chances to guess the word.
• If the guesser succeeds on their first try, the guesser and the writer of the sentence receive 2 points each.
• If the guesser succeeds on their second try, the guesser and the writer of the sentence receive 1 point each.
• If the word is not successfully guessed, the Active Player receives 2 points.