Glitch Squad Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Write Clues (simultaneously)
  • 2. Glitch Clues (simultaneously)
  • 3. Guess Evidence (one player at a time)
    • If you guess your Evidence right
    • If time runs out
  • Guess Passwords (one player at a time)
    • If you guess your Password right
    • If you guess your Password wrong
  • Ending the Round
• Three Player Variant
• Odd Player Variant (5+)
• Forensics
  • Scientifically sound, low risk of human bias
  • Judgment-based, contentious due to lack of validation studies
  • Largely debunked by the scientific community
• Gameplay Summary

Goal

Glitch Squad is a game for 2 teams. Your team wins when each member has guessed the Password to their evidence locker. Passwords are one word objects, for example: "Pickle."

Each round, a teammate will write 3 Clues to help you guess a piece of Evidence from your crime scene: the location, the weapon, the victim's hobby, or their profession. When you guess the Evidence correctly, you'll reveal a letter in your Password.

But be careful! Before you guess, an opponent will take on the role of Glitch the cat, and change one of the Clues to confuse you. If you can't guess your Evidence, that opponent reveals a letter in their Password, and each letter gets them closer to winning.

Components

• 8 Markers with Erasers
• 13 Forensics Cards
• 9 Password Sleeves (the 9th, a black Password sleeve, is for the 5 and 7 player variant. See Odd Player Variant)
• 80 Password Cards
• Glitch Token
• 124 Evidence Cards: 31 Location, 31 Profession, 31 Hobby, 31 Weapon
• 8 Clue Boards (erasable)
• 20-Second Timer

Setup

1. Glitch Squad is a game for 4, 6, or 8 players. If you have 3, 5, or 7 players, see the Variant sections.
2. Split into 2 teams: yellow and blue. Sit around the table alternating teams: yellow, blue, yellow, blue.
3. Each player takes a Clue board of their team's color and a marker.
4. Shuffle the Forensics deck and each of the 4 decks of Evidence cards. Flip over the top Forensics card.
5. Randomly choose a player to be the first player and give them the Glitch token.
6. Take a Password card from the box. You can look at the card, but don't let anyone else see either side of the card.
   • Under the table, slide the card into a Password sleeve of the other team's color with the numbers poking out.
   • Pass the sleeved card face down to your left. Nobody can look at their own Password.
7. Collectively pick a number between 1 and 6. This game, all of the Evidence and Passwords will be that numbered word on the cards.
   • Example: if you choose "2," everyone's Evidence will be the 2nd word on their Evidence card, and everyone's Password will be the 2nd word on their Password card.
8. You're ready to begin!

Gameplay

Each round, each player does 3 things:

1. Write Clues
2. Glitch Clues
3. Guess Evidence

Then you start the next round.

1. Write Clues (simultaneously)

a. Each player draws an Evidence card based on the round (below). Look at the card but don't let anyone else see it.

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	...
Location	Profession	Hobby	Weapon	Location	...

b. On your Clue board, secretly write the Evidence from your card into the Evidence box.

c. Then secretly write 3 Clues about the Evidence. Clues must...

• Be one word
• Be real words, and not proper nouns
• Be entirely different words from the Evidence
• Be entirely different words from each other
• The third clue must start with the letter printed on the Clue board

d. When everyone is done writing Clues, fold your Clue board and pass it to the opponent on your left, glitched computer side up.

Don't let anyone see what you're writing.

For more examples of permitted Clues, visit GlitchSquadGame.com/FAQ

2. Glitch Clues (simultaneously)

Now you're playing the role of Glitch, walking across the keyboard and garbling the Clues before they are sent. Your goal is to make the Evidence hard for your opponent to guess.

Without letting anyone else see, each player peeks at the Evidence and Clues on the inside of the Clue board their opponent passed them. Then:

a. Decide which Clue to glitch, then secretly copy the other 2 Clues to the glitched side of the Clue board. You can't change these Clues, but you can choose which spots to put them in.

b. In the remaining spot, glitch a Clue! Write any word in that spot. Try to mislead your opponent so they can't guess the Evidence!

• If you glitch the third Clue, your word can start with any letter.
• Other than that, your word has to follow the normal rules for Clues.*

c. When all players finish glitching their Clues, place the folded Clue board cat-side up in front of the opponent to your left.

Careful: don't let anyone see inside the Clue board, or what you're writing.

*Your glitched Clue also cannot be used to help your team guess your Evidence.

3. Guess Evidence (one player at a time)

Taking turns, each player will have 20 seconds to guess their Evidence. Start with the first player, then proceed clockwise. When it's your turn:

a. Flip over the timer.

b. Flip the Clue board over to the glitched side and read the 3 Clues aloud. Make sure to flip over the folded Clue board. Do not open it.

c. As fast as you can, shout out what you think the Evidence is. Keep guessing until the timer runs out — remember, one of the Clues can't be trusted!

d. If your teammate who wrote the Clues hears the right answer, they say "You got it!"

Evidence is always a one or two word phrase. Word order and parts of speech don't matter. Example: "Stamp Collector" works for "Collecting Stamps."

If you guess your Evidence right

a. Open your Clue board to confirm the right answer.

b. Slide out the next letter in your Password.

If time runs out

a. Glitch (the opponent to your right) has stumped you! They slide out the next letter in their Password.

b. Follow the instructions on the revealed Forensics card to investigate which of your Clues was glitched.

c. You take one final guess.

d. Open your Clue board to reveal the answer.

e. If you guessed the Evidence correctly, slide out the next letter in your Password. Otherwise, don't slide out any new letters. Your turn is over.

Guess Passwords (one player at a time)

After everyone has attempted to guess their Evidence, each player may try to guess their Password once. If you want to guess, say what you think your Password is. The opponent to your right looks at the back of your card, where the sleeve is clear, and tells you if you're right or wrong. Passwords are single-word, common objects between 5 and 9 letters long.

If you guess your Password right

• Flip over your Password card.
• For the rest of the game, whenever you would slide out a letter in your Password, choose one of your teammates. That player slides out a letter in their Password instead.

If you guess your Password wrong

• You don't get to use the Forensics card next round. Oops!

Once all players have been given a chance to guess their Password, if any team has correctly guessed all of their Passwords, that team wins! If both teams have guessed correctly, both teams win!

Ending the Round

Finally, get everyone ready for the next round:

1. Discard the Evidence cards.
2. Flip over the next round's Forensics card.
3. Pass the Glitch token to the left; they become first player.
4. Everyone erases their Clue board.

Three Player Variant

The yellow team has 2 players and plays as normal. The blue team only has 1 player. The blue player Glitches Clues for both of the yellow team players, but doesn't draw Evidence cards, Write Clues, or Guess Evidence.

1. Yellow team players Write Clues as normal.
2. Yellow team players hand their Clue boards to the blue player.
3. Blue player Glitches Clues for both yellow team players.
4. Blue player hands each Clue board to the other yellow team player.
5. Yellow team players Guess Evidence as normal.

The teams win as normal. The players slide out letters in their Passwords as normal—except the blue player can slide out up to 2 letters per round (1 letter per yellow team player who is stumped by the glitch).

Guessing the Password: If the blue player guesses their Password wrong, they only get to glitch one of the yellow team players' Clues next round instead of both. The blue player looks at both yellow Clue boards, but only glitches one of them (the yellow team won't know which one is glitched).

Odd Player Variant (5+)

Choose 1 player to be the Private Investigator (PI). They are working on their own to win, and get to write a special "Trap Evidence." The PI doesn't Write Clues. The PI glitches the first player's clues, instead of the player to the first player's left. Everyone else plays as normal.

1. After Glitching Clues, the PI also secretly writes down a Trap Evidence on a spare Clue board. The Trap Evidence is a word that the PI wants the guesser to guess while Guessing Evidence.
2. The PI slides out a letter in their Password if the player with their glitched Clues doesn't guess the correct Evidence in 20 seconds.
3. After the timer runs out, the PI also slides out a letter in their Password if the guessing player said the Trap Evidence.

Guessing the Password: The PI uses the black Password sleeve. The PI may guess their Password at the end of the round. If they guess correctly, they win. If they guess wrong, they don't get to write a Trap Evidence next round.

Forensics

Prosecutors and defense attorneys rely on a wide range of evidence in court, but not all evidence is equally reliable. The truth (if you can handle it) is that certain forensic techniques are much more subject to human bias and error than others, a key piece of information that doesn't always make its way into the courtroom. Glitch Squad's Forensics cards feature some of the most common forensic techniques used around the world; most are there to help solve the case, but they are no substitute for a critical eye!

When using a Forensics card, Glitch (the opponent who glitched the Clues) reveals new information about what they changed.

Scientifically sound, low risk of human bias

• Forensic Genotyping: Glitch says which Clue they removed.
• Toxicology: Glitch points to which Clue they added.

Judgment-based, contentious due to lack of validation studies

Fingerprint Analysis, Ballistic Testing, Toolmark Analysis, Shoe Print Identification, Tire Track Identification, Forensic Odontology: You point to a Clue. Glitch says if they added it.

Largely debunked by the scientific community

• Hair Analysis: Glitch points to a Clue that they did not add.
• Polygraph (Lie Detector): Glitch points to a Clue, and claims they added it, but they don't need to tell the truth.

Gameplay Summary

Each round, every player does 3 things.

1. Write Clues: Every player draws an Evidence card and writes 3 Clues to help their teammate guess the Evidence. Then every player passes their Clues to the opponent on their left.
2. Glitch Clues: Every player glitches one of the Clues their opponent wrote, changing it to a new Clue. Then every player passes the glitched Clues to the opponent on their left.
3. Guess Evidence: Each player has 20 seconds to guess their Evidence based on the 3 Clues they were given, knowing that one was glitched. Then every player can guess their Password.