Linkity
Linkity Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Quick Rules
- Shuffle the cards and deal 7 to each player.
- A player starts the game by playing a card and saying a word starting with the letter on the card.
- All players play simultaneously by thinking of a word that is associated with the first word and also starts with a letter on one of their cards. Play the card down and shout out the word.
- The game ends when one person gets rid of all of his or her cards.
- All players receive scoring tokens for the number of cards they have left in their hand.
- Play three rounds and whoever has the least number of points at the end of the game is the winner!
Object of the Game
Linkity is a fast-paced word association game. The object of the game is to be the first player to successfully get rid of all of his or her cards. The game is played over three rounds. The person with the least amount of points at the end of the third round wins the game.
Components
- 81 Linkity Cards
- 10 Five-Point Scoring Chips
- 20 One-Point Scoring Chips
- 1 Rule Booklet
Number of Players
3 to 8 players
Setting up the Game
- Place all the scoring chips in a pile in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle the entire deck of cards and deal out 7 cards to each player.
- Place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table.
Play
The person who is the most afraid of bugs starts the round. If you cannot decide who that is (or you're afraid to admit it), the player to the left of the dealer begins.
The starting player looks at her cards and picks any one of them to play. She then places that card face up on the table in front of her so that everyone can see the card. At the same time, she says a word that begins with the letter on the card. It can be any word except a two-word phrase. Each person looks at their own cards, and as quickly as possible, tries to think of a word that is associated with the word that was just played and that starts with any letter in their hand of cards.
Someone quickly shouts out that word and at the same time, places her Linkity card face up on the table.
Players continue the game by looking at their own cards again and as quickly as possible, try to think of a word that is associated with the word that was just played and that starts with any letter in their hand of cards. Players are not allowed to play two cards in a row, however. They must wait until another player has played a card before they can play another card from their hand.
Play continues in this manner until the first player runs out of Linkity cards. Once this happens, the round immediately ends and scoring takes place (see scoring section). After scoring, the person who won the round shuffles the cards and deals 7 new cards to each player. The person with the most points starts the new round. Play a total of three rounds and whoever has the least amount of points at the end of the three rounds wins the game!
Ties
Sometimes two or more people will shout out words and play their cards at the exact same time. If this happens, play immediately stops and the person who played the previous card must make a sole decision on who played the card first. Only this person can make the decision.
Once the person says the name of the player who won the tie, the round immediately continues as before.
Challenges
If a player says a word that someone believes is not associated with the previous word played, anyone in the game can challenge that player. Just shout out "Challenge!" and the game play immediately stops. The player who is being challenged must then explain how the two words are associated or related. Now everyone playing the game must vote with either a thumbs-up or thumbs-down sign if they believe the words are related or not. If the person who was being challenged loses the challenge, he must take the card he played back into his hand and draw two additional cards from the draw deck into her hand. If the person who issued the challenge loses, then she must draw two cards off the draw deck as a penalty. If there is a tie in the vote, the tie goes in favor of the person being challenged. In either case, the "losing" player now continues the game by placing a new card from his hand face up on the table and shouts out a new word. Play then continues as before.
Example: Kennedy starts the round by playing a card with the letter "A" and says "Apple!" Alisha quickly sees an "S" card in her hand and plays it, shouting "Slice!" Matt then plays a "G" card from his hand and shouts "Golf!" Julia then plays a "F" card and shouts "Frog!" Camron then stops the game by yelling "Challenge!" Julia explains that she sees frogs every time she goes golfing. Everyone votes and it is unanimous that these two words aren't associated with each other. Julia then places her "F" card back into her hand and draws two additional cards from the draw deck into her hand. Julia is now the starting player and plays a "T" card and says "Tractor" and the game continues on as normal.
Remember
Players may use any type of words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. during the game. A player cannot use two-word phrases during the game. For example: Eiffel Tower, Pink Cadillac and United States are illegal plays. If a person uses a two-word phrase, anyone around the table can issue a challenge. Players may also not repeat the same word during the round. If this happens, any player can issue a challenge.
Scoring
As soon as one person has played all of her cards, the round immediately ends and scoring takes place. All players count how many cards they have remaining in their hand and take that number of "scoring chips" from the pile, placing the chips in front of them. At the end of three rounds, whoever has the least amount of chips wins the game!
Linkity: Advanced Rules
If you're antsy to try another version of Linkity, check out the advanced rules.
Play is exactly the same as described before with one exception. When the starting player plays the first card and shouts out his first word, only the two players sitting to the left and right of that player can play a card. Once one of these players have played a card, then only the two players sitting to the left and right of that player can play a card. This version can only be played with 4 or more players. There are always one or more players during this version sitting out of playing the game. These rules add an extra bit of fun as the play "flits back and forth" around the table during the game.
Example: Jeremy, John, Gail and Jana are playing the game. Jeremy plays the first card with the letter A and announces a word "Ant". Now, John and Gail can play any word that is associated with "Ant", but Jana cannot. John plays the letter H and says a word. Now Jana and Gail can play a card but Jeremy cannot. If Jeremy were to play a card out of turn, then any of the other players can challenge him and he would have to take back his card and draw two penalty cards from the draw deck.