Snake Oil: Elixir
Snake Oil: Elixir Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up
- Slide the card tray out of the box and place the four Word Card decks (with rounded corners) onto the table, within reach of all players.
- Each player draws a hand of six Word Cards.
- Select one player to be the Customer for the first round.
Playing the Game
- The Customer takes a Customer Card from the center of the tray, selects either side, reads it out loud, and places it in front of him or herself. The Customer takes on the role printed on the Customer Card for that round.
- The other players combine two Word Cards from their hands to create an item for the Customer.
- As soon as any player is ready, that player "pitches" his or her item to the Customer. When one player is finished anyone else can jump in and make the next pitch. The Customer may cut off any pitch that goes over 30 seconds.
- After each player has made a pitch, the Customer picks the best item and awards the Customer Card to the player who created that item.
- The Word Cards played in that round are discarded into the card tray. Players draw Word Cards from any Word Card deck on the table to bring their hands back up to six.
- The player to the left of the current Customer becomes the new Customer and play continues following steps 1-6 until each player has been the Customer once.
Winning the Game
After each player has been the Customer once, the player with the most Customer Cards wins!
Tie Breaker
If two or more players are tied with the most Customer Cards, play one additional round with a new Customer Card. Only the tied players submit Word Cards and all other players vote to determine the winner. The player whose item is selected wins the game!
If all players are tied with one Customer Card, continue playing until each player has been the Customer a second time. Whoever has the most Customer Cards wins!
Snake Oil Variations
The More the Merrier
To give players more options in creating items for the Customer, try playing with each player drawing more Word Cards. Decide as a group whether to hold eight or even ten cards per hand instead of the standard six.
Snake Oil Live!
With this variation you can entertain a large group for hours as Snake Oil contestants pitch to an audience to see who is the best Snake Oil salesperson! To run Snake Oil Live, you need a host, contestants, and an audience.
- Select one person to be the first host.
- Select three players to be the first contestants. Each contestant draws six Word Cards and the host reveals a Customer Card. Everyone in the audience takes the role of the customer.
- The contestants each create a two-card item and then take turns pitching to the audience.
- After all of the contestants have made their pitch, the show host asks the audience to cheer or raise their hands for the item they liked the best and whoever gets the most response wins that round.
- Repeat steps 1-4 with new contestants for each round.
- Play one final round with only the players who won in the earlier rounds. The winner of the final round is the best Snake Oil salesperson!
Snake Oil Tournament Play (12-24 players)
These rules will help you host a fun and simple tournament using just one box of Snake Oil.
- Divide the players into groups of 4, 5, or 6 so that there are at least three groups. It's ok if some groups have more players than others.
- Divide the Word and Customer Cards so that each group has approximately the same amount.
- Each group plays one game, with each player acting as the customer once, to determine who is the winner for that group.
- Play one final game with the winners from each group. The winner of the final game is the grand champion!
Snake Oil Classroom
For classroom lesson plan ideas and standards matching, please see the publisher's educational information at: www.otb-games.com/games/party-games/snake-oil/