How to play That’s Not a Hat, a not-as-simple-as-you’d think memory game.
Watch the Video
Read the Rules
The aim of the game
To win, remember what’s on the cards you’re given and don’t get caught forgetting!
To set up
- Shuffle the gift cards and deal each player one face up.
- Place the rest face down in a pile in the centre of the table.
To play the game
The player who last received a gift begins. They draw a new card from the centre, show it to everyone and place it face down in front of them, above their starting item.
Next, they pass the face down card to their neighbour, in the direction the arrow on the back points, saying the object’s name out loud.
The recipient has 2 options: Accept the gift - if they believe it’s the item stated, or reject the gift, if they think it’s something else.
To accept a gift, say ‘thank you’ and place it face down above your oldest one. Now it’s your turn to give. By regifting your oldest card.
If this is your first time, flip your starting gift face down and pass it in the direction shown, stating what it is. Once a card has been put face down, it can’t be looked at again!
Keep accepting new gifts and giving away old ones in return until someone decides to refuse one.
If you refuse a gift, you think the card you were given is not the item stated. Say ‘That’s not a ….whatever they said it was’, before flipping the gifted card over.
Whichever player is wrong takes the flipped card and places it in front of them in a personal discard pile. They take a new card from the gift shop, show it to everyone, turn it face down, then gift it in the direction shown, resuming the game.
New gifts drawn from the centre are always gifted immediately.
Game end & advanced rules
Keep gifting, accepting and refusing until a single player has 3 cards in their personal discard pile. Whoever has the lowest number of cards in their discard pile wins.
If you like, you can play over a series of rounds, totalling your scores.
For a harder game, sort the deck into black and white arrow piles and play with just one of these.
For an even harder game, or for just 2 players, start the game with 2 gift cards in front of you.
That’s ‘That’s Not a Hat’, a simple game that’ll strain your brain.
Enjoy!