The Shrinking Brief

What you need

• Twelve private source notices, cut separately and kept covered

• Twelve separate receiver-question cards and twelve separate answer cards from the host guide; all cut apart

• Blank slips for 24-, 12-, and 6-word messages, pens, four station labels, and a shared score sheet

• Opaque envelopes or folded covers to keep source, questions, keys, and earlier messages separate

Set up

1. Print the player material once and the separate host guide once. Cut each SOURCE, QUESTIONS, and ANSWERS card into its own piece. Match by notice ID without reading content. For each ID, keep its three cards in separate marked covers: SOURCE, QUESTIONS, and ANSWERS. Never hand an uncut guide page containing an exposed key to the receiver. Copy each handoff-slip template four times and the receiver-answer sheet four times for a standard four-notice session; copy the score sheet once.

2. Form exactly four stations, A, B, C, and D, as evenly as possible. A station has one or two players and acts as one unit. A is Editor 24, B is Editor 12, C is Editor 6, and D is Receiver in round one. No permanent host is needed. In a pair, one person reads and the other writes; swap those jobs next round.

3. Use notices SB01–SB04 for session one, SB05–SB08 for session two, or SB09–SB12 for session three. Shuffle the four covered packets within the chosen set. Keep unused packets out of reach. After every round, rotate the four jobs clockwise so every station does every job once.

4. Before the first scored notice, practise the off-deck example openly. A chosen packet’s question card and answer card remain covered for everyone until the specified stages, including people preparing the game.

How to play

1. Editor 24 privately opens only SOURCE. Read it as often as needed, then write one faithful message of at most 24 words. It may select, combine, paraphrase, or omit details, but may not knowingly invent facts or reverse a stated fact. The challenge is deciding what meaning is worth preserving without knowing what the receiver will be asked.

2. When Editor 24 says “send,” cover the original source and pass only the new message to Editor 12. Editor 12 never sees the source. Read the received message, then rewrite it in at most 12 words. When it is sent, retain and cover the 24-word message at Editor 12’s station. Pass only the new 12-word version to Editor 6.

3. Editor 6 follows the same procedure, producing at most 6 words from the 12-word message alone. Cover the 12-word version and pass only the final 6-word message to Receiver. Keep all discarded drafts covered. Earlier editors remain silent about contents, reactions, omissions, and corrections throughout the rest of the relay.

4. Each editor may read, revise, and count their own draft until sending. Use ordinary English words and understandable phrases; full sentences are welcome but not compulsory. No invented abbreviations, initial-letter codes, rebuses, drawings, spatial patterns, hidden writing, or agreed signals. A standard number such as 12 counts as one word. Ordinary contractions such as “don’t” count as one. Hyphenated or slash-joined parts count separately, so “red/blue” uses two words. Punctuation and capitalization may serve ordinary grammar, never a secret extra message.

5. Before accepting a handoff, its receiver checks only the word count and legibility. A message over budget returns to the same editor for shortening before it is accepted. This is a free correction; do not show it to anyone else. Ask for a handwriting clarification by pointing at that word; the editor may repeat the written word exactly, not replace it, expand an abbreviation, explain a referent, or supply a lost fact.

6. Only after the 6-word message is accepted does Receiver open the matching QUESTIONS card. Receiver may use that card and the final message, but none of the earlier versions. Give four final answers, one per numbered question. Reasonable inference and guesses are allowed. A blank is allowed; do not submit alternatives. Once all four are written, announce “locked.” Other stations do not help or react.

7. Open the matching ANSWERS card only after locking. Award 1 shared point per answer whose meaning matches its key, for 0–4 per notice. Recognizable spelling and ordinary paraphrases count. A question asking for two things needs both for its one point. A partly true statement with a conflicting extra claim is incorrect. The key specifies acceptable scope; an unrelated remembered fact scores nothing.

8. After scoring, uncover the source and all three messages in order. Let each editor point to one decision or unintended shift without changing the score. A well-intentioned misunderstanding that arose from an earlier compressed message is part of play. Deliberately inserting a false fact is a rules breach. The game rewards surviving meaning, not beautiful prose or blame for the editor at whose desk a detail disappeared.

9. If source contents, questions, a key, or an earlier version reach a station not entitled to them before answers lock, void the notice and use an unused packet with the same job assignment. A source read incorrectly because of damaged printing also requires replacement. If a word-budget error is discovered after a later message has been sent, void and replace; do not retroactively cut words from somebody’s evidence.

10. Record the round total, cover and set aside the whole used packet, and rotate jobs one station clockwise. Nobody carries a message or answer from one notice into another. There is no timer or extra point for fast editing. If replacement packets run out, finish the remaining relay for enjoyment without comparing an incomplete four-round score.

Ending and ties

• After four scored notices, everyone has handled every job once. Add the four totals for 0–16 shared points. There is no individual winner or tiebreak. A useful postgame question is which kinds of meaning survived most reliably, without ranking players.

• Estimated duration is 25–40 minutes. This authored edition has not had a live group playtest. Twelve fully supplied notices and matching questions provide three full standard sessions before replacement needs.

Make room for everyone

• Use large print or private text-to-speech for the card or message a station is entitled to read. A trusted scribe may write a player’s chosen text exactly. The scribe must not add meaning or reveal another version.

• Editors in a pair may discuss privately; solo stations may take the same unhurried thinking time. Communication at handoff may be typed rather than handwritten. Remove any pressure to finish at another station’s speed.

• All notices concern invented public activities, not anyone’s real plans or personal history. Replace uncomfortable or linguistically inaccessible notices without explanation. Explain vocabulary before choosing a packet, without previewing its hidden questions.

Bring it back to the table

• Use the next four-notice set for a fresh game and change who shares a station. Retain each used set ID so remembered questions are not treated as unseen.

• After all three sets, revisit known notices as an open editing workshop: reveal questions at the start and compare which 6-word messages answer them best. This is a different, unscored activity; it does not pretend a remembered question is a surprise.

ROUND & REVEL / The Shrinking Brief / 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.