Hand aufs Herz
Hand aufs Herz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material and Setup
Place the heart in the middle.
Shuffle the 180 cards and place them as a face-down deck beside it.
Take a slip of paper and a pencil to note your victory points during the game.
Game Flow
The Moderator Reads Aloud
One player takes the role of the moderator. They draw the top card from the deck. The other players place their hands around the heart. Then the moderator reads the first statement on the drawn card aloud, clearly.
YES or NO?
Words written in CAPITAL LETTERS on the cards (e.g. ICH, MEIN, DU, DIR, WIR, EUCH) refer to the people playing:
- Words in the ICH (I) form (e.g. ICH, MIR, MEIN) refer to the moderator. Example: "ICH bin Astronaut" ("I am an astronaut") means: "The moderator is an astronaut."
- Words in the DU (you) form (e.g. DU, DIR, DEIN) refer to each individual player to whom the statement is read. Example: "DU und DEIN rechter Nachbar sind blond" ("YOU and YOUR right neighbour are blond"). Every other player checks whether the statement applies to them personally: "Are my right neighbour and I really blond?" (Whoever sits next to the moderator has the moderator as their neighbour.)
- Words in the WIR (we) form (e.g. WIR, UNS, UNSER) refer to all players, including the moderator. Example: "Die Mehrheit von UNS ist verheiratet" ("The majority of US is married"). This statement is true if the majority of ALL players are actually married.
When the statement is read aloud, words in CAPITAL LETTERS should be stressed. It can also help to underline them with a gesture (e.g. the moderator points at themselves on the word "ICH").
All players except the moderator decide quickly whether they want to answer the read statement with YES or NO.
- Whoever chooses YES places their right hand on the heart (or on the hands already lying there).
- Whoever chooses NO places their left hand.
Now the players work out whether the read statement is true or not:
- Statements in red text are false. Whoever placed the left hand is rewarded (see Victory Points).
- Statements in green text are true. Whoever placed the right hand is rewarded (see Victory Points).
- If the text is black, the players must work out for themselves whether the statement is true.
Victory Points
After every player has placed a hand, victory points are awarded, which the moderator notes on the prepared slip of paper. Each player leaves their hand in place until their points have been noted.
The moderator begins awarding points with the player whose hand is on top, and continues hand by hand "downwards":
- The player whose hand is on top receives:
- one victory point, if they placed the correct hand;
- one penalty point (point deduction), if they placed the wrong hand.
- The player whose hand is in second-highest position receives:
- two victory points, if they placed the correct hand;
- two penalty points (point deductions), if they did not place the correct hand; and so on.
Because of the penalty points, players can also have negative scores during the game.
Example figure (from the rulebook):
- YES = -1 P. (right hand)
- NO = 2 P. (left hand)
- YES = -3 P. (right hand)
- NO = 4 P. (left hand)
Example: "The Moon does not orbit the Earth." NO (left hand) is correct and scores victory points; YES (right hand) is wrong and gives penalty points.
Variant
A player who does not want to note victory points plays as follows: the player who was first to place the correct hand receives a playing card as a reward (which is not used again later in the game).
Change of Moderator
After the (same) moderator has read all four statements of a card aloud, their left neighbour becomes the moderator. They draw a new card and read aloud ...
End of the Game
There are several ways to end the game. Before the game, the players agree on one of these variants:
- The game ends after every player has been moderator once.
- The game ends after every player has been moderator twice.
- The game ends as soon as at least one player has reached an agreed number of victory points (e.g. 30).
If this variant is played, the game ends as soon as at least one player has collected an agreed number of playing cards.
Winner
The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins. In a tie, the winner is whichever of the tied players achieved the better result in the last round of play. In the variant, the winner is whoever has the most playing cards at the end of the game.