Time’s Up can be played with 4 to 12 players. It’s a game for ages 12 and over and lasts approximately 40 minutes. Here you can find the rules to get you started playing the game and enjoying all it has to offer.
Box Contents
A box of Time’s Up contains:
-209 cards
-An hourglass
-Scoresheets
-A small bag that allows you to take the game everywhere
-A booklet that contains the bibliography of the characters in the game
Setup
- Players start by forming teams.
- Players then must decide which side of the playing cards to use before starting the game (either the blue side, or the yellow side).
- The cards are shuffled.
- Take 40 cards from the 209 deck and deal them equally to all the players. The rest of the cards should be set aside.
- Each player reads their cards and then can switch two of them if they wish.
- All the remaining cards are shuffled again and placed facedown in the center of the table, establishing the draw pile which is known in this game as the Deck of Fame.
Objective of the game
Time’s Up is a team game that’s played over 3 rounds. During each round, a player will give clues and their teammates will be guessing in an attempt to call out what’s written on the card as fast as possible. The team that manages to get the most points during the 3 rounds wins the game.
First Round
- In this round, a player will be The Cluegiver and they will try to get their teammates to guess the maximum number of characters as fast as possible, before the hourglass runs out.
- Once The Cluegiver manages to get their partners to guess a character, they will get to place the card face up in front of their team.
- When the hourglass runs out, The Cluegiver must stop giving clues and pass the remaining cards to the other team.
- The hourglass is restarted and the next team does the same thing during their turn.
- The first round continues like this until all 40 characters have been guessed.
- Once the first round is over, each team records their score (the number of character cards guessed) on the score pad.
Restrictions When Giving a Clue
The following are things The Cluegiver is not allowed to do when giving a clue:
- Say a nickname of the name of the character.
- Say a word that rhymes with the character’s name.
- Use the translation of the name from another language.
- Point to objects to give hints.
- Spell the letters of the name.
- The Cluegiver cannot pass and take another card if their partners aren’t able to guess the character.
Round Two
- Shuffle the 40 cards again and pass them to the next team.
- The second round continues exactly like the first, but there are a few rules that change:
- The Cluegiver can only say one word to make their partners guess the character.
- The Guessers can only give one answer. If it is incorrect, the team must move on to the next card.
- A team can pass to another card if they find a character too difficult to guess.
Once all 40 cards have been guessed, write down each team’s score on the score pad.
Round Three
- Shuffle the 40 cards again and pass them to the next team.
- Round three continues exactly like round two except that The Cluegiver is only allowed to pantomime and make sounds. They may not say any words.
The third round ends when all 40 cards have been guessed.
End of the Game
At the end of the third round, you must add up the points of each team. Write the total of the 3 rounds in the total column of the score pad. The team with the most points wins the game.
Variation for 5 or 7 players
- In this variation, there are no teams.
- The Cluegiver will be trying to get the next player to guess the name and the points will be counted individually.
- 40 random cards establish the draw pile. Every player has to draw a card when it’s their turn to give a clue.
- The player whose turn it is will be The Cluegiver and will try to get the player on their left to guess the name on the card. If The Guesser manages to guess the name correctly, the card will be placed face up between the two players.
- Once the hourglass is up, the player who was The Guesser is now The Cluegiver and will try to get the player on their left to guess the character on the card they draw.
- A round ends when all 40 cards have been guessed.
- The player with the highest score at the end of the third round wins the game.
Keeping Score:
In this variation, each player counts their score by counting the guessed cards that are on their left and on their right.
