Quickword: The Ultimate Word Game
Quickword: The Ultimate Word Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Winner
The winner is the first person to cross off all the colored squares on his or her scorecard for the game being played.
Contents
Each Quickword game contains game board, pivot post, spinner, one deck each of Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red cards, scorecard pad, four blank pads, four pencils, token, 90-second timer, and die. Each scorecard sheet contains three short games and two long games, which means each sheet can be used for five different games.
Assembly
Insert pivot post into hole in the top center of the game board. Post should point upwards. Place spinner onto post. Remove after game play.
(The sheet's diagram shows the spinner on the pivot post above the center hole, and the token.)
How to Play
Each player needs a scorecard, paper, and pencil. Place the four colored decks face down on the table. Decide whether the group wants to play a long game or a short game. Each player positions his or her scorecard so that it can be clearly seen by the other players.
To begin, place the token on any of the CHOICE squares. Each player turns the spinner, and the player with the letter alphabetically nearest 'A' begins. The player throws the die and can move the token in either direction. The token can land on one of five squares: BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, RED, or CHOICE.
Choice
The player landing on CHOICE may choose which color card to draw. The token remains on the CHOICE square during the player's turn.
Blue Cards
The spinner is not used for these cards. There are two subjects on each card. The player takes the top card of the pack and reads aloud the subject of his or her choice. For example, subject categories include "Anything found at a CIRCUS," "Anything associated with a LIBRARY," "DOG BREEDS," "ANIMALS found at a ZOO," "CHEMICAL ELEMENTS," "MEMBERS of CONGRESS" and so on. The card remains on display for the turn. The subject not selected can be hidden under the edge of the game board to avoid any confusion during play. The player turns the timer over and each player writes down as many words as possible within the time limit. The used card is then placed at the bottom of the pack.
Green Cards
The first time green occurs, the player takes three Green cards and displays them face up beside the board so everyone can see them. There are two subjects on each card. The player turns the spinner to select which letter the word or phrase has to begin with. The timer is turned over, and each player writes down one word or phrase for each subject within the time limit.
PLEASE NOTE — from here on, every time the token lands on green, the player throwing the die must choose any two of the Green cards on display and prior to turning the spinner, replace them with two Green cards from the top of the pack. Place the used cards at the bottom of the pack. Examples of Green cards might be "AUTHOR or POET," "WINE or CHEESE," "BIRD," "CIVIL WAR GENERAL or STATESMAN," "COOKING TERM" and "SHAKESPEARIAN CHARACTER." If the letter selected by the spinner is L, the answers could be LONGFELLOW, LIMBURGER, LOON, LEE, LADLE, and LEAR respectively.
Yellow Cards
The player takes the top card of the pack and reads aloud the instructions. The card remains on display for the turn. The player then turns the spinner, turns over the timer and within the time limit, each player writes down as many words as possible that start with the letter indicated by the spinner and that contain the two letters shown on the card. Thus, if the letter selected by the spinner is B and the card requires words that contain the letters E and D in that order later in the word, some words might be BED, BRED, BORED, BLEED, BOOKEND, BREAKDOWN and so on. Place the used card at the bottom of the pack.
NOTE — on the Yellow cards, the letters that must be used later in the word and in a certain order need not appear next to each other.
Red Cards
Within the time limit, each player writes down as many words as possible according to the instructions on the card. The Red cards contain several variations and degrees of difficulty.
One group of cards in this category requires words containing the letter indicated by the spinner and starting with letters designated on the card. For example, words containing the letter M and starting with S could include SLIM, SUMMER, SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW and so on.
Another selection might be six-letter words starting with the letter indicated by the spinner. For example, if the word must start with B, answers could be BANNER, BOUNTY, BOWLER, BRANCH and so on.
Another group of cards requires players to make words that contain one or both of the letters on either side of the spinner plus one or more of the letters available from the word designated on the card. NOTE — letters not listed cannot be used. Thus, words with three or more letters using the letter L and/or G and containing any letters of the word PRAISE, might be SLIP, LAP, LIP, RAIL, LAIR, GRAPE, GLARE, GRASP, GAPE, GAP, GALE, GRAIL and so on. IF the word on the card contains the same letter twice, such as CREASE, then the answer could be LEASE, LEER, REEL and so on.
For the Blue, Yellow, and Red cards PLURALS, VERBS ENDING IN -S, HYPHENATED WORDS and ABBREVIATIONS are not permitted, but other variations of a word may be used. For example, for words starting with W containing S later in the word, players could have WASTE, WASTED, and WASTING, but not WASTES or WASTE-PAPER. Proper nouns are not allowed for the Yellow and Red cards and are only acceptable for the Blue cards when specifically asked for on the cards. (Or if players decide before start of the game to accept proper nouns for all Blue cards.)
Scoring
At the end of each time interval, each player reads aloud his or her list. Players cross off words they have in common with any other player.
The player with the greatest number of words left crosses off an appropriately colored square on his or her scorecard. If two or more players tie for the largest number of words, then each crosses off a square. If all the players have no words left, then nobody scores. The player to the left of the player who started, throws the die, moves the token in either direction, and so the game continues until one person (the winner) has crossed off all the squares on his or her scorecard.
Notes
If the token cannot be placed on a color that at least one player needs, then the die is thrown again. When a title begins with 'A' or 'The' it is the first letter of the second word that counts. People, objects or places from the past are acceptable. When the name of a person is called for, it is always the last name unless otherwise indicated.
The Q/U or X/Y/Z Option
You may use either letter for each word. For example, the card asks for words starting with the letter indicated by the spinner and containing I. If Q/U is indicated, then your list can include QUIET, UNASSUMING, QUIVERING, UNATTENTIVE and so on. The same applies for X/Y/Z. For example, the card asks for words starting with the letter indicated by the spinner and containing the letters O and E in that order later in the word. Your list can include XYLOPHONE, YONDER, ZONE and so on.
Challenges
There will be some differences of opinion; but the idea is to have fun and it will be surprising to see how many different words people think of. Spelling and the existence of words can be checked in a dictionary, but for debatable answers, players should come to an agreeable decision.
Possible Solutions
This game has been thoroughly researched. For each possible outcome of the spinner there are at least ten answers for each Blue card; at least five for the Yellow and Red cards; and at least one answer for each Green card.
To save on scorecard sheets, if players only want to play the SHORT game, just cross out one of each of the four different colored squares in the LONG game on the scorecard before start of play.
Publisher's Notes
Replacement scorecard pads are available online from the publisher as a free download. Please go to www.usgamesinc.com/quickword and click the red PDF icon.
Players are invited to email the publishers with any comments or inquiries.
We hope you find Quickword enjoyable and challenging.