Play with Friends/Team
This is the ‘arcade’ version of the game. For 1-4 players, you will need one deck, for 5-8 you will need two, etc.
It also provides a common language for understanding how people work and interact. If you play it as a team, it helps you understand the different ways each team member contributes to your team’s success and common goals.
This is a PBT game (Play By Turn) where each player has a single action each turn.
Prepare the game
- Select a dealer (The person who will read the rules and apply them).
- Find a coin or a dice to use in case of tiebreaks
The dealer takes the deck, removes the 2 cards with the instructions and shuffles the cards.
Then puts the 2 cards with the instructions on the top of the deck and puts the rest of the deck in the middle of the table with the side with pictures facing down.
This is how your deck looks like:
A tentative indication of timing is provided to give some rhythm to the interaction. Feel free to modify and adapt them to your play style.
- If you want to use the timing option, select the Stopwatch on your watch or mobile, and you are ready to play
Round 1: your first 4 cards + 1
- The Dealer introduces the game to the players by telling them the final goal: to end up, after a few rounds, with 5 Talent cards that represent them most.
The Dealer can add to the explanation that we all have a bit of the 40 different Talents represented by the cards, but at the end, each player wants to have those 5 cards that are most like him/her. - The dealer will distribute 4 cards (the dealer can browse the deck) to each player: 1 for each Driver (the symbol on the back of the card) starting with the player on his/her left and going clockwise ending with him/herself, and each player puts them in front of him/herself with the face with the pictures up
- Shuffle the deck.
- Start the stopwatch!
- After 40 seconds the dealer takes 8 cards from the bottom of the deck and asks players to select one card each that would like to have, in the next 40 seconds.
- The dealer asks the first player (the one on his/her left) to take the card she/he chose and move it in front of him/her but NOT in his/her own deck yet.
- Then the dealer moves to the 2nd player (the one sitting in front of the dealer) and the 3rd one. The dealer acts last.
If 2 players choose the same card! You need a resolution… If two players would like the same 5th card, then the dealer needs to resolve the conflict, move to the “Resolution Phase“
The Resolution Phase
There are two ways to do this
- Ask the Lady Luck: ask contenders to toss a dice or flip a coin. Winner gets the card.
- Ask to Your Guts: ask each contender to explain his/her choice, and select the best one based on your personal judgment, explaining why.
IMPORTANT: never mix the Lady Luck with your Guts in a gameplay!
- The winner: will take the desired card
- The loser: the dealer assigns him/her one with the same driver from the table, or, you can ask him/her to choose a different card from the table
Round 2: change 2 cards
- (TIME: 40 seconds) The dealer asks anyone to select two (2) cards that don’t represent them, or represent them less than other cards and move them in the center of the table.
- The dealer adds 2 cards (from the bottom of the deck) to the center of the table.
- (TIME: 40 seconds) The dealer asks players (starting from the one on his/her left) to select 2 cards from the table.
If 2 players will select the same card: use the resolution rules outlined above.
Round 3: to change or not to change
- (TIME: 40 seconds) The dealer announces that everyone has one additional chance to improve his/her personal selection and invites players to select from 0, 1 or 2 cards that don’t represent them, or represent them less than other cards, and move them in the center of the table. The dealer can reassure the players that they can re-select their cards if no-one else has taken them if they do not find a better option.
- It’s important: at the end of the time. Everyone should do this simultaneously.
- The dealer adds N cards (from the bottom of the deck) to the center of the table to reach 10 cards on the table.
- (TIME: 40 seconds) The dealer asks players (starting from the one on his/her left) to select from 0 to 2 cards from the table (based on how many cards she/he discarded).
If 2 players will select the same card: use the resolution phase outlined above.
Open Market Variation
This variation offers you additional and optional rules for a Round 4.
Round 4:
- The dealer asks everyone to carefully look at the cards of the other players and opens a “negotiation possibility”
- If one of the players would very much like a Talent card from another player, he/she needs to offer one of his/her own cards in exchange, and explain why the deal would be beneficial for both
- In case the other player agrees, cards are exchanged
- There are no limits to the negotiations that a player can propose to others
If you prefer a more collaborative version of the Round 4 check the: Open Market variation
Round 5:
- (TIME: 120 seconds) Now the dealer asks each player to sort the 5 cards (from left to right) in order of the importance and select the 3 out of the 5 cards that feel most representative.
- Each player will be invited to explain why they have chosen their cards, with possibly real-life examples.
- The dealer will invite each player to turn the 3 cards and discover their drivers
- A final round of sharing impressions of the outcome of the game and comparing each others Drivers is fun and enriching.
Round 6: Read results
Now the dealer is ready to read results to anyone: open the result page
The Talent game© 2018 by Connecting Talents. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Company.