Three For All! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Rules in Brief
• The Rules… Complete and Uncut
  • The Three For All Objective
  • Getting Ready
  • The Buzzler Timer
  • Play!
  • If You're the Giver
  • If You're Not the Giver:
  • Winning
  • Flubbing
  • What ifs…
  • Three Tips For All:
• Buzzler Battery info

Components

Here's What You Get:

125 Cards with 1,000 Threezer™ Riddles, Marble Bank/Card Holder, 2 Scoring Trays, Electronic Buzzler, Buzzler Mat, Eight-sided Die, 55 Marbles

The Rules in Brief

Split into two teams. Roll the die by scrambling it underneath the Buzzler.

Somebody starts the timer by hitting the Buzzler and "Gives" by taking a Card and describing the three clues in the Threezer. All other players may shout out their answers. Once the three clues have been guessed and confirmed correct by the Giver, all players try to quickly buzz in and solve the Bond. You solve it; your team scores the number of Marbles indicated by the die. First team to fill up their Scoring Tray with 28 Marbles wins.

Here's an example:

Threezer… Car, Tree, Elephant

Bond: They have trunks

Giver: Okay, what's a short name for an automobile? Players shout: CAR! Giver: Yeah, car! Now this is a really big plant with leaves and wooden branches that grows outdoors. Players: TREE! Giver: Yes! Tree! And this is a huge gray wrinkly-skinned circus animal named Jumbo. Players: ELEPHANT! Giver: Yes!

Now what do a CAR, a TREE, and an ELEPHANT have in common? Everybody race to hit the Buzzler. If you're first one to hit it, give your answer. THEY HAVE TRUNKS! If you're right you score for your team. Lift up the Buzzler and reveal the Die. Take that number of Marbles from the Marble Bank and put 'em in your team's Tray.

Now play! (Or at least try a Threezer or two -- just to get warmed up. There are more examples on the sides of the box bottom if you need them.)

The Rules… Complete and Uncut

The Three For All Objective

Have all kinds of fun and WIN by being the first team to fill up your Scoring Tray with 28 Marbles.

Getting Ready

• Split into two teams, it doesn't matter if the teams are uneven.
• Put the Marbles in the Marble Bank and turn the Card Deck so it stands up vertically in the pocket, concealing the Threezers.
• Put the Buzzler Mat in the center of the table. The Die goes under the Buzzler (timer) on the mat.
• Each team takes a triangular Scoring Tray.
• Grab some scratch paper and pencils to jot down words while you play.

The Buzzler Timer

The Buzzler is used to roll and conceal the Die, and it contains a one-minute timer. Put the Die underneath and give it a circular motion on the Mat. Press the button to start the timer. If you press it again the timer will pause for three seconds, so you have time to give your answer. After three seconds, it buzzes and starts timing again, finishing out the minute with a final buzz. To reset the timer, hold the button down until it beeps three times in a row. If the minute runs out, the timer will automatically reset itself.

Play!

Somebody scramble the Die under the Buzzler, but leave it concealed. No peeking! The team that "Gives" or describes the Threezers is the "Giving Team." The other team is the "Stealing Team." Teams take turns Giving and players take turns with their own teammates being the Giver. You decide who goes first…we don't want to get involved in that.

If You're the Giver

Draw a Card. Take a moment to think how you'll describe each clue. When you're ready, hit the Buzzler to start the timer. Describe each of the three things in the Threezer without saying the actual clues or any parts of the clues. You also must not say the Bond or any parts of the Bond.

For example: The words are FLAG, TELEPHONE, and NORTH, with their Bond being POLES. To describe FLAG, you might say, "This banner symbolizes our country and flaps in the wind." For TELEPHONE you might say, "You pick this thing up when it rings and talk to people long-distance." For NORTH you might say, "The opposite direction of South." You can give as many clues as you need to in order to get your teammates to guess the words. Make noises, sing, dance, jump up and down, gesture or do just about anything you can think of to get somebody to say the clues that make up the Threezer.

Players on either team may blurt out their guesses to get the clues. You should confirm when somebody (on either team) gets a clue. Say something like, "Flag!… Yeah!" If somebody says a form of the word you are describing, go ahead and correct them… if the clue is "Dogs" and somebody says "Dog," say something like, "Yeah, dog, but add an s" or "make it plural!" You'll understand why this is important later, trust us.

Remember you've got to stay away from any reference to POLE as you give your descriptions, so as you describe FLAG, TELEPHONE, and NORTH, you couldn't say, "A banner attached to a pole, a communication device linked with wires on poles, or the pole where Santa lives." That would be Flubbing. Flubbing is bad. We'll tell you all there is to know about Flubbing later.

If You're Not the Giver:

No matter which team you're on, you'll be trying to guess the clues that make up the Threezer and solve the Bond. Nobody gets bored in this game!

When you think you know the Bond and want to answer, even if all three clues haven't been given yet, be first to hit the Buzzler and then give your answer. You have three seconds.

One of these things will happen next:

• You Score: No matter which team you're on, if you answer correctly in the three seconds before the Buzzler buzzes and starts timing again, your team scores! Yay! Lift up the Buzzler to reveal the Die, take that many Marbles from the Bank and put 'em in your tray.
• You Blow It: If you're on the Giving team and you answer incorrectly or take more than three seconds to answer, you lose your Marbles. Boo. Reveal the die and put that many of your own Marbles back in the Bank. If you don't have enough Marbles, put back all you have. Lucky for you it's not possible to have negative Marbles!
• You Flub the Steal: If you're on the Stealing Team and you answer wrong or take more than three seconds, you have Flubbed the Steal and must pay Marbles to the Giving Team. The Giving Team has the remainder of the time left on the Buzzler to solve the Bond. If the Giving Team then solves the Bond, they score twice - by taking Marbles from the Bank, and by getting payment from you. You have to pay the Giving Team regardless of whether they solve the Bond or not, so Steal at your own risk!

This is important! If a Steal is Flubbed, deal with the scoring at the end of the turn so you don't waste the time left on the Buzzler!

Winning

If your team is first to fill your Scoring Tray with 28 Marbles, you win!

Flubbing

Flubbing, by definition, means "to mess up or make a mistake." Flubbing is not recommended. Here are some other ways you can Flub:

Flubbing the Give is when you're Giving and you say either the part of the Threezer you're describing, or the Bond. Pay a Marble to the Bank and your turn is over.

Flubbing the Steal was covered above, but just to reiterate, it can really cost ya.

Flubbing the Buzz can be done several different ways.

• The Premature Buzz is when you hit the Buzzler to answer part of the Threezer instead of the Bond. Pay a Marble to the Bank. Your turn is over.
• The Air Buzz is when you say the Bond while your hand is in the air and somebody from the other team beats you to the Buzzler. They get to give their answer (or your answer) and score if they're correct, even if you've just said the correct answer. You've got to buzz in first before you can answer! Alex Trebek would have no mercy on you either.
• The Spaced Out Buzz is when you buzz in and say the Bond after your team has blown its one and only chance to Steal. The other team can just repeat what you said and you have to pay, plus they score from the Bank, so look alive!

Is it a Flub or not? It's up to you to decide whether you want to make "rhymes with" or "sounds like" part of Flubbing the Give. Three For All is more challenging if you consider them Flub material.

What ifs…

What if somebody gives an answer that is partially correct?

For example:

Threezer… DIAMOND, CLUB, HEART

Bond… CARD SUITS!

If somebody gives the answer, "CARDS" it's up to the Giver to either accept it or not. If you're going to be a stickler for extremely specific answers, be prepared to be stickled by the other team when you're answering.

What if one of your Threezer clues contains parentheses?

For example:

Threezer… TURKEY, CHILE (CHILI), JORDAN

Bond… COUNTRIES!

Words in parentheses are given if the actual word is hard to describe without Flubbing. The word CHILI is given to help you think of other ways to get people to answer correctly. Since it's virtually impossible to describe CHILE (the country) without Flubbing, we've provided you with a word that's easier to describe.

Be aware that when trying to solve the Bonds, spelling may fool you!

What if the Threezer contains compound words or multi-worded clues?

For example:

Threezer… FLEX, SUAVE, HEAD & SHOULDERS

Bond… SHAMPOO BRANDS

It would be natural to describe HEAD & SHOULDERS as a popular brand of dandruff shampoo, but that would be a Flub because that would give away the Bond. In cases like this, you could say, "This is two words." Then describe HEAD first and after somebody has guessed it, move on to describing SHOULDERS. Sounds a bit flaky, but it works!

What if you have trouble describing one of the things in the Threezer and want to skip to the next clue? Sorry, but you have to describe the clues in order… no skipping. It's our game, we make the rules.

Three Tips For All:

• Every Card has four different questions, each designated by a different color. If you play through all Threezers of one color before switching to the next, you'll keep from repeating Threezers in future games. This keeps you from being able to inadvertently memorize answers. Once you've played through one side of the Cards, then switch to the other. If you want to cheat, go ahead and memorize all the Cards before you play, but you didn't hear that from us.

• Each color on a Card designates a Threezer and a Bond. The Bond is shown below the Threezer in bold italics. It's important that you know what the Bond is before you begin to describe the things in the Threezer because if you give away the Bond in any of your descriptions, you, my friend, are a Flubber.

• When giving clues, a lot of people just say words. Remember you're allowed to say almost anything! For example, if the clue is "Speaker," don't say, "Radio…Loud…Music…Talk." People will get it a lot more quickly if you say something like "The part of a stereo where the sound comes out."

Be First! Don't Flub! Have Fun! - Remember… It's a THREE FOR ALL!

Buzzler Battery info

If the Buzzler malfunctions, open the door on the bottom, remove the batteries and put them back in again. If it still malfunctions, replace the batteries. Do not mix old and new batteries. Do not mix Alkaline, Standard (Carbon Zinc), or Rechargeable (Nickel-Cadmium) batteries. Replace batteries with (3) 1.5 volt button batteries. We recommend Energizer® No. 357 or Duracell® No. MS76 batteries.