Inkling
Inkling Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 108 ink cards
- 108 clue cards
- 120 scoresheets
Set-Up
- Shuffle the clue cards and deal one to each player. Return the remaining clue cards to the box. They will not be used. The words on your clue cards are your clue words. You must keep these secret from the other players.
- Shuffle the ink cards and deal eight to each player. Place the remaining ink cards face down as a deck in the centre of the table.
- Give each player a scoresheet and something to write with. Write the name of the players next to you on your scoresheet.
How to Play
The game is played over three rounds. Each round is made up of the following three phases:
- Arrange ink cards
- Guess clue words
- Draw ink cards
Phase 1: Arrange ink cards
Arrange your ink cards face up in front of you, in any way you choose. You may use as many or as few ink cards as you like. You will keep ink cards you use for future rounds.
Your goal is to convey as many of your clue words as possible over the course of the game. Each round you may choose to focus on a single word, or try and do multiple, but remember that you only have three rounds before the game ends.
You may use your ink cards in any way you like. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- Place cards in any orientation you like
- Cover up part of a card with another card
- Intentionally spell words incorrectly
- Leave gaps in words
- Place cards face down
- Make a crossword pattern to use a letter multiple times.
As long as you're just using your ink cards and never showing your clue card, you have total freedom; get creative!
Example Arrangement
Kierri has been dealt a hand of ink cards and the clue card showing the word list Life (1), Point, Policy, Control (2), Evidence, Situation (3). She decides that in the first round she's going to try and convey the words 'life' and 'point'.
To spell out 'point', she starts by placing her first O in front of her, then she tucks her R behind it, covering the front leg, in a way that hopefully looks like a P. Next, she flips around her D and tucks it under the O so that it looks like an I. Then, she turns her C on its side to make a vague approximation of a lower case N. To finish off 'point' she could use her L upside-down as a T, but she wants to use the L for 'life', so instead she places her second O face down to indicate a missing letter and trusts the other players to fill in the blank.
She then places her L above the I in 'point' to start a crossword pattern. Below the I, she places F and E. Fingers crossed, the players next to her can interpret what she's spelled out!
Phase 2: Guess clue words
Once you have all completed your arrangements, try and guess what the clue words the players on your left and right have communicated are.
To guess what a player's clue words are, secretly write down your guesses on your scoresheet. Record your guesses for the player on your left on the left-hand side of your scoresheet, and your guesses for the player on your right on the right-hand side.
You can make multiple guesses each round, but you may only make at most seven guesses each for the players on your left and right over the course of the game. You aren't allowed to change or erase guesses you made in previous rounds, so make sure to leave space for guesses in the final round!
Phase 3: Draw ink cards
Skip this step in round three.
Once you have all made all the guesses you wish to make for the round, you will get more ink cards for the next round. First, return all ink cards from your arrangements in front of you to your hand.
You may then choose up to two ink cards to place on the bottom of the deck. If you do, draw that many cards.
Then each player draws three more ink cards.
That means that if you discard two ink cards, you'll get a total of five new ink cards.
Game End
After you have completed three rounds, reveal your clue cards.
Calculate Scores
You score points for each clue word you guessed correctly, as well as for each of your clue words that you successfully communicated to the players next to you.
First, look at the clue card of the player on your left. For each clue word you guessed correctly, write down the number of points it is worth (as shown on the clue card) on your scorepad. The total for all your successful guesses is your guessing score for that player. Mark this on your score sheet.
Next, do the same for the player on your right, so that you have a guessing score for both of your neighbours.
The player on your left's guessing score for you is your ink score for them. Similarly, the player on your right's guessing score for you is your ink score for them. Write down both ink scores on your score sheet as well.
Finally, add up all the guessing and ink scores on your scoresheet to find your total score for the game. The player with the highest score wins! In case of a tie, the tied player who made the fewest guesses overall wins. If still a tie, tied players share the victory.
Scoring Example
Kierri looks at Pete's clue card and compares it to the guesses she wrote down on the left-hand side of her score sheet. She guessed the word 'head' correctly for one point, and 'attention' for three points, so she marks those down. She adds them together to make her total guessing score for Pete four points.
She then does the same looking at Andrea's score sheet. She guessed the words 'office', 'state', 'society', and 'industry' correctly, so marks down those scores, making her total guessing score for Andrea six.
She then looks at Pete's guessing score for her, which is seven, so she marks down her ink score for Pete as seven. Andrea managed to guess five points' worth of Kierri's words, so in turn she marks down her ink score for Andrea as five.
Adding her two guessing and ink scores together, she gets a total of twenty-two points. That's more than anyone else, making Kierri the winner!