Connec'Team

Connec'Team Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

98 Idea cards (yellow)
6 Objective cards (blue)
6 Help cards (pink)

Setup

The players play together and form one single team. Each member of the team takes:

one Help card (A), placed face up (active side) in front of them,
some Idea cards at random:

Number of players	Number of cards per player
3	8
4	6
5	5
6	4

The 2-player variant is on page 9 (see "2-Player Variant" below).

Take 3 Objective cards (C) at random and place them face up in view of everyone. The remaining Objective cards are returned to the box; they will not be used for this game.

Determine the team member who will start the game: the Captain. Place the box lid next to them. The lid is considered the scoring zone (D): the area where the validated Idea and Objective cards are placed to count your points at the end of the game.

Course of a Game

A game takes place in 2 distinct phases.

1. Creating connections

During this phase, starting with the Captain, each team member must in turn place one Idea card on the table:

Either by creating a new connection: the Idea card is placed apart from the other connections already on the table.
Or by specifying an existing connection: the Idea card is placed on an existing connection made up of one or more Idea cards.

NB: a connection can be made up of as many Idea cards as you wish. Each Idea card of a connection must be visible to the players. It is entirely possible to consult them by spreading them slightly. However, each card must stay in the connection where it was played.

Once everyone has played all their Idea cards, phase 2 begins.

2. Validating connections

Before starting this phase, discard all connections containing only a single Idea card. There will therefore be as many words to find as there are connections of at least 2 Idea cards on the table.

During this phase, the active player will connect with the teammate sitting to their left. This is called a connection pair.

At any time during this phase, the team members can discuss the connections they are able to make.

It is however forbidden to announce an answer or an example of an answer that could correspond to a connection.

The Captain starts the phase by selecting the connection to validate, in agreement with the other team members.

Once the connection is chosen, the connection pair may take several seconds to think. Then each member of the pair enters into connection: they look each other in the eyes, put their index fingers together, and count up to 3 aloud, then announce, at the same time, the word of their choice.

Two cases are possible:

The words are different. The connection has failed. The team does not score a point. Discard all the cards of the connection in question.

The words are the same. The connection is validated! The team scores 1 point. To symbolise this, take one Idea card of the connection in question and place it in your scoring zone. The rest of the cards of the connection are discarded. If, at the same time, you validate an Objective card, you score 1 additional point. Take that Objective card and place it in your scoring zone.

NB: If you meet several Objective cards in a single successful connection, you still score only one point. Choose the Objective card you take and place it with the other two. The other Objective cards stay in place and will have to be validated later.

Important

The announced word must not be present on the Idea cards of the connection, nor be a word made of the same root (e.g. Cuisinier for a connection made of Cuisine and Métier is not allowed). The word must not be a composed word, a verb, a first name, a proper noun, etc. It must be related to the Idea cards making up the connection. Any failure to respect these rules means the point is not scored.

Then move on to a second connection to guess. The team member to the left of the previous active player becomes the active player, chooses a connection and tries to connect with their neighbour to the left. Proceed in exactly the same way as for the first connection. The Validation of connections phase thus continues until there are no more connections of Idea cards on the table.

Help cards

A team member may deactivate their Help card to assist a connection pair. In this case, the three players put their index fingers together and count up to 3, then announce, at the same time, the word they think of. If two of the three players announced the same word, the connection is validated. If no player announced the same word, it is a failure.

(Card illustration: Help card shown "Face active" and, when used, "Face inactive".)

End of the game

When there are no more connections on the table and therefore no more words to guess, the team calculates its score, which corresponds to the number of cards in the scoring zone (1 point per Objective card and per Idea card).

Refer to the connection scale (page 12, reproduced at the end of this document) to learn your team's level.

Objective Cards

Validate the first connection of the game. Put this card in your scoring zone when you validate the first connection of your team. In case of failure on the first connection, discard this objective.

Validate the last connection of the game. Put this card in your scoring zone when you validate the last connection. In case of failure on the last connection, discard this objective.

Validate a 3-player connection. For this objective, a third player must deactivate their Help card and join the connection pair. Put this card in your scoring zone if the three players all announce the same word at the same time. In case of failure, you can retry this objective throughout the game, until you succeed, as long as players still have active Help cards.

Validate a connection of 3 cards or more. Put this card in your scoring zone if you validate a connection made up of 3 Idea cards or more. In case of failure, you can retry this objective throughout the game, until you succeed, as long as there remain connections made up of 3 Idea cards or more in play.

Validate 2 affiliated connections (x2). Put this card in your scoring zone if you validate two affiliated connections. In case of failure, you can retry this objective throughout the game, until you succeed, as long as there remain connections in play.

2-Player Variant

Each player takes 6 Idea cards. Create a pile of 12 cards, face down. The game proceeds normally with the following exception: as soon as a player plays a card, they must take the first card of the pile and add it to their hand. When the pile of 12 is exhausted, the players simply play with the cards remaining in their hands. Do not use the objective Validate a connection with 3 players nor the Help cards.

The Challenges

Here is a new way to spice up your games. Announce a theme at the start of a game and go! Validate connections in relation to the theme (characters, names, objects, places...).

Choose a theme or invent your own! Suggested themes: Film titles; Literature; Geek culture; Tales and legends; Asia; Adults only; (two blank lines for your own themes).

The Challenges sheet can be downloaded from www.grrre-games.com.

Validate connections in the chosen theme

Result	Condition
Failure	fewer than 3 connections validated in the chosen theme, or score < 8 points
Good team	score 8 points or more and 3 connections validated in the chosen theme
Excellent team	score 8 points or more and 4 connections validated in the chosen theme
Total symbiosis	score 8 points or more and 5 connections validated in the chosen theme

The Missions

Playable from 3 players. The missions represent a succession of trials that the team must succeed together in order to progress and become the supreme Connec'Team! In the absence of specific mention in the missions, the rules of the game apply normally.

The Missions sheet can be downloaded from www.grrre-games.com.

Each mission has a failure condition and three success levels (Good team / Excellent team / Total symbiosis), by score:

Mission 1: Assisted connections

Validate the 3 objectives in play.

Failure: the team fails to validate the 3 objectives, or score < 6.
Good team 6-10; Excellent team 11-13; Total symbiosis 14-15.

Mission 2: Extended connections

Succeed in 3 connections of 3 Idea cards or more.

Failure: the team fails to validate 3 connections of 3 cards or more, or score < 6.
Good team 6-10; Excellent team 11-13; Total symbiosis 13-14 (as printed).

Mission 3: Blurred connections

Play without communicating during the Creation of connections phase.

Failure: the team communicates during the Creation of connection phase, or score < 6.
Good team 6-10; Excellent team 11-13; Total symbiosis 14-15.

Mission 4: Targeted connections

Set up 4 objectives instead of 3 and validate them all.

Failure: the team fails to validate the 4 objectives, or score < 9.
Good team 9-12; Excellent team 13-14; Total symbiosis 15-16.

Mission 5: Instant connections

When a connection pair fails a connection, one of the two must put their Help card on its inactive side.

Failure: if a player must deactivate their Help card and it is already on its inactive side, or score < 8.
Good team 8-10; Excellent team 11-13; Total symbiosis 14-15.

Mission 6: Programmed connections

Validate 4 connections of 2 cards and validate the 3 objectives drawn at the start of the game.

Failure: the team fails to validate the 3 objectives as well as the 4 connections of 2 Idea cards, or score < 10.
Good team 10-11; Excellent team 12-13; Total symbiosis 14-15.

Mission 7: Telepathic connections

The objective Validate a connection with 3 players must not be used. Play without Help cards, and without communicating verbally and gesturally during the Creation of connections and Validation of connections phases. During the Validation of connections, the active player alone decides which connection is to be validated by the connection pair.

Failure: the team communicates during the game, or score < 10.
Good team 10-11; Excellent team 12-13; Total symbiosis 14-15.

Connection Scale

Score	Level
14-15	Exceptional! Your team forms only one and the same person.
11-13	Fabulous! You have reached the cosmic connection!
8-10	You are connected, all of you together; you have reached the collective connection!
6-7	It's a good start, you have reached the instinctive connection.
4-5	You will need several more games together to establish a true connection.
0-3	You certainly come from a different planet, with opposite cultures and customs.