Traitor Word Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Which words can be used?
• I. Validate One of Your Secret Words
• 2. Spotted a Secret Word
• 3. Off-Topic
  • Verdict
  • Important
• End of the Game
• No Rounds Variation

Game Contents

• 238 Words cards
  • on the front: 1 word on a black background and 1 word on a pink background
  • on the back: 1 flash
• 3 tokens:
  • 1 My Turn token,
  • 1 Off-Topic Accusation token
  • 1 Secret Word Accusation token

Object of the Game

Be the first player to win 7 flashes by using your own secret words while trying to detect your opponents' words.

Setup

1. In the center of the table, place the Off-Topic Accusation token and the Secret Word Accusation token. The My Turn token is only used in the "No rounds" variation. During your first games, you can leave it in the box.
2. Mix all the Word cards, Flash side up, and make a pile that you will place in the center of the table. Leave room for a discard pile.
3. Place a pile of 3 Word cards in front of each player, Flash side up.
4. Choose the color on the cards that will be used for the game: black or pink. Then, each player draws 5 Word cards and keeps them in hand, with the chosen color held upward.

The player who is wearing a garment with the most words on it becomes the First Player.

Example of a 3-player game setup, with one player's hand visible; the color chosen for the game is pink.

How to Play

• The first player, the announcer, draws a Word card from the central pile and reads the word featured on the color chosen for the game out loud: this is the first word of the chain of words. The card featuring this word is then placed on the discard pile at the center of the table, Word side up.
• In turn and following clockwise order, the player at the left of the announcer will then become the next announcer and must say out loud a word of his choice with a link to the last word spoken.

Which words can be used?

• All words are allowed: infinitive verbs (not conjugated verbs), adjectives, nouns, names, acronyms.
• You can play with homonyms, words that sound the same but are spelt differently, or with the multiple meanings a single word can take.
• You cannot reuse the same word during the whole duration of the game.

Example: the first player reads the first word out loud: "Nature." The player on his left says the word "Flower," and then the next player says "Bake," and so on.

At any time during the game, you can choose to do one of the 3 following actions:

I. Validate One of Your Secret Words

There are 2 ways you can validate one of your secret words.

• Announce 1 of your 5 secret words and wait for the next player to announce their own word. If no other player accuses you, you instantly validate your secret word by showing your card to the other players, and then placing it on top of the pile in front of you, Flash side up.
• If a player says one of your 5 secret words, repeat it immediately and show the card with the matching word to all the other players, before placing it on top of the pile in front of you, Flash side up.

In both situations, draw a new Word card so you always have 5 Word cards in hand.

When one of your opponents says a word that sounds suspicious to you, you can grab one of the 2 Accusation tokens on the table.

2. Spotted a Secret Word

When you think one of your opponents has announced one of their secret words, grab the Secret Word Accusation token and tell them out loud: "I accuse you of trying to use a Secret Word."

Without lying, the accused player tells the accuser if their word was indeed one of their secret words:

• the accused confirms that they have used one of their secret words: the accused takes one of the cards in their own Flash pile and places it on the pile of the accuser. Then, the accused player discards the card with the Secret Word he used and draws a new Word card.
• the accused rebuts the accusation; they didn't use a secret word: the accused player takes one card Flash side up from the accuser's pile.

3. Off-Topic

When you think a player has broken the chain of words and that their word has no link with the previous word, grab the Off Topic Accusation token and say out loud: "I accuse you of going Off-topic"

The accused player can try to justify his use of the word with a sentence explaining the link with the previous word.

After listening to the explanation of the accused player, all the other players except the accused and accuser will indicate if they agree with the explanation or not. To make their call, they reach their arm out, quickly count down "3, 2, 1" and vote simultaneously by giving a:

• thumbs-down if they think the accused has gone Off topic.
• thumbs-up if they think the accused isn't Off topic.

Verdict

• If there's a majority of thumbs-down, the accused is deemed Off-topic and they must give one of the Flash cards from their pile to the accuser:
  • if the accused did not use one of their Secret Words, nothing more happens.
  • if the accused did use one of their Secret Words, they discard their matching Word card and draw a new card.
• If there's a tie OR an absolute majority of thumbs-up, the accused is not deemed Off-topic and they take a Flash card from the accuser's pile:
  • If the accused did not use one of their Secret Words, nothing more happens.
  • If the accused has used one of their Secret Words: they show their matching Word card and place it Flash side up on top of the pile in front of them.

After each accusation, the accuser puts the accusation token back at the center of the table and the game continues, the chain of words starting again with the word used by the accused, whether the word has been deemed off-topic or not.

Important

• When the player is accused of being Off Topic, no one can accuse them of using a Secret Word, and vice versa.
• Don't spread out your Flash cards, but keep them in a pile to hide your total score from your opponents.

End of the Game

The game can end one of two ways, at the end of a round:

• One player has a total number of 7 Flash cards in front of him: they win the game immediately,

or,

• A player has no Flash card left in front of them: the game ends. The player with the most Flash cards wins the game. If there's a tie, the players involved share the victory.

No Rounds Variation

In this variation, the rules stay the same as the original game, with a few exceptions. The players do not play in turn and in clockwise order anymore; each player can say a word at any moment they wish.

• During the setup, add the MY TURN token in the center of the table.
• During the game, grab the MY TURN token from the center of the table or in front of another player and say "MY TURN" out loud, and then the word you want to say.
• Watch out, you cannot say 2 consecutive words because the MY TURN token is still in front of you. You must wait for another player to take it from you, and for them to say their word before taking it back if you wish to.
• Your secret word is validated as soon as a player has taken the MY TURN token from you and no opponent has accused you.