Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod: Das große Spiel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Idea
• Components
• Cards
• Before the First Game
• Board
• Setup
• Sequence of Play
  • A. Questions and Answers
    • A.1 Normal Question Card
    • A.2 Risk Question Card
  • B. Rule for Using Bet Chips
  • C. Lingutaurus Fields
    • C.1 Possible Outcomes
• End of Game
• Early End of Game
• Tie
• Notes

Game Idea

Through knowledge or sound judgement, the players move through a maze of language-related questions. For each question, the players choose one of three possible answers, the one they believe is correct. At the same time, each player places a bet chip showing a value of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. A correct answer moves the player forward as many spaces as the chip shows; a wrong answer moves the player back by the same number of spaces. At three points in the maze the Lingutaurus, a bull (a nod to the "Minotaur" of King Minos's legendary labyrinth), lies in wait. It must be overcome by correctly completing quotations. The player who, after 20 questions, has come closest to the exit of the labyrinth wins.

Components

• 1 game board
• 220 question cards, printed on both sides, of which 25 are Lingutaurus cards and 25 are risk question cards
• 30 bet chips in six colours, each colour with values 1 to 5
• 18 tip cards in six colours, each colour with the letters A, B or C
• 3 Lingutaurus tiles

Cards

All cards have a green side and a yellow side. Before the game, the players decide whether to play with the green sides or the yellow sides. When sorting and shuffling, make sure all cards lie with the same colour facing up.

• The 170 normal question cards are shuffled thoroughly and form a draw stack.
• The 25 risk question cards (those marked with an exclamation mark) are also shuffled thoroughly. Caution: risk questions can be very easy on the one hand, and devilishly hard on the other.
• Count out 17 normal question cards and 3 risk question cards and shuffle these 20 cards together. They form the question card stack for this game. It is placed beside the game board. The remaining question and risk question cards are not needed in this game.
• The 25 Lingutaurus cards (the ones with the bull) are shuffled and placed beside the game board. In a normal game only three of these cards come into play, in exceptional cases a few more.

Before the First Game

Carefully punch out the 3 Lingutaurus tiles, the 30 round bet chips and the 18 tip cards from the punch-out sheets.

Board

The game board shows a round maze. The maze's passages contain a red Ariadne thread, which forms loops at regular intervals. Each loop is a movement field (Lauffeld). The arrows in the loops show the direction in which a player continues moving from a field.

The board also has the following areas:

• Tip card fronts: the letters A, B and C.
• Tip card backs: the word TIPP.
• Question cards: the place for the question card stack.
• Lingutaurus cards: the place for the Lingutaurus card stack.
• Bet chips: each colour has its own five fields on the board, on which the unused chips of that colour are placed.
• Niches for game pieces: six niches in the centre of the maze.
• Start field: the field in the centre of the maze, from which the game pieces start.
• Exit: the end of the maze.

Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the 3 Lingutaurus tiles on the fields of the board that are marked with a bull.
3. Each player chooses a game piece and receives the three tip cards and the five bet chips of the same colour.
4. Each player places their five bet chips face up on the fields of the board that are provided for chips of their colour.
5. Each player places their game piece in one of the six niches in the centre of the maze.
6. Each player places their three tip cards face down in front of them.

Sequence of Play

The player who knows with which words Schiller's "Glocke" (The Bell) begins takes the role of the first reader (Vorleser). If no such person can be found among the players, or if several players know the beginning of Schiller's "Glocke", then the player who has the longest command of the German language begins.

A. Questions and Answers

A.1 Normal Question Card

• The reader takes the top card from the question stack. If it is a normal question card (that is, not a risk question card), the reader first reads the question aloud, then the three possible answers (A, B and C).
• All players except the reader perform two actions:
  • Each player places one of their tip cards face down in front of them, showing the letter A, B or C of the answer they choose.
  • Each player takes one bet chip of their colour from the board and places it face up in front of them. This determines how many spaces they move forward for a correct answer, or back for a wrong answer. A bet chip must be placed; abstaining is not possible.
• As soon as all players have placed their tip and bet chips, each player turns over their tip card and shows whether they chose A, B or C.
• The reader then says which of the three answers is correct. The correct answer is printed in bold, and its letter appears in white inside a black circle on the card.
• A player who guessed the correct answer moves forward as many fields in the maze as their bet chip shows. A player who guessed a wrong answer moves back by the same number of fields. More than one game piece may stand on the same field.

Example: Answer "B" is correct. Player Mireille and player Sebastian both guessed correctly. Mireille has a bet chip showing 4 in front of her, Sebastian a chip showing 2. Player David guessed wrong and has a chip showing 3 in front of him. Mireille moves 4 fields forward, Sebastian moves 2 fields forward, and David must move 3 fields back.

Note: At the start of the game, the game pieces begin on the start field. Four further fields lie behind the start field. These are needed because a player who answers wrongly may have to move backwards past the start field. A player who has to move back so far that the four fields behind the start field do not suffice places their game piece in a niche. At the next attempt, as consolation, that player may again start their game piece from the start field. A player who has to move back behind the start field, but not as far as the niche, may not, at the next question, move their game piece onto the start field. Instead, they must start from their current position.

• When all players have moved their game pieces, the game goes on to the next round. The new reader is the player to the left of the previous reader.

A.2 Risk Question Card

• Before reading the question, the reader must inform the other players (before reading the question) that this is a risk question.
• For risk questions, the players must choose a bet chip before they know the question. Only after every player has chosen a bet chip does the reader read the question and the three possible answers.
• The players then place their tip cards face down. Everything else proceeds as described for normal question cards in Part A.1.

B. Rule for Using Bet Chips

• Each player has five bet chips, with values from 1 to 5. For each question, one of these chips must be placed. Used chips are placed by the player face down in front of them.
• A used chip may only be used again after the player has placed the last of their five chips of their own colour.
• Unused chips lie on the fields of the board of the matching colour. If no bet chip of a player's own colour lies on the board any more, all five of that player's already used chips are placed back on the board.
• The player then again has a free choice among all five chip values.

C. Lingutaurus Fields

• The Lingutaurus is a wildly snorting language bull that blocks the passage of the maze at three points. The Lingutaurus can only be overcome by correct answers to Lingutaurus questions.
• Note: All Lingutaurus questions consist of incomplete quotations, and the missing part must be chosen correctly.
• The first player (hereafter called the "Word Torero", Wort-Torero) whose game piece reaches a field with a Lingutaurus tile may not simply jump over it. The game piece must stop on the tile, regardless of how far the player might otherwise have been allowed to move.
• The current reader then draws the top card of the Lingutaurus card stack and reads aloud the question and the three possible solutions.
• The player whose game piece stands on the Lingutaurus tile must answer the Lingutaurus question. In this case, bet chips are not needed.
• The affected player and all other players (except the reader) choose a tip card and place it face down. Once everyone has done so, the tip cards are revealed and the reader states the correct answer.

C.1 Possible Outcomes

There are several possibilities:

1. The Word Torero answered the question correctly. The Word Torero may move their game piece three fields forward, and all other players get nothing. The Lingutaurus tile is removed from the board and set aside.

2. The Word Torero chose a wrong answer.

   • a) First, the answer of the player whose game piece is furthest back is checked. If that player's answer is correct, they may move their game piece three fields forward. By doing so they also release the Word Torero, who may then move their game piece only one (!) field further. The Lingutaurus tile is removed from the board and set aside.
   • b) If the answer of the player furthest back is not correct, the second-to-last player takes their turn. If that player's answer is correct, they may move their game piece two fields forward. The Word Torero moves their game piece one field further, and the Lingutaurus tile is removed from the board and set aside.
   • c) If the answer of the second-to-last player is also not correct, then in a game with 4 to 6 players the third-to-last player takes their turn. If that player's answer is correct, they may move their game piece one field forward. Here too, the Word Torero moves their game piece one field further, and the Lingutaurus tile is removed from the board and set aside.
   • d) If the answer of the third-to-last player is also not correct, the reader draws a new Lingutaurus card, and the Lingutaurus procedure begins again from the start.
   • e) In a game with only two players, the following applies: if the Word Torero fails at their task, the player who is behind may always move their game piece three fields forward, but of course only if they chose the correct answer. If neither player chose the correct answer, a new Lingutaurus card is revealed and the whole process begins anew, until a Lingutaurus question is answered correctly.

3. Cleared Lingutaurus fields. A Lingutaurus field whose Lingutaurus tile has already been removed presents no obstacle to the following players. Cleared fields count, when moving game pieces, like any normal field on the board.

Translator's note: In Part C.1, item 3, the German text calls the tile a "Lingutaurus-Kärtchen" (small card) rather than a "Lingutaurus-Plättchen" (tile), as used everywhere else. It is rendered here as "Lingutaurus tile" for consistency.

End of Game

The game ends when the stack of 20 question cards has been used up. The player who has come closest to the exit of the maze wins.

Early End of Game

The game ends early when a player's game piece reaches the last field at the exit of the maze.

Tie

If, at the end, several players have come equally far, or if several players reach the exit in the same turn, then all of them may consider themselves winners.

Notes

Strategy: When choosing bet chips, one should place the high numbers (for example 4 or 5) on rounds where one is very sure of having chosen the correct answer.

Risk-marked cards: For risk cards, players must commit to a bet before they have heard the question. A peculiarity of risk cards is that under some circumstances they can be very easy to answer, for example when a person from Hesse is asked a question about the Hessian dialect, or a person from Bavaria is confronted with a question about a Bavarian idiom. On the other hand, the risk cards also include questions that are so tricky and difficult that one can really only guess.

For Austrians and Swiss: The game also contains questions relating to peculiarities of the Austrian and German-Swiss language. In purely Austrian rounds, we recommend removing the questions relating to Austrian language peculiarities from the game and replacing them with a new card from the large stack of the remaining cards. The same applies to purely Swiss rounds, for questions relating to Swiss language peculiarities.

Plastic insert: The plastic insert of the box can be separated along the perforation line, and the narrow part can be used as a card holder. This is particularly useful if the players want to play a longer game with more than the usual 20 question and risk cards.