How to play Anomia, the snappy category game.
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Read the Rules
The aim of the game
The player with the most cards in their victory pile wins.
You get cards by being the fastest person to shout out a word that matches your opponent's category, when your symbols match.
To set up
- Pick a deck to play with.
- For a 3 player game, pick 2 symbols and remove any cards with them on, including wild cards.
- For more players, keep them all.
- Shuffle the cards.
- Split them into 2 central draw piles.
- Decide a starting player.
To play the game
The first player draws a card from either draw pile and flips it face up in front of them so everyone can see. You must flip your card away from you. No peeking!
Play continues in a clockwise order, each player flipping a card face up in front of them, until two matching symbols are found.
When cards match
When a match happens, the players whose symbols match must contest to shout out an example of a thing written on the other player’s card.
The winner takes the opponent's card and puts it aside face down to form their victory pile.
If by doing so a new match is revealed, another contest begins. Resolve all contests before drawing any new cards.
If 2 players shout an answer at the same time, flip over a third tie breaker card from the draw pile, whoever answers this one first wins the contest. They take their opponents card and shuffle the tie breaker card back into the deck.
Wild cards
If a wild card is drawn, place it between the draw piles. While a wild card is active, contests happen between players who have the symbols on the wild card, as well as matching symbols.
For example, if the apple and star wild card is active and one player has an apple and another has a star, They must contest.
If drawing a wild card creates any contests, resolve them, then the player who drew it draws another card.
A wild card remains in play until a new one is drawn.
Game end and scoring
When the draw piles are emptied, the game ends.
Whoever has the most cards in their victory pile wins!
For a harder game, ban repeat answers.
That's Anomia, the quick thinking card game.
Enjoy!