You Lying Sack Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Start Here
  • Overview
  • Goal
  • Setup
• Gameplay
  • On Your Turn
  • Offering Your Hand
  • Now Open Your Hand
  • Shrink Your Pile
• Ending Your Turn
• Resetting the Bad Things Number
• Winning
• Extra Things You Should Know

Components

• 1 Lying Sack
• 1 Game Board
• 1 Good Thing
• 1 Die
• 50 Bad Things

2-5 players. Ages 7+.

Start Here

Overview

In this game, there are some Bad Things. Each player is going to start with a Pile of Bad Things, and if your Pile ever has 10 Bad Things in it, you're dead and out of the game. So, you want your Pile to be as small as possible. In this game there is also a Good Thing. The Good Thing is good because it will let you get rid of Bad Things.

To Recap: Bad Things are bad because if you get 10 you'll lose the game, and the Good Thing is good because it lets you get rid of Bad Things. Both the Good Thing and the Bad Things live in the Lying Sack.

To play the game you're going to reach into the Lying Sack and secretly either take some Bad Things or the Good Thing into your clenched fist. Then you're going to offer the mysterious thing you took to each player. If anyone accepts your offer, they will take whatever is in your hand. If no one accepts, you will keep whatever is in your hand. To win, all you have to do is grab the Good Thing and hope everyone turns you down when you offer so that you can keep it or grab the Bad Things and hope someone accepts when you offer.

Goal

Be the only player who has not been eliminated. Players are eliminated when they collect 10 or more Bad Things.

Setup

1. Put all the Bad Things and the Good Thing into the Lying Sack and put the Sack in the middle of the table.
2. Place 2 Bad Things from the Lying Sack in front of each player. This is your "Pile."
3. Put the Game Board on the table and set the Bad Things Number to 2 (the lowest number) by rotating the disc.
4. Put the Die on the Shrink Your Pile spot. (It doesn't matter what number is face up.)
5. Pick a player to go first.

Each player starts with two Bad Things in front of them as their Pile. The Lying Sack sits in the middle of the table, and the Game Board sits next to it with the Bad Things Number starting at 2.

Gameplay

Take your turn by following the Game Board from the top to the bottom and use these instructions to get more details if you need them.

On Your Turn

1. When it's your turn, rotate the Bad Things Number to the next highest number by rotating the disc. For the very first turn of the game, just leave it at "2."

2. Roll the Die and then return it to the Shrink Your Pile spot with the number you rolled face up.

3. Now you must make an important decision: When you reach into the Lying Sack, do you want to risk taking the Bad Things or the Good Thing? If you decide to risk the Bad Things, reach into the Lying Sack and secretly grab the displayed number of Bad Things.

4. If you decide to risk the Good Thing, reach into the Lying Sack and secretly grab the Good Thing. The Good Thing feels very different from the foam Bad Things, so you should be able to find it and grab it inside the Lying Sack without looking.

5. Take your hand out of the Lying Sack and keep your fist closed so that no one knows what's inside. Hold your clenched fist out to the player on your left and say the phrase on the Game Board—say it regardless of whether you're telling the truth or lying. Repeat offering what's in your hand to each player until either someone accepts or you get all the way around the circle with no one accepting.

6. After someone accepts your offer or you go all the way around the circle with no one accepting, open your hand, reveal what's inside, and do ONE of these two things:

   • If Bad Things were in your hand, they go into the Pile of whoever had to take them.
   • If it was the Good Thing, continue to Step 7.

7. If you are the Active Player and you still have the Good Thing because no one accepted your offer, you have outsmarted everyone and now get to shrink your Pile by distributing the number of Bad Things on the Die from your Pile to ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS.

   Give 1 Bad Thing from your Pile to each player starting with the player on your left and proceeding clockwise repeatedly (skipping yourself) until you reach the number on the Die or your Pile is empty.

Offering Your Hand

Either way, offer your hand to each player and say: "My hand is full of Bad Things. Will you take them?"

Now Open Your Hand

• If ANYONE accepted, they take whatever is in your hand.
• If NO ONE accepted, you take whatever is in your hand.

Was it the Good Thing?

Shrink Your Pile

If anyone now has the Good Thing, they get to shrink their Pile by the number on the Die.

• If the Active Player has the Good Thing, they get to distribute that number to everyone else.
• If someone else has the Good Thing, they get to give that number to the Active Player.

Ending Your Turn

After someone takes some Bad Things, your turn is over. Put the Good Thing back in the Lying Sack if it was removed. Then continue clockwise around the table.

Resetting the Bad Things Number

If you roll a 6 on the Die at the beginning of your turn, leave the Die at 6, but reset the Bad Things Number to 2 (the lowest number) and then continue with your turn. So, your numbers are Bad Things: 2 and Shrink Your Pile: 6.

If the Bad Things Number is at 8, just leave it at 8 until a 6 is rolled.

Winning

Once any player collects 10 or more Bad Things in their Pile, they are out of the game. Put their Bad Things back in the Lying Sack and the other players will continue playing without them. The last player left in the game wins!

Extra Things You Should Know

• When determining if you should accept whatever might be in a player's hand, you are allowed to look at their hand from any angle…but they are also allowed to move their hand away from you.
• It's fine if you eventually have fewer than 2 Bad Things in your Pile. Even 0 is fine. Just keep playing.
• If you have 8 or 9 Bad Things and are therefore close to losing the game, a good strategy is to risk the Good Thing or try to catch someone with the Good Thing in their fist so that you can get rid of some of your Bad Things.
• The only time Bad Things go back into the Lying Sack is when a player is eliminated.
• It's okay to use both hands to help conceal what you grab from the Lying Sack.