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HOW TO PLAY - THE INVENTION GAME
- GAME
RULES
Overview
The Invention Game™
is a bluffing game for 3 or more players. The game contains cards
with pictures of real but strange-looking inventions. Players
write descriptions of what they think these inventions are. At the
end of each round one player reads off all the players' descriptions
along with the real one. Players try to guess which one is real in
order to earn points. The player with the most points at the end
of the game wins!!!!
Getting Started
1) Each
player takes a pen or pencil and a blank Guessing Sheet.
2) One player volunteers to become the card reader for this round
and takes a Scoring Sheet and the Red Decoder.
Writing Bluffs
1) The card
reader takes the first Invention Card from the deck and places the Red
Decoder over the red area at the bottom of the card to reveal the
invention description. The card reader copies down the invention
description onto a blank Guessing Sheet. The card reader should
not reveal what was written.
2) The card reader places the card in the center of the table.
The other players take a few minutes to look at it and write down what
they think the invention is. For example, if the card showed a
hat-like contraption, a player might write down "Brain Massager" or
"Underwater Breathing Apparatus for Horses" and so on. Players
should make each description at least a few words long, but not more
than a sentence or two in length.
3) When finished writing their descriptions, players write their
names on their Guessing Sheets and hand them in to the card reader.
4) The card reader should make sure that he/she can read the
descriptions as they come in. If one is not legible, he/she should
hand it back to the player who wrote it so it can be rewritten more
clearly.
Reading Bluffs
1) The card
reader shuffles all the players' descriptions together with the real
description.
2) The card reader reads the descriptions through twice. The
first reading is just to help people digest all the possible choices.
On the second reading the players vote on which description they think
is the real one. The card reader writes down the initials of the
players who voted for each description in the corner of each Guessing
Sheet.
3) Players must vote in every round and may only vote for 1
description.
4) Players MAY NOT vote for the description they
wrote.
5) The card reader does not vote.
6) After all the votes are received, the card reader reveals which
description is actually the REAL one.
TIP:
If the card reader receives a bluff that is nearly identical to
the description, that's OK. It should be read aloud with the
rest of the description.
Scoring
The card reader
writes the scores on the Scoring Sheet as follows:
1) Players get 1 point if they voted for the real description.
2) Players get 1 point for every vote their own bluff received.
3) Players get 1 point if the bluff they wrote was nearly exactly
the same as the real description.
4) The card reader gets 2 points if no one voted for the real
description.
Continuing Play
Play continues in
this manner with the person to the card reader's left now becoming the
card reader for the next round. This player takes the Scoring
Sheet, the Red Decoder, and a new Invention Card and continues play as
described above.
Winning the Game
Play 7 rounds.
At the end of 7 rounds, add up the points. The player with the
most points wins!!!
Three Player
Variation
When playing with
three people, have the card reader submit a bluff in addition to the
real description. This will give all the players more descriptions
to choose from and make the game more fun. To play this way, the
card reader should write a bluff before looking at the real description.
The card reader ma not vote, but still can win points in all the other
ways as described in the Scoring section.
About the
Inventions
All inventions
depicted in The Invention Game™ are REAL. They are the
actual images found in US and worldwide patent filings. We've
colorized the images to make them easier to see, but we haven't changed
anything else. The numbers that you see on the images are
reference points the patent office requires to identify parts of the
invention.
Some inventions may
seem strange or implausible and you may wonder how in the world these
objects received a patent. It's easier than you think. The
patent office looks primarily at whether application is novel and not
whether it's a good idea!
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