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HOW TO PLAY - BATTLE OF THE SEXES
- GAME
RULES
Object of the Game
To test your knowledge of the opposite sex
through a series of gender-based questions. The first player or
team to get their 2 pawns across to the other side of the board wins the
game.
Set Up
Battle of the Sexes can be played
individually or in teams. The word 'player' is used to describe
either individual players or teams.
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Each player is given two pawns.
Red pawns for females and blue pawns are for males. Each
player places one of the pawns at START on the game board (any
spaces at the beginning of a lane with the appropriate gender sign
on it). The second pawn is kept off the game board until the
first pawn has been moved to the opposite side of the game board or
taken prisoner by your opponent.
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Separate the 4 different card decks
and shuffle each deck (female question cards, male question cards,
female wild cards and male wild cards). Place all 4 card decks
in the appropriate space on the game board.
Type of Cards
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Female Question Cards
These questions have a
female bias and are asked of the male opponents.
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Male Question Cards
These questions have a male
bias and are asked of the female opponents.
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Female Wild Cards
These cards have directions
for either player to follow. Male players follow the male
direction and female players follow female directions. Female
wild cards favor females and act as a defense against males.
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Male Wild Cards
These cards have directions
for either player to follow. Male players follow the male
direction and female players follow female directions. Male
wild cards favor the males and act as a defense against females.
A player will only pick up a WILD CARD if
he or she lands on a WILD CARD space at the end of his/her turn.
Wild Cards:
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A player will only pick up the
opposite sex WILD CARD if he or she lands on the opposite sex
WILD CARD space at the end of his or her turn.
- For example, if a player ends his or her turn on an opposite sex
WILD CARD, he or she must pick up the opposite WILD CARD
and follow its directions.
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A player will only pick up the same
sex WILD CARD as he or she lands on the same sex WILD CARD
position regardless of the stage of his or her turn.
- For example, if a player answers the first question correctly and
lands on a same sex WILD CARD and follows its directions.
The the player continues answering the remainder of the questions
until he or she answers incorrectly or he or she answers all
questions correctly.
Playing the Game
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Toss a coin to decide which player or
team starts the game.
- If the female player wins the toss then the game begins
with the male player picking up the top Male Question Card and
asking any one of the three questions to his female opponent.
- If the question is answered correctly, the female moves
ahead one space and another question from that same card is asked.
If all three questions are answered correctly the female will have
moved the maximum of three spaces and her turn is over.
- If the question is answered incorrectly, the player's turn
is over and the question card is returned to the bottom of the deck.
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Play continues to the left or
alternates between opposing teams. For example, if the first
turn started with the males asking the questions, the second turn
starts with the females asking the questions.
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Two pawns may rest on the same space
at the same time.
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Once a players first pawn reaches the
opposite side of the board, place the second pawn at the START
position.
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During the course of the game, each
player has the opportunity to take ONLY ONE of his or her
opponent's pawn prisoner. This can be done by landing on a
space where your opponent's pawn is already positioned at the end of
your turn.
- A player can only take a pawn prisoner once and only if
their opponent still has possession of his or her second pawn.
If a pawn is taken prisoner, the pawn is placed on the captor's
starting position until freed.
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To free a pawn, a player must move
their second or existing pawn across to the other side of the board.
When a pawn is freed, it is placed back to the start position.
Winning the Game
The first player or team to get their 2
pawns to the other side of the board wins the game.
Two Players
If there are only two players
participating - both sexes must be represented and and must sit opposite
each other. The first person to get both their tokens to the other
side of the board wins the game.
Three Players
The rules are slightly different if there
are two males and one female participating (or vice versa). The
two male players operate from the male side of the board, and the female
the other side. In this scenario, the two male players team up
against the female. Together they need to get all their tokens
across to the female side to win the game.
To balance the competition, the female is
allocated four tokens at the start of the game and must get all of them
over to the male side to win.
To determine who starts the game, one male
player should be nominated to take part in the coin toss. If the
males win, the female player will begin by asking the first question to
one of the male players. She will then have her turn before asking
another series of questions to the second male player. All players
must answer their questions individually and without the help of their
team-mates.
Four or More Players
If there are more than two people playing,
couples can either play separately or each side can team up and make it
a combined battle between men and women.
If couples choose to play separately the
rules are the same as for TWO PLAYERS - each couple finishes the game
when one player gets both their tokens to the other side.
If the teams are formed, couples still
play against each other using the same rules. However, the winning
sex is determined by which gender moved the most number of individual
tokens to the opposite side of the board.
In either case, to work out who starts the
game - nominate one female and one male player to participate in a coin
toss. Once the first couple has asked each other a series of
questions, play moves to the next couple.
Fast Game
If you want to play a FAST GAME simply
allocate each player one token only. In this case, the first
person to get their token to the other side of the board wins the game.
In a FAST GAME, the rule about taking your partner's token prisoner does
not apply.
Common Questions about the Rules
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Do I need to get the answer to a
question exactly right to move ahead?
If you're a stickler for rules then you can stipulate at the
start of the game that all questions need to be answered as written
on the Question Card eg: names and movie titles must be supplied in
full. However, some answers are a little broader than other eg:
Q: What would you find in a haberdashery?
A: Sewing and dressmaking products. If a player uses
the terms:
fabrics, zippers, buttons, needles, wool or any items that you would
find in a haberdashery to answer the question this is also
acceptable.
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Can I ever offer hints about the
answer to a question?
Official Battle of the Sexes rules do not allow for any hints to
cheats during the game play.
But if you want to bend the rules a little that's up to you.
As long as it has been mutually decided before the start of the
game.
Now that you're armed with the rules,
you're ready to start the battle. So, get the gloves off, fire up
those brain cells and let the war begin!!!
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