2002 BGG rank #5677

The Game of Things

4–15 players 45 min Ages 14+ 1.2/5 complexity 5.7/10 rating

About this game

Things... is a party game where everyone writes a response to a particular prompt, such as "Things... you shouldn't put in your mouth," and the players then try to guess which player wrote which response. A reader is chosen. This reader reads aloud a Topic Card. The players all write a response, fold up the slip of paper and turn it in to the reader, who reads them aloud once and then a second time. The player to the left of the reader has to guess who wrote which response. This is all done from memory, without benefit of taking notes or having the responses read again. If the guesser is correct, he or she continues guessing until incorrect, at which time the player to his/her left tries guessing. Players whose responses were correctly identified are eliminated and cannot make guesses. The round ends when one player has not been matched to a response. 1 point is awarded for each correct guess. 6 points are awarded to the person who successfully avoided detection. The job of reader passes to the left. When everyone has been reader once, the game ends. High score wins.

What it feels like

Paper-and-Pencil Memory Party Game Deduction Humor Memory

Game intelligence

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Setup

1. Seat all players around a table where everyone can see and hear each other. 2. Give each player a response pad and a pen or pencil. 3. Place the deck of Topic Cards face-down in the center of the table. 4. Designate a scorekeeper who will use the Score Pad to record points throughout the game. 5. Choose a starting Reader — the player who will read the topic and manage guessing for the first round. (The role of Reader rotates clockwise after each round.) 6. Decide on a winning score or number of rounds before play begins (commonly first to 10 points, or a fixed number of rounds).

Turn flow

Each round has three phases: 1. TOPIC PHASE — The Reader draws a Topic Card and reads the prompt aloud to all players (e.g., 'Things you wouldn't want to find in your soup'). 2. RESPONSE PHASE — Every player (including the Reader) privately writes a response on their response pad. Players tear off their response and hand it face-down to the Reader. Responses should be kept secret. 3. GUESSING PHASE — The Reader shuffles the collected responses, then reads them all aloud. Starting with the player to the Reader's left, each player (except the Reader) attempts to match a response to the player who wrote it. If the guess is CORRECT, the guesser earns 1 point and may guess again immediately. If the guess is INCORRECT, the turn passes clockwise to the next player. Players who have been correctly identified are eliminated from further guessing in that round but their remaining response stays in play. The round ends when only one player's response remains unidentified; that player earns 1 bonus point. The Reader role passes clockwise and a new round begins.

Scoring and victory

Cumulative point totals are tracked on the Score Pad. The first player to reach (or exceed) the agreed target score at the end of a complete round wins. Ties are broken by highest total; if still tied, play a tiebreaker round. Target score: 10 (commonly agreed upon before play; can be adjusted by the group) Scoring sources: 1 point per correct guess during the Guessing Phase, 1 bonus point for being the last player whose response remains unidentified at round end

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

Turn structure

One player is the Reader each round; the role rotates clockwise.

At the start of each round, one player acts as the Reader. The Reader draws a Topic Card, reads it aloud, collects all written responses (including their own), shuffles them, and reads them back aloud. The Reader does NOT participate in guessing during the round they are the Reader. After the round ends, the Reader role passes to the next player clockwise.

Turn structure

All players, including the Reader, write a secret response to the topic.

Once the Reader reads the topic aloud, every player — including the Reader — must write a response on their response pad. Responses must be kept hidden from other players. When finished, players tear off their slip and hand it face-down to the Reader. There is no time limit specified, though groups may choose to impose one.

Restriction

Responses must be kept anonymous; players must not reveal who wrote what.

Players must not deliberately reveal, hint at, or confirm who wrote a given response until it is correctly guessed during the Guessing Phase. The Reader must shuffle all response slips before reading them aloud to prevent order from revealing authorship.

Turn structure

Guessing starts to the left of the Reader and proceeds clockwise.

During the Guessing Phase, the player immediately to the left of the Reader makes the first guess. Guessing then proceeds clockwise. The Reader does not guess. Each player, on their turn to guess, names both a response (read aloud by the Reader) AND the player they believe wrote it.

Scoring

A correct guess earns 1 point and grants an immediate additional guess.

If a player correctly matches a response to its author, the guesser scores 1 point. The correctly-identified player's slip is removed from the pool. The guesser may then immediately attempt another guess (another response-to-author match). This chain continues as long as the guesser keeps guessing correctly.

Turn structure

An incorrect guess ends that player's turn; guessing passes clockwise.

If a player's guess is incorrect (wrong author attributed to a response), no point is scored. The turn immediately passes to the next player clockwise. The incorrectly guessed response remains in the pool and can be guessed by other players.

Restriction

Players whose response is correctly identified are eliminated from further guessing that round.

Once a player's response has been correctly identified by a guesser, that player may no longer make guesses for the remainder of that round. They remain seated and their identification contributes to the guesser's score. If it is that player's turn to guess and they have been eliminated, the turn passes to the next eligible player clockwise.

Scoring

The player whose response is the last unguessed response earns 1 bonus point.

When all responses except one have been correctly matched to their authors, the round ends. The player whose response was never identified earns 1 bonus point. This rewards writing responses that are difficult for others to attribute to you.

Strategy briefing

Writing to Mislead

Since players earn a bonus point for being the last unidentified response, write answers that sound like they could have come from multiple people at the table. Avoid your personal catchphrases, humor style, or well-known opinions. The response_anonymity and last_response_bonus rules make disguise a core scoring strategy.

Chaining Correct Guesses

The correct_guess rule rewards consecutive correct guesses with continued turns. Saving your most confident attribution for when you have momentum — or opening with a near-certain match to spark a chain — can yield multiple points in a single turn while opponents get no opportunity to guess.

Reader Advantage and Disadvantage

The Reader cannot guess (reader_excluded_from_guessing) and therefore earns 0 guessing points that round. However, the Reader handles all slips, giving them the most time to study handwriting or phrasing. Use this to plan guesses for future rounds. Additionally, the Reader can still earn the last_response_bonus, so write a deceptive response even as Reader.

Targeting the Right Players

Because eliminated players can no longer guess (eliminated_from_guessing), skilled players should guess opponents who are strong guessers early to knock them out of the Guessing Phase, even at the cost of giving up an easier point elsewhere.

Guessing Order Awareness

The guessing_order rule means the player immediately left of the Reader always goes first. Sitting to the Reader's left gives you first access to all responses each round. Over a full game, the rotation of the Reader role equalizes this, but in short games, seating position can matter.

Common questions and edge cases

Can the Reader earn the last-response bonus point even though they can't guess?

Yes. The Reader is excluded from guessing but NOT from earning the last-response bonus. If all other responses are correctly identified and the Reader's response is the final one remaining, the Reader earns the 1 bonus point.

A player is in the middle of a correct-guess chain, and then someone correctly identifies THEIR response. Can they keep guessing?

No. Once a player's own response is correctly identified — even mid-chain by a different guesser — they are eliminated from further guessing that round. Their chain ends immediately.

Only two players' responses are left unidentified. Is the round over immediately?

No. Guessing continues until only ONE response remains. The second-to-last response must still be correctly guessed. The player whose response is then the sole remaining slip earns the bonus point.

Can the Reader guess which of the responses is their own (to help narrow things down for others)?

No. The Reader does not participate in the Guessing Phase at all and may not make any guesses, including about their own response.

Two players write the exact same response. How does the Reader handle this?

The Reader reads both identical responses aloud as separate entries. Each is treated as an independent response. A guesser must attribute each one separately to a player. Both can be in play simultaneously.

A guesser incorrectly names the author of a response. Does that response get removed from the pool?

No. An incorrect guess does not remove any response from the pool. The response remains active and can be correctly matched by another player on a later turn.