Pass-Ackwords
Pass-Ackwords Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents and Object
Contents: 100 Cards, 1 card reader & rules.
Object of the Game: Be the first team to win five (5) cards.
The Cards
Each card has an Answer Word and nine (9) Clues.
The answer words are all single-word nouns, with two exceptions: Proper Names (JULIA ROBERTS, BILL CLINTON) and Proper Places (LOS ANGELES, PUERTO RICO). Note that there may still also be single-word names and places (MADONNA, JAPAN).
Game Play
Each team is composed of one A player and one B player. The A's sit side-by-side, and their B partners sit diagonally across from them. The A players start as givers of clues.
An A player (determined randomly) takes a card and slides it into the cardholder. He then chooses one of the nine Clues on the card, moves its slider on the cardholder and reads it aloud, directing it across the table to his B opponent.
You are never "giving" Clues directly to your partner. Instead you are always choosing a Clue to give to your opponent.
The B opponent then gets to make one guess at the Answer Word. If the guess is correct, that team wins the card. Otherwise, the cardholder is passed to the other A player, and that player must choose another clue from the card and read it aloud, to his B opponent.
That B player then gets one guess.
This continues until someone correctly guesses the answer word. If the clues are exhausted without anyone guessing the word, no team gets the card.
Rules for Guessing
Before guessing at the answer, a guesser MAY do two things:
- Ask for the spelling of any given clue, either the one just given or any previously given clue.
- Ask for a review of the clues that have been given so far.
Note: Use the sliders on the cardholder to keep track of which clues have been given.
Matches
All matches are friendly. So any form of the word guessed is a match. GEORGE BUSH matches BUSH. POLICEMAN matches POLICE. BURGER matches HAMBURGER. SCIENTIST matches SCIENCE. But obviously synonyms do not match: SHRUB does not match BUSH. COP doesn't match POLICEMAN.
The Next Rounds
After the first round, players on each team switch roles. The team that lost the last round gives the first clue in the next round.
Continue until one team wins five (5) cards... and the game!
Example
(The example illustrates a card with the answer word HORSE. The card reader shows the nine clues: Buggy, Cavalry, Charlie, Citation, Mustang, Power, Radish, Sea, Trojan.)
Ernie and Bert are one team. Ken and Barbie are the other team. Ernie and Ken sit next to each other on one side of the table, while Bert and Barbie sit diagonally across from their partners.
Ernie goes first, and chooses to read aloud the clue POWER across the table to Barbie. Barbie guesses GRID, which is incorrect.
Now Ken must pick a clue to read aloud to Bert. He picks SEA. Bert asks him to spell the clue — which he does: S-E-A. After some thinking, he guesses CURRENT, which is incorrect.
Ernie now announces another clue and he chooses CHARLIE. The light bulb goes off above Barbie's head and she guesses HORSE, which is correct. Ken and Barbie win the card.
Teams now switch roles, and since Ernie and Bert lost that round, Bert gives the first clue (to Ken) in the next round.
Strategy
Since you always give clues to your opponents, you are trying to figure out the least helpful clue possible. This is not always the most obscure clue. Sometimes you can sneak a "gimme" past your opponents and set up your partner.
Also, if possible, try to read a clue that is more likely to help your partner than your opponent. In the example above, let's say that Ernie knows that Bert is a horseracing fan. He might then read the clue CITATION, hoping that it will be no help to Barbie, who disapproves of all forms of gambling.