The Clue Dividend

How to play

At a glance

Buy just enough information to name a hidden object, and save the rest of the shared purse for later. Cooperate for one round per player, about 12–20 minutes.

Set up

Use the 18 public six-object boards below, paper, pens, and a shared purse of 2 coins per player (draw coins on paper and cross them off). Every player will decode exactly once, clockwise. Everyone else is a helper. For a round, show an unused board to all. The decoder looks away while one helper draws a number slip 1–6 and shows the selected target to all helpers. Put the slip face down until scoring. No one chooses an easier target.

Prepare three closed clues

Helpers prepare all three clues silently before any purchase; exchange written suggestions rather than saying the target or clue aloud within the decoder’s hearing. Divide the writing between helpers; with only two helpers, one writes two, alternating who does so next round. They may silently consult each other. Each clue goes on a separate folded slip marked only with its channel and price.

• WHERE — 1 coin: up to three words naming a place or setting where the object can normally be found. No action, use, body part, or physical description.
• LOOK — 2 coins: up to three words describing visible shape, color, parts, or material. No purpose or location.
• DO — 3 coins: up to seven words explaining an ordinary use or action involving it. No direct synonym or definition that merely renames it.

For every channel: no target name, words containing its spelling, translation, initials, rhyme, or spelling hints. Clues should be accurate in a normal plausible example, not necessarily every version of the object. Helpers should sincerely help; no trick clues.

Choose, buy, decide

1. The decoder sees the public board, channel names, prices, and remaining purse, but not the clues. Buy a channel by paying its price, then open that clue.
2. Buy another unopened channel or make one final guess. Spend at most 3 coins total this round. Thus WHERE followed by LOOK is allowed; LOOK followed by DO is not. No refunds and no questions to helpers.
3. You may guess without buying, including when the purse is empty. A turn still happens for every decoder. Allow up to 30 seconds to decide after each reveal.
4. Reveal the target. A correct guess earns 5 team points; a wrong guess earns 0. Keep remaining coins for later rounds. Reveal unused clues for a short discussion, then discard this board.

Example

Four players begin with 8 coins. Board 10 is stapler, corkscrew, rake, mitten, spatula, harmonica; the target is stapler. Helpers prepare WHERE “office desk”, LOOK “hinged metal jaws”, and DO “joins paper sheets with bent metal”. The decoder buys WHERE for 1 and names stapler, earning 5 points and leaving 7 coins. On a later, harder round a decoder can afford DO for 3. If they instead bought LOOK for 2 first, they could add WHERE for 1 but could not switch to DO.

End and edge cases

After all players decode once, add 5 points per correct guess plus 1 point for each unspent coin. Maximum possible is 7 × player count if every free guess succeeds. Compare results per round across sessions; this is cooperative, with no individual ties. There is no target-score claim. Helpers cannot signal which channel is better. A rule-breaking clue discovered before sale must be rewritten. If discovered after sale, refund that channel to the purse and restore that amount of this round’s 3-coin spending allowance, remove the channel from this round, and let the decoder continue; already seen information stays known. If there is not enough money, that channel is unavailable. A timeout is one immediate guess or a pass for 0. Use untimed decisions if helpful.

Replay

Each board has six possible targets. Rotate different helpers among the three writing channels. For a tougher night start with only 1 coin per player; record that setting separately. Always prepare clues anew and avoid repeating the same board in one session.

Age guide: 12+; younger confident readers can play with help. No personal disclosures, adult themes, physical contact, or elimination. All prompts are fictional or everyday. Estimated duration includes play, not printing. These are original proposed designs; they have not been human-playtested. Scoring targets are suggestions, not measured difficulty ratings.

Printable materials

Print this page or copy the materials onto paper. Use your browser’s Print command to save a PDF.

Print: cut the public boards, make slips 1–6 and three folded clue slips labeled WHERE 1, LOOK 2, DO 3, and draw the shared purse. Phone: show a board publicly; the decoder turns away while helpers see a drawn target slip. Write clues in three separate private notes or on folded paper. Reveal only the purchased clue, not a screen containing all three. Paper avoids accidental disclosure. The entire board is public; only the target and clues are private.

Score ledger

Starting coins: 2 × players = ___ · Decoder ___ · board ___ · purchases ___ · coins spent ___ /3 · target ___ · guess ___ · points 0 or 5 ___ · coins left ___ · final points + unspent coins ___.