Facecards Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preparation
• How to Play the Game
  • Step 1: Pairing
  • Step 2: Guessing & Scoring
  • What Happens If...
• End of the Game
• Variants
  • Secret Agents
  • Improv Talents
  • Risky Moves (for 3-5 players)

Contents

160 cards:

• 142 facecards with pictures of humans, animals, and objects
• 1 camera
• 7 photo albums
• 10 blank cards

Preparation

Set aside the 10 blank cards.

Hint: Use the blank cards to add pictures of yourself, your pets, your relatives, or your colleagues to the game to make it a unique experience for friends and family!

1. Shuffle all facecards and place them face down in a single pile in the center of the table. This is your draw pile. Put the box next to the draw pile.
2. For games with up to 5 players, distribute 7 cards to each player. For games with more players, each player gets 6 cards. Don't reveal your cards to the other players.
3. Each player gets a photo album and places it in front of them.
4. Reveal the top card from the draw pile. The player who most closely resembles the picture is the starting player and receives the camera. Put the revealed card in the box.

How to Play the Game

Step 1: Pairing

1. Each player secretly chooses 2 cards from their hand that make a great pair.

Hint: Pictures that share a trait, such as facial expression, hair style, or nose shape, make great pairs. Pictures might also have other things in common, like background color, country of origin, or historical period. Use your imagination, but to be successful, keep in mind that your pair should be as obvious as possible.

2. Then, each player places one card of their pair face down in front of them. The other card is placed face down in the center of the table. For games with up to 4 players, add 3 face down cards from the draw pile to the cards in the center of the table. For games with 5 or more players, add only 1 card.
3. Now shuffle the cards on the table and lay them out face up so that the player with the camera can see them well. Then, each player turns their other card face up.

Step 2: Guessing & Scoring

1. The current owner of the camera is the starting player. They choose one card from the center of the table and match it to one of the cards in front of a player.

Hint: You should try to match two cards that you think are most likely to make a pair. Feel free to give a reason for your choice. You are not allowed to match your own pair!

2. Next, the card's owner confirms whether the match is correct or not.

• Wrong match? Better luck next time!
• Correct match? Well done! Both players take one of the two pictures and put them in (= underneath) their photo album. Bonus picture: If the pair contains pictures from two different categories (e.g. human + animal), both players receive a bonus picture from the box! (If you run out of pictures in the box, take cards from the draw pile.)

Hint: The three different categories are human, animal, and object. These categories are indicated by the color in the bottom left corner of each picture.

3. Repeat this process in turn order until each player has guessed exactly once. After completing a round of guessing, any remaining cards are put in the box. Each player draws 2 new cards from the draw pile, chooses a new pair of pictures, etc. The camera is passed on to the previous owner's left. The new owner starts the next round of guessing.

What Happens If...

• Everyone guessed correctly: If every player guessed correctly and the final player is left with their own pair, they don't score that round.
• No correct guesses: If no player managed to correctly identify a pair, there is an additional round of guessing with the current cards.

End of the Game

The game ends after each player has been the camera's owner for the same number of rounds. The player with the most pictures in their album wins the game. In case of a tie there are multiple winners.

Players	Rounds as camera owner
3 players	3 rounds
4-5 players	2 rounds
6-7 players	1 round

Variants

Secret Agents

Place both cards of your pair face down in the center of the table, then all cards are shuffled. No additional cards are added. If a player manages to identify a correct pair, the owner of that pair confirms the match. Both players are awarded as usual.

Improv Talents

Distribute 1 less card to each player. At the beginning of each round, players draw a card and place it face up in front of them. Then they choose a card from their hand to form a pair, and place that card face down in the center of the table. The rest of the round is played as usual (add cards from the draw pile, shuffle, etc.)

Risky Moves (for 3-5 players)

Each player creates two picture pairs and places one card of each pair face up in front of them and the other face down in the center of the table. The total number of cards in the center should be at least 9. If there are less, add cards from the draw pile.

After each correct guess, the current player may opt to match an additional pair or pass. If you pass, add all the cards you won this round into your album. If you choose to guess again and you are wrong, your turn ends and you return all cards you won this turn to the box. (If a player correctly guessed your pair, you still get to keep the card you won.) In this variant there are no bonus pictures for combinations of different categories.