Half Truth
Half Truth Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 500 Question Cards — Question Side and Answer Side (each question has three correct answers). Note: All citations are as of the year of publication.
- Deck Cover Card — Use this to cover the deck of question cards not in play.
- Game Board — with a space for the Question Card and answer spaces A, B, C, D, E, F, plus a START space.
- Round 1 Tracker / Round 2 Tracker / Round 3 Tracker — the Round 1 and Round 2 Trackers are two sides of the same piece (flip it between rounds).
- Scoring Die (1, 2, 3, 4, 1+, i2!)
- 36 Answer Chips — Six sets of six chips in player colors, marked with letters A-F.
- 6 Player Pawns — Used to track progress on the Round Trackers as players answer questions correctly.
- 50 Victory Point Tokens — The set includes 20 x 1s, 15 x 5s, and 15 x 10s tokens.
Objective
Players try to find correct answers among the Half Truths. Each card has six possible answers. Three are correct and three are incorrect. You will place your chips on the answers you believe are correct. At the end of each round, you earn Victory Points (for guessing multiple answers and moving along the Round Trackers). Once the three rounds are done, the player with the most Victory Points wins!
Setup
Each player chooses a color and takes a player pawn as well as 6 Answer Chips of that color. Put the game board in the center and put the Round 1 Tracker at the top of the board so they connect. Place all Player Pawns on the START space of the Round 1 Tracker. Place the Victory Point Tokens, the Scoring Die, and the Question Deck (question-side up) within easy reach.
How to Play
Roll the Scoring Die and place it on the board for everyone to see. The die face shows the number of spaces each player will move on the Round Tracker if all their answers to the next question are correct (see next page for Special Rolls on the Scoring Die). Now draw a card and place it on the space in the center of the board. Make sure you keep it Question-side up, keeping the green answers on the Answer-side hidden from all players. Place the Deck Cover Card on top of the Question Deck so that no one can peek at the next question.
Read the question and the six possible answers. Three are correct and three are incorrect. Each answer has an area on the game board connected to it that shows a letter A, B, C, D, E, or F.
Everyone secretly chooses between one and three answers they think are correct and places their answer chips, with the letter(s) corresponding to their chosen answer(s), face down in front of them. Betting on two answers is called DOUBLING UP, and betting on all three is called GOING ALL IN. These are riskier, but will gain you bonus points if all of your answers are correct.
All players reveal their answer chips AT THE SAME TIME and place them on the corresponding areas around the game board (showing the same letter — see example, right). Then the question card is flipped to reveal the three correct answers.
If ALL of your answers are correct, move your player pawn along the Round Tracker as many spaces as the number shown on the die (see next page for Special Rolls on the Scoring Die). You don't score any Victory Points from the Round Tracker until the end of the round (see below). In addition, if you matched TWO CORRECT ANSWERS, you immediately gain 1 Victory Point as a BONUS. Take a Victory Point Token to record this (you can make change with the token supply at any time). If you got ALL THREE right, you gain a total of 2 Victory Points as a BONUS. If ANY of your answers are incorrect, you move NO SPACES on the Round Tracker, and receive NO BONUS. Noble try! All players then take back their answer chips.
If any player pawn has reached (or would pass) the red circle that ends the Round Tracker, the round is over. Otherwise, draw a new question card and continue as before.
End of a Round
The round ends when any player's player pawn has reached the last space on the Round Tracker (after all players have moved their player pawn for guessing answers correctly). In addition to the Victory Points you scored by DOUBLING UP or GOING ALL IN, you also score Victory Points equal to the HIGHEST NUMBER that your player pawn has REACHED OR PASSED on the Round Tracker (see example, right). Take Victory Point tokens with a value equal to the number shown. Then, flip the Round 1 Tracker to its Round 2 side, and reset all player pawns to the start space. If you have just ended Round 2, replace the Round 2 Tracker with the Round 3 Tracker. Then, proceed with the new round by drawing a new question card.
End of the Game
After moving player pawns for correctly guessing answers, if any player pawn has reached the end of the Round 3 Tracker, the game is over. Take Victory Points scored on the Round 3 Tracker as usual (see above). All players then add up the values on their Victory Point tokens. THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST VICTORY POINTS WINS! In the event of a tie, the player whose player pawn has advanced furthest along the Round 3 Tracker wins. If it's still a tie, players share the victory.
Scoring Example
The Scoring Die shows a "3."
Kamila (green) pushes her luck by DOUBLING UP, and trying to guess two answers. She gets both correct! She moves three spaces on the Round Tracker (because the Scoring Die shows a 3) and scores one bonus Victory Point for guessing two correct answers. She takes a 1 value Victory Point token to record this bonus.
Tony (yellow) decides to push his luck even further by GOING ALL IN, and guesses all three answers correctly! He moves three spaces on the Round Tracker and scores two bonus Victory Points for guessing three correct answers.
Amy (magenta) also pushes her luck by DOUBLING UP, trying to guess two answers. One of them was incorrect, so she moves no spaces and gets no bonus Victory Points.
Kamila's player pawn has reached the last space of the Round Tracker, so the round ends. Players now receive Victory Points for their position on the Round Tracker.
Kamila (green) will get an additional 7 Victory Points on top of any bonus Victory Points she scored during the round by DOUBLING UP or GOING ALL IN. Tony (yellow) will score 4 additional Victory Points and Amy (magenta) will get 3 additional Victory Points.
Special Rolls on the Die
i2! — Half Lie
The tables are turned! You will be rewarded for finding the INCORRECT ANSWERS when the Scoring Die shows Half Lie. If all of the answers you select are incorrect, you go forward TWO SPACES on the track. You can still press your luck by DOUBLING UP or even GOING ALL IN for bonus Victory Points. All of your choices must be the incorrect (non-highlighted answers) or you receive nothing.
1+ — Amped
Bonus Victory Points are DOUBLED!
If you push your luck by DOUBLING UP and all of your guesses are correct, you will advance one space on the Round Tracker and gain 2 bonus Victory Points. If you push your luck by GOING ALL IN and all of your guesses are correct, you will advance one space on the Round Tracker and gain 4 bonus Victory Points.
As usual, if any of your answers are incorrect, you get no bonus Victory Points and do not advance on the Round Tracker.
Strategy
Strategically, you can play conservatively for movement on the Round Tracker by going for just one correct answer. Or you can be daring by DOUBLING UP or by GOING ALL IN to get additional correct answers, thereby accumulating points faster than your opponents.
The risk is higher because any incorrect answer means you score nothing and cannot move forward. This decision between playing safe and taking risks is the essence of Half Truth and makes the game so much fun.