Kiitos

Kiitos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective

Kiitos is a word game for 2 to 4 players where you help finish your opponents’ words. If your opponent finishes your word say “Kiitos” to them. Kiitos is the Finnish word for thank-you.

A game is 3 rounds of 15 to 20 minutes each. Scoring occurs at the end of each round, and the highest total score wins the game.

Components

72 letter cards, 3 rule cards, 8 challenge cards, Lock Token, 4 seasoning cards, 1 reference card.

You’ll need a pen and paper for scoring if you play more than one round. Serious players will also need access to a dictionary, a word checking app on their phone, or another agreed reference. It is recommended to allow both British and American spellings, rather than one or the other.

Warning: This game relies on every player being honest, as cheating in this game is relatively easy. Do not play this game with dishonest people, cheats, or charlatans.

Game Options

The full game of Kiitos is described here, but for a shorter game play only one round. For a simpler or learning game leave out the flipping of rule cards and play only in Kiitos mode, or only in Super-Kiitos mode.

The seasoning cards are not part of the full game. They are for variant play.

Setup

Shuffle the letter cards and place them as a draw pile in the play area. To the side of the letter deck lay out a deck of the challenge cards and the three rule cards set on these, their green sides:

The lock token is placed near the rule cards.

Cut And Deal

To decide first player, cut the letter deck. The closest to Z goes first. In subsequent rounds the player with the lowest score chooses who goes first. If tied for lowest score cut the letter deck again. Deal 8 cards to each player. Throughout the game try to keep your hand of cards secret from your opponents. The leftover letter cards become the facedown draw deck.

Scoring Piles

Each player will be making two scoring piles in front of themselves as they play each round. The face-up pile is the positive pile that counts positive points to your score. This is the pile for successfully completed words. The facedown pile is the negative pile that counts against your score. This is the pile for words that you can’t continue and have to pick up.

The Target Word

Gameplay revolves around the target word, which is a single word that all the players are making together. It will change dynamically as a hand is played. Whoever last set the target word “owns” the target word. If the word is successfully completed, the owner puts the word into their positive scoring pile.

The minimum length of a target word is as is on the face-up side of the minimum length rule card and is either 4 or 5 letters. There is no upper limit on word length. It must be a valid word. Valid words are English words according to the standard word game tropes, i.e. no proper nouns, no hyphenated words, no words with apostrophes, no abbreviations, no acronyms. Plurals are OK. You can say words that can’t be spelt with the cards in the deck. There is no Q card, but you can say words with a Q in them. There’s only 2 Bs, but you could say “BUBBLES”. For seasoned players, if you can get away with a word unchallenged, that is valid enough. i.e. you can make up words, or use words that you know aren’t in your chosen reference, you just have to get it past your opponents. Cheating is only cheating in Kiitos if you don’t play the next letter in a word that you are compelled to play.

Kiitos Vs Super-Kiitos

A game of Kiitos starts in “Kiitos mode” as shown by the face-up side of the rule card showing its green “Kiitos” side. This means that words start with the first letter of the word and then are built up from left to right. What happens when the rule card is flipped is explained later in the rulebook.

Starting A Word In Kiitos Mode

The first player thinks of a target word to set. They say it aloud and play the first letter of the word from their hand, face-up to the centre of the table. e.g. they say “CATS” and play a C to the centre of the table. Spell the word aloud if there is any possible ambiguity, e.g. COARSE versus COURSE.

The skill of the game is choosing target words based on what letters are in your hand, what letters may or may not be in your opponents’ hands and using probabilities, misdirection and deduction. You don’t need to have any letters in the target word you choose, except the one you have to play. Sometimes, of course, it helps. Sometimes it just lets your opponent know what letters may be in your hand.

Play then passes clockwise to the next player.

What The Next Player Does

There are three actions the next player could do on their turn. They must do the first of the three things that they can actually do.

Play the next letter of the target word if they have it in their hand. If this completes the target word then do the actions in the section below. If they can’t play the next letter of the word (because they don’t have the next letter) then they must …
Play a different letter from their hand and reset the target word. The new target word must be a valid word. It also must not be “finished” in that there must be at least one more letter for the subsequent player to play. i.e. if the target word is COMMERCE and COM has been played, and the player doesn’t have the next M they couldn’t play a B and set the new target word to COMB, but they could play their B and set the new target word to COMBS, or COMBED or COMBINATORIAL. If a player cannot think of a new valid target word then they must …
Pick up all of the played letters and put them into their facedown negative scoring pile.

Play then passes clockwise to the next player.

If The Target Word Was Completed

If the target word is successfully completed (irrespective of which player played the last letter) then the owner of the target word picks up the word and puts it into their face-up (positive) scoring pile. (Don’t forget to say “Kiitos” if someone finishes your target word for you.) As a reward the player must then flip one of the rule cards without the lock token on it to its other side and move the lock token onto it. (Hence the same rule card can’t be flipped twice in a row). Now follow the rules on the current face-up sides of the rule cards. Between rounds the state of the rule cards is preserved. i.e. they don’t flip back to their starting sides.

After The Cards Have Been Picked Up

If a word has been picked up, successfully completed or not, then all players draw their hands back up to 8 cards. If the draw pile is exhausted and any player is short of their 8 cards the round is over, and is scored.

Whoever picked up the last word, either positively or negatively, is the player who starts a new target word.

Scoring And End Of Round

At the end of each round players count their own scoring piles. Each card in their negative pile is worth minus one point. Each card in their positive pile is worth either 1 or 2 points depending on the face-up side of the positive pile multiplier rule card. Cards in hand at the end of the round do not score.

Write down the scores and at the end of the third round the player with the highest total score is the winner. Yes, it is possible to win the game with a negative score.

To start a new round gather all the letter cards, shuffle them and once again deal 8 to each player. The player with the lowest score decides who plays first.

Special 4 Player Only Rule

In a 4 player game if a player has just picked up an unfinished word to their facedown negative pile of exactly 4 letters, which means they originally played the first letter of that word, after everyone has drawn back to 8 cards, they may take the top card of the letter deck and place it in their facedown negative pile (doing so without looking at it) and the player to their immediate right has to lead the new word instead of themselves and hence they will play the second letter of the new word. If the draw deck is empty this special play is not possible.

Challenges

If a player believes a word is not valid then they may challenge. To do so a player takes a challenge card from the challenge deck and puts it in the middle of the table. The only opportunity to do this is when the target word is first announced. If any subsequent letter has been played then it is too late and even if the word wasn’t valid it is treated as if it was. (In a 3 or 4 player game then the first to grab a challenge card from the deck becomes the challenger.) Challenge to a standard agreed dictionary or dictionary website. Whoever loses the challenge has to put the challenge card into their negative, facedown pile. If the challenged word is legitimate then play continues, but if the challenge failed and it isn’t a word the player takes up their letter, plays another letter, or the same letter, and thinks of a different target word. This word can be freshly challenged. If they can’t think of another target word to set then they must pick up the letters into their facedown negative pile.

Super-Kiitos Mode

Once the Super-Kiitos side of the rule card is face-up the game goes into “Super-Kiitos mode”. This means when starting a word the first letter played can be anywhere in the word. It doesn’t have to be the first letter. i.e. a player could play a D and set the target word of CURMUDGEON.

Once again there are three things the next player could do on their turn. They must do the first of the three things that they actually can do.

Play an adjacent letter to the letters that are already in play, either before or after the current string of letters. (If a target word is completed it is handled the same as in Kiitos mode) If they can’t play an adjacent letter of the word then they must …
Play a different letter from their hand and reset the target word. Play before or after, but not between, the current string of letters. The new target word must be a valid word. It also must not be “finished”. There must be at least one more letter for the subsequent player to play. i.e. if the target word is PLUGGED and LUG has been played, and the player doesn’t have either a P or a G they couldn’t play a S and set the new target word to SLUG or LUGS, but they could play their S and set the new target word to SLUGS or SLUGGER or PLUGS. If a player cannot think of a new valid target word then they must …
Pick up all of the played letters and put them into their facedown negative scoring pile.

An Example Kiitos Hand

Player 1, who is to lead, has a hand of:

Player 2 has a hand of:

Player 1 says “WORTHLESS” and plays the W: Player 2 plays the O: Player 1 plays the R:

Player 2, doesn’t have a T, so plays L and says “WORLDWIDE”:

Player 1 is compelled to play the D:

Player 2 can’t play a W (there’s only one in the deck), so plays L and says “WORLDLY”:

Player 1 can’t play a Y and can’t think of anything else so she picks up the played letters to her face down, negative pile.

An Example Super-Kiitos Hand

Player 1, who is to lead, has a hand of:

Player 2 has a hand of:

Player 1 says “ANAGRAM” and plays the A: Player 2 plays the G:

Player 2, has no A or N, so plays I Player 1 plays the R: and says “AGRICULTURE”: Player 1 has no C so plays N and says “CHAGRIN”, hoping Player 2 has no H:

Player 2 plays H:

Player 1 can’t play a C and can’t think of anything else so picks up HAGRIN and puts them in his face down, negative pile, much to his chagrin.

Seasoning Cards

Once you’re played the full game a few times and you want to change up the rules and hence the feel of the game, then add a bit of seasoning. You can play with zero, one, or more seasoning cards, although using more than one at a time isn’t generally recommended.

Seconds

May play a second letter when not setting target word

Normally you only play a single letter from your hand each turn, but now you can play a second letter at the same time. You may only do so if you are not setting or changing the target word. The second card must be played at the same time, or shortly afterwards. If the next player has played their turn, then it is too late to play a second letter.

Completos

Can finish a word when setting target word

Normally when you are changing the target word you must give the next player at least one more letter to play, but now you can complete the word and put it into your face-up (positive) pile. The minimum word length still applies.

Flip

Flip a letter from the deck to start a new word

At the start of each word flip the first letter to use for the word. The first player to play must set the target word. In the rare case where they can’t, they pick up the letter into their facedown, negative pile, and flip another letter from the letter deck.

If the deck runs out and you need to flip a letter then it is the end of the round, even if all players have their 8 letters in hand.

Squeeze In

When changing the target word you may place your letter between the other letters

If you can’t play the next letter in the word, you can set the target word in the normal way (for Kiitos or Super-Kiitos) or you may place a letter between the other letters. You can’t rearrange the order of those letters. 2-4 PLAYERS AGES 12+ 15-45 MINUTES