Following are suggested rules/guidelines for playing the Magical Mystery Matching Game (MMMG) boardgame. If you would like, be flexible with how you employ them. The main goals are to test your Beatles knowledge, learn new Beatles knowledge, and have FUN! So, feel free to help each other (and cheat J) as much as you wish. I am sure that the Beatles would want it this way!
Set Up:
- Open the board and place the Image cards, Green, Yellow, Red, perhaps approximately 25 in each stack to start (just so the board is not too crowded; more can be added during the game if needed) and Karma cards (approximately 25 also) on their designated spots, with the appropriate Cover card on each of the Image card piles.
- Place each of the tokens being played on the Start Circle.
- Each player holds one Cover card in their hand so that they can cover the Image card they will be holding when quizzing another player during play.
- Have your phone (or other digital device) ready to look up additional internet (i) questions at the MMMG hidden web page (the page you are reading the instructions on now; find by scanning the appropriate QR code). These internet questions are optional.
Objective:
- Move your tokens on the path on the board toward the Finish Circle.
- Along the way, test your knowledge of the Beatles, hopefully learn new Beatles knowledge, but more importantly, have fun!
Order of Play:
- The John token plays first, followed by Paul, George, Ringo, Brian Epstein, George Martin, and Mal Evans tokens.
- Play proceeds in a clockwise direction.
Play:
- When it is a player’s turn, that player chooses whether to play a card from either the Green (Easy), Yellow (Challenging), or Red (Very Challenging) pile.
- The player directly to their right (the preceding player) pulls the top card from the chosen pile and covers it with their Cover card.
- Note: Try to take the Image card without allow any of the other players to see that card, nor the card that is below it. And you, yourself should try to not look at the card that is below the card being taken. This takes a little bit of practice to do well but once figured out will be easy.
- There are three Clues/Clue Sets that the player can have to guess/solve the song on the card. One Clue is the Image Clue located on the front of the card. The second Clue is Clue Set #1: General Trivia located on the back of the card, and the third Clue is Clue Set #2: Lyrics, also located on the back of the card.
- Note: The Image Clue is a piece of drawn art that in some way represents the song of that card. Clue Set #1 contains approximately 4-5 trivia facts about the song; Clue Set #2 describes the lyrics and has a snippet of the lyrics from the song.
- The person playing chooses whether they would like to receive as their first clue either the Image Clue, Clue Set #1, or Clue Set #2.
- If they are able to solve the song with that one Clue/Clue Set they elected to receive, they move their token forward eight (8) squares if they played a Green card, ten (10) squares if they played a Yellow card, or twelve (12) squares if they played a Red card.
- If they cannot solve the song with the first Clue/Clue Set, they can elect to be given a second Clue/Clue Set (it is their choice which one they would like to have) to solve the song; if they can solve the song with the help of the second Clue/Clue Set of the three, then they move forward six (6) squares if they played the Green card, eight (8) squares if they played the Yellow card, and ten (10) squares if they played the Red card.
- If they require the help of the third Clue/Clue Set to solve the song, then they move forward four (4) squares if they played the Green card, six (6) squares if they played the Yellow card, and eight (8) squares if they played the Red card.
- If the player is unable to solve the song with all of the Clues/Clue Sets, then they remain on the square they were on at the beginning of their turn.
- Note: The final part of Clue Set #2 is a snippet of lyrics from the song. The person quizzing the player is welcome to sing the lyrics if they can. Otherwise, they can simply read the lyrics aloud.
- There is no official/formal time limit when trying to guess the song with each successive Clue/Clue Set given, but perhaps an informal time limit of approximately one minute for each Clue/Clue Set given would be a good guideline. This would mean that a total of approximately three minutes (maximum) would be needed for each attempt to guess a song.
Handicapping:
- If there is a differential in the Beatles knowledge between the players, the players can voluntarily choose to handicap themselves.
- For instance, the stronger player might choose to play only the Yellow cards or only the Red cards, with the same number of squares to advance as the Green card players.
- Or perhaps, the weaker player is allowed to advance the full possible number of squares regardless of whether they needed the help of one, two, or all three Clues/Clue Sets.
- Feel free to be flexible with how you apportion the advancement of squares advanced based on the differential Beatles knowledge of the players. This game is meant to be fun.
Karma Card Squares and Internet Squares:
- Karma card squares are designated with the letter K.
- Internet squares are designated with the letter i.
- If a player lands on a Karma card (K) square, they pick up a Karma card and read it aloud, then moving forward or backward the number of squares indicated.
- If a player lands on an internet square (i), another player can sign on to the MMMG web page (this is the web page where you are reading these instructions right now) and locate the internet (i) questions (scroll to the end of these directions). The player who landed on the i square chooses which internet question (one-point, two-point, or three-point question) they want to receive. If the player is able to satisfactorily answer the internet question, they move forward the number of squares indicated for that question. Note: Internet square play is optional.
- If, as a result of a Karma card or successfully answering an internet question, the player lands on another Karma card (K) or internet (i) square, the player can play that square during their turn as well (in other words, reading another Karma card or receiving another internet question). They would continue playing in this manner until they have no further opportunity to play Karma card (K) or internet (i) squares.
Winning the Game:
- First person to reach the Finish Circle
- Or perhaps the person who learned the most and had the most fun along the way wins?