Stress Marks

What you need

• One copy of the 24 public sentence cards and four private target selectors A–D

• Two ballot spaces per listener per turn, pens, and a shared score sheet

• An opaque cup or envelope for drawing and returning the target selectors

Set up

1. Print and cut the sentence cards and A–D selectors as two separate decks. Put the four selectors in an opaque cup. Every sentence and all four meanings are public; only the current selected letter is private. Print or copy the eight-row ballot sheet once per player and the shared score sheet once; blank slips remain an equivalent option.

2. Choose spoken mode or visual emphasis mode for the whole session before drawing. Sit in a fixed order, choose the first speaker, and play exactly one turn per person. Shuffle the sentences and set aside as many as there are players without reading them.

3. Give everyone a ballot row with FIRST and SECOND boxes for each listening turn. Name a recorder, who still plays. The next player clockwise checks the speaker’s target after the turn; no permanent host sits out.

How to play

1. Reveal one sentence card. Read its sentence and all four meanings neutrally so everyone knows the choices. Clarify unfamiliar words before drawing the target. These four meanings are suggested conversational implications, not a test claiming that English has only one correct interpretation.

2. The speaker privately draws one A–D selector and keeps it covered until scoring. Its letter selects the intended meaning on the public card. Never choose an easier target, redraw because one sounds hard, or change it after a listener responds. An inaccessible or uncomfortable card can always be replaced before the first scored reading.

3. Take thinking time. In spoken mode, say the printed sentence once using exactly its printed words in their printed order. You may vary stress, pitch, ordinary pauses, and pace. You may not add words, repeat a word within the sentence, spell, mouth a letter, announce a number, gesture a target, point at a choice, or use a prearranged A–D code. Do not put on an accent or imitate a real person.

4. After the reading, listeners independently write one letter A–D in FIRST without discussing meaning. When everyone is ready, lock and reveal those ballots together. The target stays covered. The speaker may see which interpretations were chosen, but gives no verbal approval, rejection, explanation, or hint.

5. The speaker now delivers the same whole sentence once more. The second reading may use different emphasis or may repeat the first. Listeners independently write a SECOND letter, including when they wish to keep their first answer. Lock all SECOND ballots before exposing the target. A listener cannot revise FIRST after its reveal.

6. Reveal the target selector. For each listener, earn 2 shared points if FIRST matched the target; otherwise earn 1 if SECOND matched; otherwise earn 0. These are alternatives, not cumulative. A correct FIRST keeps its 2 points even if SECOND changes away. The speaker earns no separate points. Count every listener once, then record the shared turn total out of 2 × the number of listeners.

7. A blank, several uncrossed letters, or a letter outside A–D is an incorrect ballot for that stage only. Correct an entry freely before that stage locks. Do not void everyone’s turn for one missing ballot. The selected letter settles scoring even when another interpretation also sounds reasonable; discussion afterwards is about what listeners heard, not about awarding a different target.

8. If the speaker accidentally changes or omits a word, stop that reading before ballots lock and repeat the complete sentence correctly. If a target letter is exposed early, an extra spoken clue is given, or a rule-breaking signal could reveal the target, void the turn and repeat with a fresh sentence and fresh selector draw. Keep the same speaker. Correct ordinary score arithmetic from retained ballots at any time. If a changed or omitted word is discovered only after ballots lock, void the turn and use a fresh sentence with the same speaker; do not ask listeners to reinterpret a corrected version after scoring information is known.

9. In visual emphasis mode, the speaker writes or types the complete exact sentence and emphasizes one contiguous word or phrase using a box, underline, or ordinary bold type. All other words use identical treatment. No added symbols, pictures, colors, or letter-position codes. Show this version for FIRST, then optionally emphasize a different contiguous span for SECOND. Preserve the same two-stage ballots and scoring; record the chosen mode and compare only like modes.

10. Return the selector to the cup and mix all four before the next speaker draws, so repeated targets are possible. Discard the used sentence and pass the speaker role one seat clockwise. Nobody studies later cards. Keep excluded themes out of the deck. Repeated deliberate signaling ends scored play; a relaxed reading session can continue by agreement.

Ending and ties

• Finish when every person has spoken once. With N players, there are N turns and N − 1 listeners per turn, for a maximum of 2 × N × (N − 1) shared points. There is no individual winner or tiebreak. Treat the total as a record of this group and mode, not an assessment of anybody’s language ability.

• Estimated duration is 15–30 minutes, depending on group size and discussion. This authored edition has not had a live group playtest. Use 3–8 unused sentence cards next time: 24 cards supply at least three full sessions at every supported player count, before optional replacements. If replacements leave too few cards, finish casually without comparing a shortened total.

Make room for everyone

• All sentences, meanings, and ballot letters may be enlarged or read through assistive technology. Give enough thinking time; speed, volume, confidence, grammar, and accent never score.

• Use visual emphasis mode when hearing or speech makes spoken emphasis inaccessible. A helper may record exactly the span or ballot letter a player selects. Choose the mode together, without asking anyone to explain a disability.

• Anyone may pause or replace a card without explaining why. Keep post-turn discussion curious and specific to the reading. Do not imitate another player or attach character judgments to their interpretation.

Bring it back to the table

• Use unused sentences until the 24-card deck is exhausted, then reshuffle with a different starting speaker. The target draw means a familiar sentence can carry a different intended implication.

• For a later session, agree on the one-reading edition before starting: omit SECOND and score 1 per correct FIRST, for N × (N − 1) maximum. Use this same edition for every turn and do not compare its raw total with the standard game.

ROUND & REVEL / Stress Marks / PLAYER MATERIALS

Printable materials

Print single-sided at 100% size. Cut only the pieces described in setup; leave boards and reference sheets whole. Check the print preview before printing.