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Mammoth Messages (Rules)

Setup

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Create two shuffled, facedown decks: one with the large Word Tiles (10 words), one with the smaller Cave Drawings (a single drawing).

Place the Choice Tokens (number + color) within easy reach.

Objective

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The game ends after 10 rounds. Collectively score as many points as possible!

Gameplay

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On your turn,

  • Draw 1 random Word Tile and display it for everyone to see. They show 10 words (numbered and colored).
  • Draw 10 random Cave Drawings.
  • Pick a Choice Tile.

Now set a timer for 60 seconds and start it!

Choice Tiles show a number and a color: those are the two words you must communicate!

  • You may only use Cave Drawing tiles, no other communication.
  • You can reveal up to 5 drawings.
  • You can reveal them in any way (all at once, one at a time, in a neat row, some stacked on top of others, etcetera). Once a drawing is set in stone, however, it can’t be moved or changed.

Once the other players want to make their guess, they say and tap the 2 words on the word card.

  • Both correct? You score 10 points, minus how many symbols you revealed.
  • Otherwise? Your turn is over and you score 0 points.
Example turn that shows how to determine your word and how you might go about communicating it.

Finally, some remarks for clarity.

  • If the timer runs out (without a guess), you instantly lose the round.
  • If there’s a disagreement, the player to the left of the current communicator has the final say.
  • Your number and color might fall on the same word. If so, simply communicate that single word, and you win if the first guess by the others matches that word.

Variants

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Once you know the base game, try these variants to suit the game more to your group’s needs.

To make the game harder,

  • Pick your Choice Token before drawing your Cave Drawings. (Or draw it randomly.)
  • Only draw 6 Cave Drawings, and you may only reveal 3 of them.

To make the game easier,

  • Only pick one word. (Either the number OR the color on the Choice Token.)
  • Limit the words you may pick from on each card. (For example, you may only pick from the first 6 options.)

To make the game competitive,

  • Split into two teams.
  • Each round, both teams get a turn communicating and guessing. The two communicators sit on the same side.
  • However, only draw 1 Word Tile and 10 Cave Drawings for the entire round. The second team in the round may only use the drawings that the first team didn’t use!
  • The communicators must show the Choice Token they picked to each other.
  • The team that scored the least points starts the next round.

To add more choice during your turns, and protection against “a bad hand”,

  • You’re allowed to discard all unused Cave Drawings and draw equally many new ones from the deck.
  • But if you do so, you must also draw another Choice Token and communicate those words as well.
  • As usual, you only score points if the others guess all words correctly. But if they do, the points are doubled as a bonus!

If you’ve played the game so much that you know all the Choice Tokens and/or Word Cards by heart, then …

  • Firstly, congratulations!
  • Create two separate decks of Choice Tokens. Draw one from each: use the number from each token (ignore color) to decide what to communicate.
  • Generate a new set of word cards (and enable “tough words”) from the website.