Nerd Words: Science! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • Step 1: Clue Giver Chooses Science Term
  • Step 2: Clue Giver Writes Number of Words in Science Term
  • Step 3: Clue Giver Writes a Clue and Bets
  • Rules for Giving a Clue
  • To Shake Things Up
  • Step 4: Teams Guess Science Term
  • Step 5: Teams Reveal and Check Guesses
• Ending the Game
• 3-Player Game
  • 3-Player Game Setup
  • 3-Player Gameplay
  • 3-Player Ending the Game
• 2-Player Game
  • 2-Player Game Setup
  • 2-Player Gameplay
  • 2-Player Ending the Game

Components

• 162 Science Term Cards
• 3 Team Boards
• 3 Point Trackers
• 1 Clue Board
• 1 Timer
• 4 Dry Erase Markers
• 1 Scoreboard
• 1 Betting Token

Game Setup

For a 2 or 3 player game, see p.7.

1. Divide players into two Teams (in games with 9 or more players, divide into 3 Teams). Teams may consist of any number of players, but should be as even as possible. Give a Team Board, a Marker, and a Point Tracker to each Team.

2. Shuffle the Science Term Cards together. Cards with a yellow outline around the words are more difficult, and may be left out or included for a greater challenge. Deal each player 2 cards face down. (If playing with 8 or more players, deal each player 1 card). Each player may look at their cards, but should keep them hidden from other players. The remaining cards can be returned to the box.

3. Place the Scoreboard and Timer in the play area. Place Point Trackers for each Team on the 6 spot of the Scoreboard. Gather the Clue Board, a Marker, and the Betting Token for the Clue Giver.

Gameplay

Nerd Words is played in rounds. The player who most recently wore lab goggles is the first Clue Giver, regardless of which Team they are on.

Step 1: Clue Giver Chooses Science Term

To begin the round, the Clue Giver receives a Marker, the Clue Board, and the Betting Token. The Clue Giver then chooses 1 Science Term from 1 of her cards. This word is the Science Term for that round.

Hint: To speed the game along, other players may also choose 1 Science Term from their cards to prepare for their turn as the Clue Giver.

Step 2: Clue Giver Writes Number of Words in Science Term

The Clue Giver records the number of words (1 or 2) in the Science Term for the Guessing players.

Step 3: Clue Giver Writes a Clue and Bets

The Clue Giver writes a Clue on the Clue Board following the Rules for Giving a Clue (shown below) to provide players a hint about the Science Term. The first Clue is written in the Clue 1 space. If the Science Term is not Guessed correctly from the first Clue (after Step 5), a second Clue would be written in the Clue 2 space, the third Clue in Clue 3 space, and so on.

The Clue Giver then Bets 0 - 4 points that at least one Team will correctly Guess the Science Term after the current Clue. The Clue Giver marks the amount of her bet on the Betting Token and places it face down near the Scoreboard. (The Clue Giver may Bet up to 4 points even if her Team has fewer than 4 points on the Scoreboard.)

The Clue Giver must mark a Bet after writing a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Clue, but may NOT Bet after writing a 4th Clue.

Rules for Giving a Clue

• Each Clue must be a single word. This includes standard scientific acronyms and abbreviations (such as DNA and Redox). Clue Givers may not use hyphenated phrases (such as low-frequency).

• Each Clue must begin with a letter from the Science Term. (This will slowly reveal letters within the Science Term, providing additional hints!)

• The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Clues for the Science Term must each begin with a letter OTHER than the initial letter of that Science Term.

  • Example: If the Science Term is EXPERIMENT, the Clue Giver could use words starting with X, P, R, I, M, N, or T as the initial letter for a valid 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Clue, such as test, measure, or results.

  • If the Science Term is two words, the first 3 Clues may begin with the initial letter of the second word, as long as that letter is not the same as the initial letter of the first word.

• The 4th Clue MUST begin with the INITIAL LETTER of the Science Term. If players were not able identify the Term in their first 3 Guesses, they will now know the initial letter.

  • For example, possible Clues for the Science Term Solar could be:
    • S -- sun, shine (4th Clue Only)
    • O -- orange, ohms
    • L -- light, lit
    • A -- alternative, aflame
    • R -- radiation, ray

• Each Clue must begin with a DIFFERENT letter from the Science Term unless that letter repeats in the word.

  • Example: If the Science Term is VOLCANO, the Clue Giver could use "O" for two separate Clues because it occurs twice in the Science Term.

To Shake Things Up

(Sidebar, printed on page 4 with the Boxes for Repeated Play variant.)

When a Science Term is used, the Clue Giver marks one of the boxes next to that term with a permanent writing tool. If a card that has a mark on it comes up in the next game, the Clue Giver must use one of the Science Terms with the fewest marks next to it, forcing all terms to be used an equal number of times.

Step 4: Teams Guess Science Term

The Clue Giver flips over the Timer and reveals the new Clue to the Teams.

Each Team will now use the available Clues and number of words to decide on their Guess before the Timer runs out (1 minute).

Each Team Board has 4 spaces, each with a different point value (Points Scored if Guess is Correct: 4 for the space after Clue 1, 3 after Clue 2, 2 after Clue 3, 1 after Clue 4). The members of each Team confer and write their best guess in the appropriate space on their Board.

Note: the point values are printed in the Team Board graphic, which the text layer does not capture. The values 4, 3, 2, 1 are taken from the Team scoring table in the 2-Player Game section and the Guesser's points table in the 3-Player Game section, which both give Team scoring as 4, 3, 2, 1 for Clues 1 through 4.

Each Team may Bet additional points that their Guess is correct by writing a number in the box to the left of their Guess. Teams may Bet up to 4 points on each of their Guesses (even if they currently have fewer than 4 points on the Scoreboard).

Teams do not erase their Guesses after each Clue. The top space can only be used after Clue 1, the second space may only be used after Clue 2, and so on. If a Team has not submitted a Guess by the time the Timer runs out, they may not submit a Guess for that Clue, and must cross out the space associated with that Clue.

Step 5: Teams Reveal and Check Guesses

Each Team reveals their Guess. When the Timer runs out (or each Team has submitted a Guess), each Team reveals their Guess to all players.

If neither Team's Guess is correct:

• The Clue Giver and Teams lose a number of points equal to their Bets on that Guess and move their Point Trackers down the Scoreboard accordingly.

• If fewer than 4 Clues have been given in the current round, the Clue Giver does NOT reveal the Science Term. Players then repeat Steps 3-5 with the current Clue Giver. (Remember not to erase any Guesses currently on Team Boards!)

• If all 4 Clues have been given that round, the round is over: The Clue Giver reveals the Science Term, discards her card for that round, and her Team loses 1 point. Erase all Clues, Guesses, and Bets, then Players begin the next round.

If at least 1 Team's Guess is correct:

• The Clue Giver reveals the correctly-guessed Science Term.

• If the Clue Giver Bet any points, her Team scores the number of points she Bet.

• Each Team that correctly Guessed the Science Term will score the number of points listed to the left of their Clue plus the number of points they Bet on that Guess, and will move their Point Tracker up the Scoreboard accordingly.

• Each Team that did not correctly Guess the Science Term will lose only the number of points equal to their Bet on that Guess and will move their Point Marker down the Scoreboard accordingly.

• The Clue Giver discards her card for that round. Erase all Clues, Guesses, and Bets, then players begin the next round.

A Guess is considered correct if it exactly matches the Science Term, or has the same root and meaning as the Science Term.

• Example: If the Science Term is photosynthesis, correct Guesses include photosynthetic or photosynthesize.

To begin the next round, choose a new Clue Giver from the Team on the active Clue Giver's left, and start over at Step 1. Players should alternate so that no player is a Clue Giver twice before each player has been a Clue Giver once.

Ending the Game

Game play ends when either of the following has occurred:

• If, after scoring for the current round is complete, any Team's Point Tracker has passed 49 points on the Scoreboard, OR

• Each player from the Team with the least number of players has gone through all of their cards as the Clue Giver.

The Team with the most points wins! If there is a tie, play a tiebreaker round to determine the winning Team.

3-Player Game

In a 3-player game, each player is on their own Team. Setup and gameplay are the same as the 4+ player game with the following modifications:

3-Player Game Setup

• Give each player their own Team Board and Marker to use.
• Each player is dealt 3 cards.

3-Player Gameplay

Each round, one of the players will take the role of the Clue Giver while the other two players Guess.

The Guessing players score the same number of points as Teams in the 4+ player game. However, the Clue Giver will score additional points depending on whether a single Guesser or both Guessers correctly identified the Science Term. These points are shown in the charts below.

Term Guessed after...	Clue Giver's points if Single Guesser is Correct	Clue Giver's points if Both Guessers are Correct	Points Scored for Guesser
Clue 1	3	7	4
Clue 2	2	5	3
Clue 3	1	3	2
Clue 4	0	1	1

Betting in the 3-player game is the same as in a 4+ player game.

3-Player Ending the Game

The game ends after each player has taken 3 turns as the Clue Giver (9 rounds total).

If there is a tie, the tying players should pursue a career in a STEM field. After 25 years, whichever player has become more accomplished (determined by a web search for their names) is the winner!

2-Player Game

In a 2-player game, both players are on the same Team working together to win. Setup and gameplay are the same as the 4+ player game with the following modifications:

2-Player Game Setup

• Deal each player 5 cards.
• Place a single Point Tracker on the 0 spot of the Scoreboard.

2-Player Gameplay

Players are on the same Team working together. Each round, one player will be the Clue Giver and the other player will be the Guesser. Players will alternate these roles each round.

Team scoring in a 2-player game is the same as the 4+ player game, except that no Bets are placed.

Term Guessed after...	Points for the Team
Clue 1	4
Clue 2	3
Clue 3	2
Clue 4	1
Not Guessed after 4th Clue	-1

2-Player Ending the Game

The game lasts 10 rounds. If the Team scores 30 points or more, they win the game!

See what grade you scored according to the chart below:

Score	Grade
35 points	A+
30 - 34 points	A
20 - 29 points	B
10 - 19 points	C
0 - 9 points	D