The Maury Game: You Are Not the Father
The Maury Game: You Are Not the Father Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting the Stage
- All players choose a Popularity Marker and DNA Test Envelope of the same color.
- Place one YOU ARE THE FATHER Card and two YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards in each player's envelope.
- Stack the remaining YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards face up in their space on the board and place any unused YOU ARE THE FATHER Cards in the box.
- Randomly choose a starting player. That player is MOST POPULAR. Place their marker in the Star Space on the Popularity Track.
- Going clockwise around the table from the Most Popular Player, the other players set their markers on the first available empty space to the left of the Most Popular Player's marker. When you finish, the markers will be lined up from most to least popular.
- Shuffle the deck of Argument Cards and deal 4 cards face down to each player, then place the deck face down by the board to form a draw pile. Players can look at their cards.
- The Most Popular Player goes first.
The Popularity Track is a curved track on the board. The space marked LEAST POPULAR is at the left end, next to the "Reveal Test Results" arrow, and the space marked MOST POPULAR is at the right end.
Contents
- 84 Argument Cards
- 22 YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards
- 6 YOU ARE THE FATHER Cards
- 6 DNA Test Envelopes
- 6 Popularity Markers
- 1 Game Board
What's the Object?
Avoid being the father. That's it. The father loses, everyone else wins.
The Basics
Everyone starts the game with one YOU ARE and two YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards in their envelope. During The Big Reveal at the end of the game, players take turns drawing cards from their envelopes until someone gets a YOU ARE THE FATHER Card. That player loses.
Before that, you play Argument Cards to improve your odds of not being the father:
- Some Argument Cards ADD YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER CARDS (shown by a white "+" icon) to your envelope, giving you a better chance of avoiding the dreaded YOU ARE THE FATHER Card.
- Other Argument Cards BOOST YOUR POPULARITY (shown by a thumbs-up "+" icon) with the Audience. Popularity protects you because less-popular players must draw their test results first. If you're lucky, they'll be the baby daddy!
Best of all, you can play your cards to TRASH-TALK other players, sabotaging their cards or Popularity.
Welcome to the Maury Show!
On your turn, four things will happen:
- MAKE YOUR CASE: You play a card.
- TRASH-TALK: Another player can make comebacks.
- SCORE: Apply the winning bonus or penalty.
- DRAW: Re-fill your hand to four cards.
Keep playing until the deck of Argument Cards or the supply of YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards runs out.
Step 1: Make Your Case
Start your turn by playing a blue, red or orange Argument Card. Read the quote aloud and place the card face up in front of you. Don't apply the bonus or penalty on any card until all comebacks have been played (we'll talk about comebacks in Step 2).
- Play a blue Argument Card to give yourself a bonus. You could gain NOT THE FATHER Cards or Popularity.
- Play a red Argument Card to attack another player. Name the player you're targeting. You could take their NOT THE FATHER Cards or cause them to lose Popularity.
- Play an orange Argument Card to gain a special power. Just follow the instructions on the card.
- The Maury Card trumps everything else. It can be played on any card and no other cards can be played against it.
Step 2: Trash-Talk
After you play your Argument Card, someone else can try to cancel it by making a COMEBACK.
There are three things to remember when making a comeback:
- Only one player can make comebacks during your turn:
- If you played a blue card in Step 1: any player can make a comeback against you, but the first player to do so is the ONLY one who can continue to make comebacks that turn.
- If you played a red card in Step 1: ONLY the player you are attacking can make a comeback.
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Blue cards must be played against red cards and red must be played against blue. The printed examples show a red card played against a blue card (allowed), a blue card played against a red card (allowed), a blue card played against a blue card (not allowed), and a red card played against a red card (not allowed).
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A comeback must be of equal or greater strength than the card it's being played against. Cards have a strength from 1-5.
If someone plays a comeback against you, you can play a comeback against their card. Trash-talking continues, back and forth, until a player is unable to make another comeback or chooses to stop. Whichever card was played last is the one that takes effect.
Step 3: Score
Whoever played the last Argument Card applies the effect described by the icons at the bottom of the card.
- GAIN NOT THE FATHER CARDS (white "+" icon): Draw the specified number of NOT THE FATHER Cards and add them to your envelope.
- LOSE NOT THE FATHER CARDS (white "-" icon): Take the specified number of NOT THE FATHER Cards from the other player's envelope and add them to your envelope.
- GAIN POPULARITY (thumbs-up "+" icon): Move your Popularity Marker forward (to the right) along the Popularity Track. If your move ends on another player's marker, their marker moves back to make room for yours and pushes any other markers along with it.
- LOSE POPULARITY (thumbs-down "-" icon): Move your opponent's marker backward (to the left). If they end their move on another player's marker, they push it forward.
Movement example: Red gains 2 Popularity, moves forward 2 spaces and pushes green and purple back!
Remember: Popularity is important because less popular players must draw their DNA Test Results first!
Step 4: Draw
After settling the argument, your turn ends. Place any played cards in a Discard Pile beside the board. All players then draw Argument Cards so everyone has four and play continues clockwise around the table. If you already have four or more cards in your hand, skip this step.
Ending the Game
As soon as the draw pile of Argument Cards or the supply of YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER Cards runs out, the gameplay is over and the DNA testing begins. It's time for The Big Reveal!
The Big Reveal!
At the end of the game, each player shuffles the cards in their DNA Test Envelope then returns them to the envelope.
Start by testing the least popular player and progress to the most popular.
When it's your turn to be tested, hand your envelope to the player on your left. This player says, "In the case of this baby..." then blindly pulls a single card from the envelope and reads aloud what it says.
- IF THE CARD SAYS "YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER!": Place it on the supply pile on the board and return the envelope to its owner. Repeat this process with the next player in order of Popularity. If you test all players without finding the father, do another round, beginning with the least popular player again. Continue going around until you find the father.
- IF THE CARD SAYS "YOU ARE THE FATHER!": The game ends. That player loses and everyone else wins.