Poetry for Neanderthals

Players try to get teammates to guess the 1-point word or the 3-point phrase on a card, but the Poet may only give clues using one-syllable words. An opposing Judge enforces the rules with the NO! Stick; breaking rules or skipping costs points.

Split into two teams. On your team’s turn, choose a Poet; the opposing team starts the 90-second sand timer and assigns a Judge to enforce rules. The Poet draws a card and gives only one-syllable clues to get their team to guess either the easy 1-point word or the harder 3-point phrase. Continue drawing and guessing cards until time runs out. At end of turn, move all scored cards to the team score slate, then the other team takes a turn. After each team has taken 3 turns, total points; highest score wins. If tied, play an extra round and repeat until the tie is broken.

Cards scored during a turn are worth +1 (easy word) or +3 (hard phrase). Skipping a card or breaking rules scores that card as -1. After both teams have taken 3 turns, the team with the most total points wins; ties are resolved by playing extra rounds as needed.

Only the net total_points is recorded as the authoritative outcome. Per-card scores (+1 easy word, +3 hard phrase, -1 skip or rule break) do not reduce to simple observable counts because earning the 1-point word and then breaking a rule on the 3-point phrase forfeits the already-earned point and scores the card -1, so word/phrase/penalty counts would not sum to the net total.