Gorilla Marketing
Gorilla Marketing Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 Player Booklets
- 8 Dry-Erase Markers
- 6 Theme Leaflets
- 16 Banana Tokens
- 8 Letter Dice
- 1 Dice Bag
Players: 3-8 · Time: 30 minutes · Ages: 8+
Setup
Give each player a booklet and a dry-erase marker. Put the 16 Banana Tokens in the middle of the table. Place the 8 dice in the dice bag. Pick a theme to play (Movies, Products, Companies, College Courses, Bands, or Food Trucks) and put the leaflet for that theme in the middle of the table.
Each theme leaflet has a list of categories at the top. One at a time, players will perform the following steps to determine the category they will be judging for:
- Draw a die from the bag and roll it.
- Check the theme leaflet to see what category the die corresponds to. If another player already has this category, draw and roll another die.
- Write your category on the top page of your booklet and return the die to the bag. You will be Project Manager for this category.
Once each player has a category, you're ready to go. Gorillas… start your marketing!!!
Round 1: Naming Things
Writing Phase
To start the round, every player passes their booklet to the player on their left. In round 1, each turn players will be naming (made up) things matching the category of the booklet they currently hold. Choose an active player who will roll the dice this turn. Perform the following 3 steps to complete a full turn:
Roll → Write → Pass
Roll — Active player:
- Draw and roll dice 1 at a time.
- Stop after rolling: 2 red faces or 4 dice.
Add new letters one after another to form a row of dice. The dice will form an acronym that players will use. Players must use the letters in the order they were rolled.
(2x) means "repeat the next letter twice" (if there is one)! A blank die face just shortens the acronym! If you roll double blanks, start the roll again.
Write — Each player:
- Opens their booklet to an empty tab.
- Writes a title matching the category of the booklet they hold (based on the acronym formed by the letter dice).
- Marks an X on the tab they wrote on.
Write on the bottom page of the booklet. Use joining words like: AND / OF / THE / etc. as much as you want in your title.
If you're stuck on a letter, ask the table: "give me a K word!".
The title you write should be as funny or clever as possible and match the category of the booklet you're writing!
Example: rolling the letters B, H, G forms the acronym for "Better Homes and Gibbons" — mark an X on the tab once written.
Once the booklet you started with returns to you, move on to the Judging Phase!
Pass — Each player:
- Flips their booklet back to the cover page.
- Passes the booklet to the player on their left.
Active player:
- Returns dice to the bag and passes the bag to the new active player on their left.
Judging Phase
When the category you are Project Manager for returns to you, it's on to the judging! Players will judge the submitted titles in their booklet one at a time, so choose an active player to start. One at a time, each player will judge their category by performing the following 3 steps:
Award → Choose → Clean Up
Award:
- Consult the "Round 1: Judging Phase" section of the theme leaflet.
- Draw and roll a die and look at the award in the left column of the leaflet.
- Draw and roll a 2nd die and look at the award on the right column of the leaflet.
- These are your two award options; choose one and announce your category and award to everyone.
Choose:
- Flip through the pages of your booklet, loudly reading off the submitted titles.
- Choose the title that you like best (does it best match your chosen award, or is it simply the funniest or most clever?).
- The player whose answer was chosen takes a banana token from the middle of the table.
Clean Up:
- Write the winning title at the top of your booklet.
- Erase the answers on the pages of the booklet.
- Return the dice to the bag and pass the leaflet and bag to the next player to judge.
When all players are done judging, you move on to round 2 where you will be building on the humour from round 1!
Round 2: Marketing
Writing Phase
To start the round, every player passes their booklet to the player on their left. In round 2, players will be writing the marketing tag lines for the things on the top page of their booklet that were named in round 1. Again, perform the following 3 steps to complete a full turn:
Roll → Write → Pass
Judging Phase
When the category you are Project Manager for returns to you, it's on to the judging! Players will judge the submitted tag lines in their booklet one at a time, so choose an active player to start. Each player will judge their tag lines by performing the following 3 steps once again:
Award → Choose → Clean Up
Award — Use the back side of the leaflet labelled "Round 2: Judging Phase - Awards".
Clean Up — This time, erase everything from your booklet after judging.
The player with the most banana tokens after round 2 is the winner!
Credits
Game Design: Adam Wyse
Illustration: Andrew Bosley
Graphic Design: Gavan Brown, Guilherme Petreca & Gui Landgraf
Playtesting and Special Thanks: Gavan Brown, Paul Saxberg, Orin Bishop, Joseph McDaid, Tom Sarsons, Gord Hamilton, Chelsea Birch-Wyse, Paula and Matt Hakkola, Matt Tolman, Carlyn McGeean, Myrna and Ed Wyse, Matt Wyse, Aydan Wyse, Sabrina Wyse, Chad Birch, Jessica Ying, Nick and Christine Hutniak, Jason Neil, Brittany Teulon, James Davidge, Scott Morris, Chris Leder, Jordan and Mandy Goddard, Richard Bruce, Andy Pearce, Anthony Ferrise, Michael and Morgan Cox, George Georgeadis, Aaron Sebastian, Melissa Andersen, Tim Weber, Ivi Wowk