Der wahre Walter
Der wahre Walter Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Der wahre Walter is a guessing and mystification game for 4 players or better more. Playing time is about 10 minutes per player.
Components
The game material consists of 942 personal statements printed on 157 cards (called Fiches), plus this rulebook. To play you also need writing implements and a stack of note paper of a uniform format, roughly the size of a parking ticket.
Some Fiches are marked with an "M" for statements written from a man's point of view and an "F" for a woman's. If the gender doesn't match the Sphinx: please turn the Fiche over. The statement topics range across everyday subjects such as childhood, dreams, love, sport, and the media.
Setup
Prepare a small scoring table. Write down the names of everyone playing, and next to each name, their handicap points for the first round. Each player receives:
- 2 points for every other player they don't know at all
- 1 point for every other player they only know slightly
- 0 points for players from their close circle of acquaintances
(Knowing your fellow players well gives you certain advantages at WALTERing, so this handicap helps level the playing field.)
The Sphinx
Any player who wants to begin may do so — no pushing, everyone gets a turn as the round goes around the table.
The Sphinx takes a Fiche from the stack and reads statement 1 from the top-facing side out loud and clearly. The Sphinx is not allowed to choose their own Fiche — except when the gender marking ("M" or "F") doesn't match them, in which case they turn the Fiche over.
For example: "As a child I liked to play with everyday objects, most of all with WALTER."
The Sphinx fills in the blacked-out spot (or spots) — WALTER — in the statement however they like. They write their answer down under "1." on their slip of paper, keeping it hidden from the other players. They're welcome to take their time over it.
The Sphinx's revelation — the TRUE WALTER — is at the heart of the game. All the other players try to put themselves in the Sphinx's shoes and forge as convincing an answer as possible: instead of writing their own personal answer, they write a completion they think the Sphinx might have written, one that resembles her — a forgery, a FALSE WALTER.
This sequence repeats twice more: the Sphinx reads statements 2 and 3, and again writes her completion of the blacked-out spot(s) — the TRUE WALTER — while the others try to forge a convincing match. Neat handwriting is appreciated.
Everyone then signs their slip, now bearing three forgeries, and hands it to the Sphinx. She first reads through all the slips silently to herself and checks that she can decipher everything. (If not, she has the writer clear up anything illegible.)
True or Not True — Guessing the Walters
The Sphinx reads out the first statement once more, followed by every submitted WALTER for it, including her own — the TRUE WALTER. The other players try to guess which one is the TRUE WALTER, writing down their guess in a few keywords. Naturally, a player may not guess their own forgery — unless a second, identically worded WALTER is among the choices (which could well turn out to be the true one).
The Sphinx reads out all three statements this way, together with the WALTERs submitted for each. Each time, she shuffles the answer slips and places the TRUE WALTER at a different position among them.
Finally, all the guesses are revealed.
Scoring
You earn one point if you guessed the TRUE WALTER. The Sphinx also earns a point for every correct guess made by her fellow players — rewarding her for an accurate self-portrayal.
You earn one point if you forged well: every guess cast for one of your FALSE WALTERs gives you, the forger, a point.
Multiple Matching WALTERs
Sometimes two or more players submit an identically worded "revelation" for the same blacked-out spot. These are scored as follows:
- Whoever guesses the TRUE WALTER still receives a point in every case.
- The authors of two or more identical WALTERs — whether the Sphinx or a forger — come away empty-handed. Tough luck; answer more originally next time.
The Sphinx must not cause accidental matching WALTERs through careless reading; she has to bring out the fine nuances of what each player wrote. "Piano", "grand piano", and "black piano" are three different WALTERs, and should be read as such.
Fouls
Judge the Sphinx's fouls (mistakes and dishonesty) without mercy: the Sphinx receives not a single point for the statement in question if she commits one.
A foul is:
- Excessively halting or even forgotten reading of a WALTER, which gives it away as a forgery right from the start.
- Telltale comments from the Sphinx about a FALSE WALTER, such as "Nonsense!" or "That's not my style at all!"
- Faulty reading — unless the Sphinx can credibly show that she misread genuinely illegible handwriting in good faith.
- A TRUE WALTER that draws every single guess.
(This last rule exists to stop the Sphinx from working with codes — for example, always answering "steamroller" as the TRUE WALTER regardless of the statement. That would cause surprise on the first statement but would likely draw every guess on statements 2 and 3. Milder, statement-independent patterns in the true answers have the same effect and are equally a foul, even though they may say something charming about the Sphinx as a person, because they ruin the game. That said: if the group happens to agree on your true answer purely by chance, with no codes or insider knowledge involved, take the resulting 0 points as a compliment for excellent play — even famous figures have occasionally been victims of misfortune.)
Additional Notes
You must keep your WALTERs hidden from each other while writing. Open guesses also give away too much, so write your keyword guesses out of sight of the other players and then reveal them all at the same time.
The Sphinx is entirely free in how she portrays herself — she may wrestle honestly with the truth or invent a wild fantasy out of thin air. A TRUE WALTER can be a single word or a whole clause. Some Fiches use variant word forms (such as "WALTERing" or "WALTERed") purely to make a sentence read smoothly; they all just mark a blank that may be filled in however you like.
You must not rush or otherwise disturb the Sphinx while she searches for her answer — she sets the pace during her own turn. A Sphinx who dismisses every statement with "Obviously!" and the most predictable cliché contributes little to the group's fun.
Winning the Game
The object isn't collecting firewood or fancy watches — it's collecting points. Whoever has the most points after a full round, once every player has served as the Sphinx exactly once, wins the game.