Game of Phones
Game of Phones Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
The winner is whoever collects 5 cards first.
Note: the publisher's How to Play page says 5 cards to win. The BGG description says "first to win ten rounds". The publisher's own "Extra Ways to Play" section gives 3 and 10 as alternative lengths; see that section below.
Getting Started
Shuffle the deck and get your smartphones out.
The first Influencer is whoever most recently received a text message.
For each round, the Influencer draws the top card and reads the challenge out loud.
The winner of each round gets to keep the challenge card.
After each round, the next Influencer is the person sitting clockwise after the last Influencer. They'll draw a new challenge card.
Four Challenge Types
Like
This challenge is all about getting the Influencer to like your response.
As each person (except the Influencer) responds to the challenge, they place their phones face down in the center.
When everyone's ready, each person turns over their phone and reveals their response.
The Influencer picks the response they like most.
Unfollow
This challenge lets every person in the group eliminate someone from the round.
As each person (including the Influencer) responds to the challenge, they place their phones face down in the center.
When everyone's ready, each person turns over their phone and reveals their response.
Starting to the left of the Influencer and moving clockwise, each person eliminates a response by turning a phone face down and saying "Unfollow." If your phone's turned down you can still eliminate others, and you can also eliminate yourself if you want.
The elimination continues around the group as many times as needed. The person with the last phone facing up gets to keep the card.
If 1 or both of the last 2 people left still have phones facing up, skip clockwise to the next person who was eliminated and let them pick the winner.
Download
This lightning round has everyone respond quickly to challenges. Each challenge has a clear winner, no judgment needed.
As each person (including the Influencer) responds to the challenge, they place their phones face down in the center.
When everyone's ready, each person turns over their phone and reveals their response.
For challenges that take longer to complete, keep playing toward a new round. Have the Influencer hold onto the card until a winner emerges.
Upgrade
This bonus challenge has no immediate winner. Instead, this card will be passed along as an upgrade for the next round's winner.
Everyone completes a fun challenge together.
When everyone's done, place the card face up near the deck. It will be awarded to the winner of the next round, for a total of 2 cards.
Extra Ways to Play
If you're stuck on how a card should be played, or there's a tie, let that round's Influencer make the final decision.
You can set time limits if rounds take too long. For example, try giving a group only 90 seconds to respond to a challenge.
Experiment with different numbers of cards to win. Try playing to 3 cards for a short game (great with a big group), or play to 10 cards to have a longer game.
You can combine card packs together, or play them separately as sets.