The Big Idea (2011)
The Big Idea (2011) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
A James Ernest game for 3 to 6 players, ages 13 and up, with an average playing time of 25 minutes.
Content
- 92 "ITEM" cards
- 92 "DESCRIPTION" cards
- 30 "VOTE" cards (6 "MEDAL" cards and 24 "BLANK" cards)
- This rules booklet
Game objective
You are a brilliant inventor, creating new products for a sceptical public. Your goal is to present your best, most revolutionary ideas. You win by making the most popular products.
Getting Started
Shuffle the decks of ITEM and DESCRIPTION cards separately, and place them face down in the middle of the table.
Each player takes VOTE cards as follows: Give each player one MEDAL card, and enough blank cards that they can hand one card to each other player. For example, with three players, each player has one MEDAL and one blank card. With six players, each player has one MEDAL and four blank cards.
Each player draws a starting hand of three ITEM and three DESCRIPTION cards.
Game Rounds
Step 1, Drawing
At the start of every round, draw cards from the ITEM and DESCRIPTION decks until you have three cards of each type in your hand.
If a player does not like his hand at this point, he may discard it and draw a new hand of six cards. You may only do this once per round.
Step 2, Creating inventions
Each player creates one invention using any number of cards from his hand. You can use any assortment of cards, from 1 to 6, as long as you think it makes a good play.
When you have created your invention, play the cards on the table, face down. When everyone is ready, proceed to Step 3.
You're the inventor here, so if you want to change the meaning or the text of a card to make it fit better in your new product, feel free! As long as you can make sense of it, do whatever you like.
Note: The captions on the cards are not obligatory, their purpose is merely to help and illustrate. They can therefore be ignored when creating an invention.
Step 3, Presenting inventions
Starting with any player, and proceeding in any order (this is up to the players), each player presents his new invention with a colourful sales pitch.
You can be as creative as you want with this pitch, or you can just read the descriptions on the cards. We suggest that you take the time to make a strong and exciting pitch!
By the end of your presentation, the cards that make up your product should be displayed face-up on the table in front of you.
Every player presents one invention, and then the game proceeds to Step 4.
Step 4, Votes and rewards
Once all new inventions have been played, there is a vote to determine the best.
Each player takes his VOTE cards and places them, face down, in front of the other players. Play your MEDAL card on the invention that you think is the best, and the blank cards on everyone else. You do not play a VOTE card on yourself.
Once all the VOTE cards have been placed, players can look to see what VOTEs they received. The player who has the least medal cards (quite possibly, none) loses the round, and scores one "defeat" point. Track these points by keeping one card from your invention, in a small pile.
If there is a tie for fewest MEDALs, every tied player earns one defeat point. After the voting everyone takes back their VOTE cards, and a new round begins.
End of Game
The game ends after a certain number of rounds, depending on the number of players. Each of these results in a game of approximately 25 minutes. You can change the number of rounds up or down if you want to change the playing time.
- 3 players: 7 rounds
- 4 players: 6 rounds
- 5 players: 5 rounds
- 6 players: 4 rounds
After the last round, the player with the fewest defeat points is the winner, and is declared the best inventor. There is no tie-breaker; if there is a tie, then all those players win!
Note: The number of rounds is provided as an example for games lasting an average of 25 minutes. These numbers can be increased or reduced according to the desired playing time.