Fiction
Fiction Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Lie-brarian's Setup
- 1 Dry-erase marker
- 1 Book card (from deck of 56)
- 1 Lie-brarian board
- 60 Clue tokens
Guessers' Setup
- 1 Dry-erase marker
- 10 Guess boards (5 blue, 5 tan)
- 1 Alphabet board
- 3 Fact/Fiction tokens
- 10 minute timer (not provided)
2-8 players, 20 minutes, ages 10+.
Prologue
The Lie-brarian:
- Chooses a word that is highlighted in yellow from the book card and writes it on the top of the Lie-brarian board.
- Shares a letter that is in the word with the Guessers but not where in the word it appears.
- Starts the 10-minute timer and begins play!
1. Guess
The team guesses a 5-letter English word that is not a proper noun. All 5 letters must be unique. They write the guess on a blue guess board, hand the guess board to the Lie-brarian, and pause the timer.
The Guessers may continue discussing while the timer is paused.
Examples of invalid guesses:
- FROGS / TIGER — valid guesses (marked correct)
- TEXAS — invalid: proper noun
- ONTOP — invalid: more than one word
- FYKLI — invalid: not a real word
- CHAUD — invalid: not English
- TREES — invalid: duplicate letters
- FRIEND — invalid: more than 5 letters
2. Deceive
Record Correct Clues
The Lie-brarian writes the guess in the first slot on their board and records honest clues in the top half of the square (the private, Lie-brarian-only half):
- ✓ (check mark) — if that letter is in the same position as in the secret word.
- ✗ (X) — if that letter does not appear anywhere in the secret word.
- ~ (wavy line) — if that letter is in the secret word, but in a different position.
Worked example — if the secret word was READY and the guess was ENTRY, the correct clues would be:
| Secret letter | Guess letter | Clue |
|---|---|---|
| R | E | ~ Correct letter, wrong spot |
| E | N | ✗ Letter not in secret word |
| A | T | ✗ Letter not in secret word |
| D | R | ~ Correct letter, wrong spot |
| Y | Y | ✓ Correct letter, correct spot |
Use the alphabet board to record clues about what letters may or may not be in the secret word.
Change Exactly One Clue
The Lie-brarian then must choose exactly one clue to lie about, changing any single clue (✗, ~, or ✓) into any other clue.
The Lie-brarian records the new set of clues (with exactly one lie) in the bottom half of the square (the public half shared with the Guessers) and circles their lie (marked with a megaphone icon).
Share the Clues
First, double-check that the honest clues are correct, and that one clue has been changed in the bottom half.
Set the Guess board back in front of the Guessers and put the appropriate clue tokens under each letter. Then unpause the timer.
Fact/Fiction Tokens
The Guessers have 3 Fact/Fiction tokens to use. Before making their next guess, they may choose to use one. They point to one letter from the most recent guess. The Lie-brarian honestly places the Fact/Fiction token next to that letter with the appropriate side up. Fact if it is an honest clue. Fiction if it is a lie.
Notes on Words
The words all appear in the matching book, but aren't necessarily thematically linked. The words may be plural. Yellow words do not contain duplicate letters. Archaic or very uncommon words have not been used.
Halftime
After the Guessers make 5 guesses or the 10-minute timer expires, it's halftime.
- Discard any unused blue guess boards.
- Set a new 10-minute timer for the second half.
- Start using the tan guess boards.
Game End
Repeat GUESS and DECEIVE steps until:
- The Guessers win by guessing the secret word.
- The Lie-brarian wins because:
- the Guessers are out of guesses, or
- the second 10-minute timer expires.
Hard Difficulty
Use any or all of the following:
- Guessers only get 1 Fact/Fiction token in each half of the game.
- Use an 8 minute timer instead of 10.
- The Lie-brarian may choose a red word.
Red Words
The red highlighted words contain duplicate letters, allowing guesses to also now contain duplicate letters.
Give clues following the normal rules UNLESS the guess contains duplicate letters AND the secret word only includes a single instance of that letter. If either letter is a ✓, mark the other instance an ✗. If neither are ✓s, mark the first instance a ~ and the second an ✗.
Worked example — secret word BONEY, guess OBOES:
| Secret letter | Guess letter | Clue |
|---|---|---|
| B | O | ~ Correct letter, wrong spot |
| O | B | ~ Correct letter, wrong spot |
| N | O | ✗ This is the second O |
| E | E | ✓ Correct letter, correct spot |
| Y | S | ✗ Letter not in secret word |
Credits
- Design: Peter C. Hayward
- Illustration: Daniel Profiri, Anca Gavril
- Graphic Design: Anca Gavril
- Development: Michael Dunsmore, John Brieger
- 3D Artist: Filip Gavril
- Special Thanks: K & R Garfield, Kelly Dornhaus, Josh Wardle, Project Gutenberg