Hossa!
Hossa! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Material
120 cards, including 89 keyword cards, 26 category cards and 5 cards of free choice.
72 counter cubes of five colours:
- green = 1 point
- yellow = 5 points
- red = 10 points
- natural-coloured = 20 points
- violet = 50 points
1 black octagonal tile, used to mark the player giving the keyword.
Game's Goal
Collect points by naming and singing song titles and lyrics.
Basic Rules
All kind of songs are allowed, e.g. folksongs, chants, nursery rhyme, pop and rock songs as well as instrumentals, if the keyword appears in the title or the player can sing the melody. You may sing in any language at least one other player knows.
Note: Any song may only be used, i.e. named or sung during the game.
Preparation
Compose your card deck according to the number of players. The number of cards needed can be found in the table below.
| Players | Keyword cards | Category cards | Free choice cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 36 | 8 | 4 |
| 4 | 36 | 8 | 4 |
| 5 | 30 | 7 | 3 |
| 6 | 27 | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 21 | 5 | 2 |
| 8 | 24 | 5 | 3 |
Shuffle the deck created that way well and place it in the middle of the table. The rest of the cards aren't needed in this round anymore and can be put back into the box.
Place the counter cubes ready in the middle of the table and appoint a first player. He gets the black octagonal tile and is the first to choose a keyword or category.
Types of Cards
Keyword
This keyword has to appear in the song title you name or the song you sing.
Name a keyword: The first player names a keyword that has to appear in the song title you name or the song you sing.
Category
A term that fits for this generic term needs to appear in the song you sing. If "a colour" is chosen, you can name songs that contain the words "lightblue", "green", "pink", etc.
Name a category: The first player chooses a category. A word that fits for this generic term needs to appear in the song you sing. If he e.g. chooses "day of the week", you can name songs containing "Monday", "Tuesday", etc.
Playing the Game
The holder of the black tile draws the two topmost cards, and looks at the sides which so far have been hidden. He chooses one of the cards and puts it on the table in front of his left neighbour. The remaining card isn't needed anymore and is put back into the box.
Example: Uta as the first holder of the black tile draws the keyword card "rain, to rain" and the category card "holiday". She picks "rain" and drops "holiday". Uta places the card "rain" in front of her neighbour Andrea.
The left neighbour now tries to name a song containing the keyword or a term belonging to the given category. The relevant term or keyword can appear either in the song title or at an incisive position of the lyrics. For doing so she gets one point for stating an appropriate title. She gets two points for singing the appropriate song title. She gets 4 points for singing a stanza, the chorus or an incisive part of the song. As soon as she starts singing a longer part of the lyrics, all other players may sing along, thus scoring one point.
Example: Andrea pitches the chorus of "Raindrops are falling on my head", and Uta as well as Tommy are singing along. Andrea gets four points, Uta and Tommy get one point each. They take the relevant counters from the middle of the table.
Playing the Game (cont.)
Afterwards the player who just tried to pitch or name a song hands on the card to his left, regardless if she knew a title or not. The next player now names another song containing the selected keyword or a term belonging to the selected category.
Example: Martina, the next player, comes up with the title "I'm singing in the rain" without singing it. She gets one point.
In doing so the card is passed on until it reaches the holder of the tile again, who isn't allowed to name a song. If no one stated a song the holder of the tile has to hand in one point, since the selected term has been too difficult. In either case she puts the card aside.
Example: Now it's Tommy's turn. He gives away the song "It's raining men" and starts to sing it. Uta and Martina sing along. Tommy gets four points, Martina and Uta one each. Uta does not have to hand in a point, since everyone came up with something. By now Tommy holds five points, Andrea four, and Uta and Martina two each.
Subsequently the black tile is handed down to the left. Now the left neighbour draws the two topmost cards and selects a new keyword or category that hasn't been named so far during this game round.
Example: Andrea draws the cards "shoe" and "name a category". She hands the second one over to Martina and determines the category "it has got to do with water". "Shoe" is put back into the box. Now the others may give songs containing words like sea, water or a name of a river.
End of Game
The game ends as soon as the card deck runs out. The holder of the highest value of counter cubes wins.
Versions
H-Team (up to 20 players)
Divide into 5-6 teams and appoint a starting team. Define the duration of play or play as long as you like. One player of the starting team shuffles the deck. The counter cubes are not needed. The points a team gets for naming or singing a title or singing along with other teams will be kept in mind by the team.
The starting team draws two cards and selects one of them - this can be a keyword or a category. The selected card is handed over to the team on the left hand side. This team now needs to agree on a title they are going to sing. When the card is passed through back to the starting team, the card deck will be handed over to the next team on the left-hand side.
At the end of the game the team that got the most points wins. For the rest the regular rules are valid.
Hossa choirs (above 20 players)
Divide into three teams of about the same size and appoint a spokesperson for each. In addition a moderator, shuffling and drawing the cards, and holding the counter cubes as well as keeping track of the scores, is needed. Define the duration of play or play as long as you like.
The moderator draws a card and calls out the word or category on it. The first team whose spokesperson is able to name an adequate song title has the chance to score points. If his/her team is able to sing that song (at least one third of the team should sing along), they get 4 points. All other teams singing along will get one point each.
If the team whose spokesman first named the song title does not succeed in singing the song, another team may try their luck. After the moderator restarts the game the remaining two spokespersons may try to name adequate songs. If the second group fails, a new card is drawn.
At the end the team who scored the most points wins. For the rest the regular rules are valid.
Source note: the credits, thanks and playtest notes printed at the end of the rulebook (designer, artwork, test-group and publisher contact details) are omitted as attribution.