Pass the Popcorn! Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Setup
• Object
• Playing the Game
  • If a Player Breaks Rule #5
  • If Two Players Guess at the Same Time
• Winning the Round and the Game
  • Tip
• Using the Bonus Deck (Special Edition Only)

Game Components

• The 32 square game tiles (four varieties: Cast, Characters, Story, Quote).
• The deck of 125 double-sided movie cards in a popcorn-box card holder. Each movie card has six parts:
  • Genre/Year – the release year of the movie and the type of movie it is (comedy, drama, action, etc.)
  • Cast clue – one or more of the actors involved in the movie. Sometimes the director is identified as well.
  • Characters clue – one or more of the characters in the movie. Sometimes characters are described rather than named.
  • Story clue – a brief plot summary of the movie.
  • Quote clue – a quote from the movie, or a tag line used in advertising for the movie.
  • Name of the movie – what the players will be trying to guess.
• (Special edition only) A Retro Bonus Deck of 50 double-sided cards featuring movies from the '80s and '90s.

Setup

1. Place all of the game tiles face down in the center of the table in a random arrangement.
2. Have each player select two tiles at random from the center of the table and place them face up in front of them. Put the remaining tiles back in the box.
3. Choose a player to be the reader. Give the card holder containing the movie cards to the reader.

Object

As you identify movies based on the clues shown on your tiles, you turn your tiles down. The first player to turn down all of his or her tiles wins that round, and starts the next round with one more tile. The first player to win a round with four tiles wins the game.

Playing the Game

1. The reader draws the card out of the front of the card holder (the front of the card holder has the Pass the Popcorn logo on it) and looks at the movie on the side of the card facing forward.
2. The reader reads the genre/year clue to the other players.
3. The player to the reader's left must decide whether to:
   • choose which of the clues the reader will read first, or
   • swap one of his or her game tiles with another player. In this case, the player chooses which two face-up tiles to swap, and then the player to their left may choose whether to pick the clue or swap, and so on until somebody picks which clue to read.
4. The reader reads out loud the clue that was requested.
5. Once the reader starts reading, any player (other than the reader) may shout out the movie's title. Guesses can be made even if the reader has not finished reading the clue yet. There are two restrictions:
   • A player may only make a guess if they have a tile of a type that matches the clue that was chosen. For instance, if the clue chosen was Character, you may only make a guess if you have a Character tile face up.
   • Each player may make only one guess per movie. Once you have made your guess, you cannot guess again, even after other clues are revealed.
6. If no players guess the movie correctly with the chosen clue, the player to the left of the last chooser picks the next clue to use, and so on until the movie is guessed or there are no more clues.
7. If a player guesses the movie's title correctly, then they flip the tile matching the most recent clue face down. For instance, if the last clue read was Story, you must turn down a Story tile.
8. Once all clues have been used or a player has guessed correctly, the reader returns the movie card to the box so that the movie that was just used is facing the back of the box. Then the reader passes the popcorn box to the player to their left and that player becomes the new reader.

If a Player Breaks Rule #5

They do not get to turn any tiles face down, and must also turn one of their face-down tiles back up, if they have one. Note: there are some situations in which you may choose to break the rules on purpose. For instance, you could guess at a movie in order to block another player from winning this turn, even though it means turning back one of your own tiles.

If Two Players Guess at the Same Time

If the rest of the players cannot reach a consensus as to who answered first, then the reader puts the current card back in the box and starts the turn over with a new card.

Winning the Round and the Game

The player who manages to turn all of his or her tiles down first wins the round, and a new round begins. All players start with the same number of tiles as the previous round, except the winner, who starts with one more. The first player to win a round while holding four tiles wins the game.

Tip

For a longer game, deal out three tiles to each player to start, then require five tiles for a win.

Using the Bonus Deck (Special Edition Only)

This section applies only to the "Movie Game" special edition that includes the Retro Bonus Deck; it is not part of the base game.

Shuffle the extra cards into the main deck OR keep the decks separate and alternate turns using the main deck and the bonus deck. When playing from the bonus deck, allow players to choose which side to play ('80s or '90s).