Witty Pong
Witty Pong Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 56 Racket cards
- 1 Ball token
- 24 Banana tokens
Setup
- Give 3 Banana tokens to each player. They serve as their life points.
- Shuffle all the cards together to form a face-down draw pile.
- Turn over the first four cards of the draw pile, face up, to form a 2 by 2 area. This area represents the Witty Pong table.
- Place the Ball token on one of the 4 cards laid out on the table.
- The hairiest player starts the game.
Playing the Game
Two levels of rules are available. The Sunday rules let you get familiar with Witty Pong. You will then move quickly on to the Competition rules, for the real hairy gorillas!
On your turn, draw a card and immediately place it face up on one of the three free stacks, that is, a stack that does not have the Ball on it. This must be done quickly, without taking the time to look at the card you draw.
There are then two possible cases:
1. The card played has the Ball on it
The player must say absolutely nothing, and must move the Ball onto one of the three other available stacks.
If the player says anything and/or does not move the Ball, they lose one of their Banana tokens and discard it into the centre of the table.
Example 1: there are cards without a Ball and cards with a Ball.
- Card without a Ball: (illustration)
- Card with a Ball: (illustration)
2. The card played does not have the Ball on it
Sunday rules
The player must quickly announce their move out loud. To do so, they must observe the arrangement of the letters and colours on the three visible Racket cards (the fourth is covered by the Ball).
The arrangement of the letters gives the start of the announced word:
- If there are at least two "P", the announcement starts with "P".
- If there are at least two "T", the announcement starts with "T".
The arrangement of the colours gives the end of the announced word:
- If there are at least two Blue Rackets, the announcement must end with the sound "ong".
- If there are at least two Red Rackets, the announcement must end with the sound "ing".
Clarifications: the Racket card that holds the Ball is not taken into account. If there are 3 cards showing the same letter or the same colour, the announcement is not modified for now. The bolder gorillas will find some surprises in the Competition rules.
Example 2: there is a majority of "P", so the word starts with "P". There is a majority of Blue cards, so the word ends with "Ong". The player must therefore say "Pong"!
Example 3: there is a majority of "T", so the word starts with "T". There is a majority of Red cards, so the word ends with "Ing". The player must therefore say "Ting"!
If the player's announcement is wrong, they lose one of their Banana tokens and discard it into the centre of the table.
Competition rules
Once you are familiar with the Sunday rules, add the Competition rules to make your games of Witty Pong even crazier!
- If there are three "P" or three "T", the start of the announcement is "K"!!
- If all three Rackets are the same colour, the announcement must be doubled, as shown in the table below:
| Letter / Colour | Blue x2 | Red x2 | Blue x3 | Red x3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PP | PONG | PING | PONG-PING | PING-PONG |
| TT | TONG | TING | TONG-TING | TING-TONG |
| PPP or TTT | KONG | KING | KONG-KING | KING-KONG |
If the player makes an inappropriate announcement and/or moves the Ball, they lose one of their Banana tokens and discard it into the centre of the table. Every stutter, "uh", or hesitation longer than 3 seconds counts as a mistake.
Example 4: there are 3 letters "T", so the word starts with "K". There is a majority of Red cards, so the word ends with "Ing". The player must therefore say "King"!
Example 5: there are 3 cards "K", so the word starts with "K". There are 3 Red cards, so the announced word is doubled and starts with "Ing" and ends with "Ong". The player must therefore say "King-Kong"!
Ultimate Witty Pong rules
These are the rules for the gorillas who have what it takes... the gorillas who know that to survive you must be the fastest!
Once you have mastered the Competition rules of Witty Pong, you may introduce this ultimate level of complexity: when a player turns over a card that has Banana tokens on it, all players around the table may speak.
In Ultimate Witty Pong, the fastest player to call out the correct answer has the privilege of stealing a Banana token from the player whose turn it is. That player was not quick enough and was beaten to it by this player. The player whose turn it was loses one life point.
"Equal Chances" variant: Witty Pong calls on observation and speed skills. To account for each player's abilities (and their experience of the game), it is quite possible, at the start of the game, to give more Banana tokens to beginners and/or to players less comfortable with these skills. A beginner starts with 3 tokens, a more experienced player with 2 tokens, and an expert player with just 1 token!!! True gorillas like to win by starting the game with a single token...
Note: the source's two examples are both numbered "Exemple 5" in the printed French rules. They are transcribed as printed; the second one (cards with bananas) is the Ultimate-rules example.
Warning: in Ultimate Witty Pong, all moves are allowed! Even moving the Ball before your opponent does!
Indeed, when a player turns over a card with the Ball AND Banana tokens, the fastest player to grab the Ball token and move it on the table may steal a Banana token from the player whose turn it is.
Example 5 (the second example numbered 5 in the printed rules): there are cards without Banana tokens and others with Banana tokens... you must be vigilant and be the first to spot them!
- Card without a Banana token: (illustration)
- Card with Banana tokens: (illustration)
Be careful, though, of rash moves and announcements! A player whose turn it is not, and who launches into such an attack, loses one Banana token if they make a mistake or give an incorrect announcement. In Witty Pong, only the strongest survive!
End of Game
When a player loses their last Banana token, they can no longer draw cards and are eliminated!
If only one player remains in the game with one or more Banana tokens, and all the other players have lost theirs, that player wins the game!