To understand the rules, we recommend that you play a trial game. The game is structured in such a way that it always displays the available options and you will find more information about the current phase in the right menu.
Story: You wake up in an asylum where everyone is dressed as a doctor. Together you decide to use psychoanalysis to find out who is who. The goal of the doctors (MED) is to find the MAD and treat them with shock therapy. The goal the MADs is to find each other and convince the doctors that they are normal. It’s a double play: two MADs have to find each other in two nights, using two words. Once they have found each other, they will also set up the shock machine to get rid of the most dangerous doctors.
The game is divided into days and nights. During the day there is an open conversation. You all get a random common word (Banana for example) and everyone writes an own word related to Banana (psychoanalysis phase) . In the start of the game the MAD team receives a random word which is their secret mania. Now they have to refer also to their secret word without becoming suspicious.. You discuss the words, then vote who you think is MAD and shock him. Then the night comes, and that’s when the MADs have to find their partner. They have two nights to find each other or they lose. They have to use this two-night rule wisely. A common beginner mistake is writing a word which is very suspicious. Their association is usually 50% MED and 50% MAD. This won’t be enough to earn the trust in the end. It’s better to write a word, lets say 90% MED and 10% MAD. On the first day don’t write a word if you feel it can be suspicious. Just write a safe word, and next round you will use a stronger word (if needed).
The MEDs vote for the Joker player at the night, who wrote the funniest, most creative word. This player gets a variety of abilities (depends on game settings), so it is worth finding the best word.
Again a daytime vote is coming and it will continue until three players remain. These players will make a final decisions about who they trust. Shocked players can give advice all the way, but only the unshocked ones can make the decision. Are you shaking hands or panicking?
During the tests we found these rules to be the most entertaining. Please note that we are open to changes (even regarding main rules) in case we find a better mechanisms. That’s why we encourage you to share your ideas (info@worddetective.app/blog) and maybe we will implement it in our next version!
Here you can download a rulesheet for first time players which helps to see the game phases and it contains some basic tips:
English RuleSheet
Hungarian RuleSheet
