El Macanudo
El Macanudo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up the Table
Component captions from the printed page: Setting up the game table. Central board (Tablero central). Drawing cards (Tarjetas de dibujos). Category cards (Tarjetas de categorías). Score track with pawns (Marcador de puntajes). Mini-boards (Minitableros): individual versions of the central board. The characters serve as a reference for identifying where the drawings are located when the vote is made.
Each player takes a mini-board and a game token, a pencil and a sheet of paper. Place the large board on the table (in a position where everyone can see it), the deck of category cards, and the pawns on the score track (one per player).
The player who can name the most characters from the Macanudo comic strip starts the turn. They place nine drawings on the central board and determine the category for the turn. To determine the category they have two options: turn over a category card on the board, or invent a personal category (see About the Categories).
Once the category is determined, all players, at the same time and in secret, choose one drawing and write on their sheet of paper a clue that belongs to the category to refer to it. The clue can be a word, a sentence, or even several sentences, depending on the category in play: songs, phrases, characters, dates, and so on. Your goal is to get some other player (but never all of them) to guess the drawing you chose from this clue. The clue remains secret until you take the role of interpreter.
Once everyone has written their clue, the player who started the turn takes the role of interpreter and reads their clue aloud, without saying which drawing it refers to. The other players must determine in secret which of the drawings on the board the interpreter is referring to. Each player marks their choice on their mini-board, keeping it hidden from the other players. Once everyone has marked their choice, and the interpreter has marked the correct option on their own mini-board, everyone reveals their mini-boards to compare. Points are counted on the score track as follows:
- If everyone guessed the correct drawing: Interpreter: 0.
- If nobody guessed the correct drawing: Players: 2.
- If someone guessed the drawing but not everyone did: Interpreter: +1 for each player who guessed. Players: +1 (those who guessed).
Once the points have been counted, the role of interpreter passes to the player on the right. That player reads their clue aloud, the other players vote, the points are counted, and the round continues in the same way until every player has taken the role of interpreter. If a player did not write any clue, they do not take the role of interpreter, but they do not lose their right to vote when the other players are interpreters.
The player to the right of the player who started the previous turn chooses the new category, places nine new drawings on the board, and starts the new turn.
The first player to reach 25 points is the winner.
About the Categories
The game comes with a deck of category cards. On each turn, the player in charge may choose to turn over one of these cards at random or to invent a category as they wish. The categories included in the game are:
- Songs
- Sayings, proverbs and famous phrases
- Moods
- Date
- Books
- Places
- Brands and slogans
- Historical moments
- Films
- Characters
- TV shows and series
- One word starting with the letter … (the player who turned over the category decides this letter)
On each turn, players must think of a clue that belongs to the category in play to refer to one of the drawings. This "clue" can be a word, a sentence, a number, a sound, or any kind of expression. The nature of the phrase is determined by the category itself. The level of specificity depends on the judgment of the players at the table.
Examples printed in the rulebook:
- Songs: "Sin gamulán" / "Hace frío y estoy lejos de caaaaasa" ("It's cold and I'm far from hoooome") / "Tanana naaaaa, tana naaaaaa" (the title may be said, a part of the song may be sung, or it may be hummed).
- Historical moments: "Guerra fría" (Cold War) / "Argentina gana la Copa del mundo en el mundial 86" (Argentina wins the World Cup at the 1986 World Cup) / "Caída de las torres gemelas" (Fall of the Twin Towers). The level of specificity is open.
- Dates: "17 de octubre del 45" (17 October 1945) / "San Valentín" (Valentine's Day) / "Domingo de Pascua" (Easter Sunday) / "El cumpleaños de mi Papá" (My dad's birthday).
- Words starting with P: "Presidente" (President) / "Pepino" (cucumber) / "Papafrita" (french fries).
- Onomatopoeia: "Burp" / "Guau" (woof) / "eyyyy".
The rulebook recommends starting with the category cards to break the ice and loosen up. It then strongly suggests that groups create their own categories to suit the players, friend groups and contexts, as these are more fun.
More Categories
If you are short of ideas, or want some new categories, the rulebook offers these (the printed page leaves space for players to note down their favourites):
- Where does it come from?
- What is he thinking?
- What was Liniers thinking when he drew this strip?
- Animals
- Surnames
- Bands and singers
- Cities
- Things in a lady's handbag or a gentleman's pocket
- Children's stories
- Athletes
- Scientific disciplines
- Lines from a song
- People we know
- Games
- Political leaders
- School subjects, primary and secondary
- Fears
- Moments in the life of…
- Musicals
- Works of art
- Trades and professions
- Onomatopoeia
- Websites
- Five-letter words
- Argentine films
- Characters from TV soap operas
- Food dishes
- Family relationships
- Zodiac signs
My Categories
The printed page is a blank worksheet with numbered lines 1 to 20, on which players write their own categories. It contains no rules text.