Hard to Get Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Objective
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Winning
• Variant

Contents

• 20 dilemma cards for beginners (A)
• 120 dilemma cards (B)
• 9 blank dilemma cards (C)
• 16 key cards (D)
• 112 double-sided word cards (E)
• Rulebook

Objective

In Hard to Get, the players are split into two roles. There is a Witness and Detectives, who must work together to find the correct word, which only the Witness knows. To find it, the Detectives must decode the clues. The challenge is that the Witness may only communicate through dilemma decisions. Sometimes it is obvious: an earthworm is clearly more Wet than Dry. Other times it takes more effort: is a cactus Sweet or Sour?

Setup

16 random cards are drawn from the word card deck and laid out in a 4x4 formation in the middle of the table. If any words are among them that not all players know, they can be replaced with new cards from the deck.

One player is chosen for the role of the Witness, and is thus the player who decides the dilemmas. The remaining players are called Detectives. The Witness shuffles the deck of key cards, draws one, and looks at it without showing it to the others. The key card shows which card on the table the Detectives must guess. The dilemma cards are shuffled and placed on the game board.

Example: Tom has taken on the role of the Witness. He draws a key card and looks on the table for the card that corresponds to the given space on the key card. Tom sees that his word is Herb garden.

If you are playing Hard to Get for the first time, we recommend using only the deck of beginner cards (green border).

Gameplay

Hard to Get is played over five rounds. In each round you do the following:

1. The Witness draws a dilemma card from the deck and reads it aloud. The Witness now decides which of the two dilemma options best fits the correct word card, and tells this to the Detectives.

2. Now it is the Detectives' turn. They must agree on which word cards to remove. Word cards that the Detectives believe have nothing to do with the correct word card are removed and set aside.

3. When the group believes it has removed as many word cards as possible, the Witness reveals whether the correct word card is among the remaining cards. If the word card was removed, the game ends and everyone has lost. Otherwise, play continues to the next round. The dilemma card is placed in the box at the current round. Now only the chosen option remains visible. In rounds 1-4 the dilemma cards are placed at the back of the box. In the fifth and final round, the dilemma card is placed at the front of the box.

IMPORTANT: The group must remove at least one word card per round, though preferably several.

Example: In round 2, Tom draws the dilemma Maya the Bee or The Mouse. Intuitively, Tom thinks that the word Herb garden is more Maya the Bee than The Mouse. He says: "The word most resembles Maya the Bee, so you must remove all the cards that most remind you of The Mouse."

Example (continued): Tina, Jane, and Kim look at the words on the table, decide that Schadenfreude is more The Mouse than Maya the Bee, and remove the card. They do the same with the word cards Mickey Mouse and Catapult. Then they say Stop. Tom explains to them that the correct word card is still on the table, and the game continues with round 3.

Winning

Each round, the cards on the table become fewer. In the 5th and final round, all cards but one must be removed. If the remaining word is the correct one, you have won!

IMPORTANT: Hard to Get is exactly that: hard! It is not easy to understand how another person's mind works. But practice makes perfect!

Variant

For an extra challenge, one of the rounds can be skipped. In that case, place the 4th dilemma card at the front of the box already at "Final Round."