How To Play

Welcome to Phraseotomy, the game of storytelling and deception, where your creativity and casualness will help you fool your friends and catch them out in turn. 

HOW TO PLAY

  1. Setup - Decide an order to play as storyteller. It is recommended to start with the most experienced player and go clockwise (storyteller’s left). Decide on how many rounds will be played.

  2. Prep the Story - All players casually pick a theme from the themes available (4 core ones, or one of the available expansion packs). The storyteller randomly draws 2 icon cards from the core set (grey colour) and 3 icon cards from the chosen theme.

  3. Prep the secret - The story teller randomly draws a word card from the matching theme, rolls the D10 dice, hides the result, looks at the corresponding word/phrase which is known as a ‘wisp’ and remembers it.

  4. Tell the Story - Using the 5 icons as touch points, the storyteller tells a story for about a minute, making it clear how the 5 icons are informing the story. By the end of the story, the storyteller must have also used the wisp at least once.

  5. Guess - The listeners all independently guess what the given wisp was. They may debate and deliberate but eventually announce (verbally should suffice) an answer each. Answers don’t have to be unique.

  6. Score - The story teller receives 1 point for every listener that gives an incorrect guess. The word card is put at the bottom of its theme’s respective deck, and icon cards are shuffled into their set. Play passes to the next player.


GAME MODIFIERS

Listeners Win Points - If a listener guesses the wisp correctly then they win 1 point.

Multiple Usages - If the storyteller uses the word more than once, they win double the points. This in combination with Listeners Win Points means that listeners also win double points if they guess the word/phrase correctly.

Preserve the Word - If no one guesses the word correctly after a story then the storyteller wins the points, keeps that word and immediately draws new icons and tells another story. All potential points won on this second story for the storyteller and listeners are doubled. This is a good modifier to apply to the last round, like in 10-pin bowling!

Team Deathmatch - Split the players into 2 teams. One team starts the game as the storytellers. They draw 3 random wisps (from 3 different wisp cards) from a theme of their choice. One team member is selected to be the first storyteller and draws 1 random core icon and 2 random icons from their desired theme. The storyteller must use all 3 wisps in their story. The listening team collectively guesses at a wisp. If they are correct then they win a point and can guess at another wisp. If they are correct again then they win another point and can guess at the final wisp. If they are correct yet again then they win yet another point and play passes to them. If the guessers are incorrect with a guess then play passes to them. At the start of any story the storyteller must have 3 wisps all of which must be used. The first team to 10 points wins.


FAQs

What if the storyteller fails to use an icon in the story?
The storyteller loses 1 point for every icon that is not at least distantly used as reference in the story. 

What if the word inserted in the story isn’t precisely the word on the card?
Most words require some sort of re-declension to fit in the tense and context of the story. The word cards will disambiguate between nouns and verbs. Pluralisation of nouns is fine. Taking the -ing form of the verb and making it past tense or present continuous or future tense is fine. Making it negatory is fine. If all listeners agree that the word was not used correctly then the storyteller loses 2 points and the turn ends.

What about different difficulties?
There might be optional difficulty levels by categorizing words into regular and difficult. Regular words might naturally fit into many stories, while difficult words might be more obscure and therefore noticeable.

What if the storyteller is instructed to use a word they do not understand?
The storyteller may not change their word. They may look up the word. But the misuse of the word in the story is not a reason to void the round which means that hilarity will inevitably ensue!

Do the stories have to follow on from each other?
It’s up to you as a group to decide!

What if the story is too long?
If the listeners decide then the storyteller could lose a point for every extra 20 seconds taken to tell the story.

How many rounds should be played?
Players can keep playing and keep scoring to their hearts’ content, but to keep things high energy Phraseotomy is best played enjoyed by having a preset number of rounds:

3 players should perform 5 rounds each.  (30 min game)
4-5 players should do 4 rounds each. (32-40 min)
6-7 players should do 3 rounds each. (36-42 min)
8+ players should do 2 rounds each. (32+ min)

What if the storyteller uses lists?
If the storyteller makes regular use of lists to quickly say many potential wisps then the listeners may decide to void the story. The storyteller loses 2 points and the turn ends.