SMS
SMS Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 9 phones (shown in four colours on the sheet)
- 9 felt-tip markers
- 200 cards
- 1 hourglass (sand timer)
The sheet also shows a difficulty key for the cards with three levels: Easy, Less easy, and Character.
Goal
Get other players to guess words by using fewer characters than your competitors. Be the first to guess the other players' words.
Setup
You will compete against one other player. Choose who, and each of you takes phones of the same colour.
If the number of players is odd, there will be one group of 3 competitors using the blue phones.
Each player also takes 1 felt-tip marker.
Playing a Game
- Each group draws 1 card, which contains the words that its members must get the other players to guess. The group passes the card around and reads the first word. (If a player does not know the word, the group moves on to the next word.)
- Once everyone in the group has seen the first word on its card, each player may begin writing their SMS, without showing it to the others.
- To make their word guessed, players are forbidden to write it! Instead, use for example a definition of the word, a synonym, or a word often associated with it. Feel free to contract your SMS, abbreviate it, or use another language, since using fewer characters than your competitors can help you win.
- Besides the letters of the alphabet (with or without accents) and the digits, you may use the symbols printed at the bottom of the phones: ( ) { } [ ] ^ \ / < > « » ' " . , : ; ? ¿ ! ... _ + – = ≠ ∞ ~ @ & § Δ π ß € $ £ ¥ æ œ Ø % © # * °
- Forbidden: it is not allowed to write:
- The word to be guessed itself, even contracted (HOM2NÈJ for Bonhomme de neige, "snowman");
- an abbreviation or part of the word to be guessed (ARB for Arbre, "tree");
- the initials of the word to be guessed (PDT for Pomme de terre, "potato", or Z for Zorro);
- a translation of the word, or of part of it (RÈNBO for Arc-en-ciel, "rainbow", or H-ARÈGNÉ for Spiderman);
- any symbols other than those printed at the bottom of the phones.
- The first player to finish writing their SMS places their phone face down and turns over the hourglass. The others then have 30 seconds to finish their SMS. Each member of a first group (for example, the group of the player who turned the hourglass) announces how many characters they used in their SMS. Spaces between words count. A deliberate line break counts as 1.
- The player who used the fewest characters shows their SMS first to the players of the other groups, who may make as many guesses as they want during one hourglass (watched by the other member of the group).
End of the Game
At the end of a round, if at least 1 player has 5 points or more, the game stops, and the player or players with the most points win.
(The sheet shows the connection bar with seven symbols, used to record points.)
New Game
Form new groups by exchanging phones.