Dreamcatcher

A simple party game about association and clues.

General Idea

Every round, all players close their eyes. The first player draws as many cards as there are players.

Now repeat the following for each player, moving clockwise around the table.

They pick one card that is a “nightmare”. (They place a facedown token with the same number to remember this.)
They pick one word to describe all remaining “dream” cards.

As such, with every next player, it gets harder for them to remember all clues and know which cards are probably “dreams” and which ones are “nightmares”. By picking the same card as a nightmare multiple times, you make the game much harder for yourself (but we can also purposely penalize that).

This continues until the final player, who is the guesser,

They open their eyes.
Based on all clues given, they must figure out which single card remains. (That is a dream and not a nightmare!)
If correct, you get X points. (You can check this by revealing the facedown tokens and checking if your chosen card was never picked.)

Variant

Variant 1: The idea above is probably best suited to Dixit-like images. We can also do it with simply a list of words on a card.

Variant 2: Instead of eliminating one card each time,

The first player simply picks one card. (Which holds multiple words/images.)
Every subsequent player must guess which card we’re dealing with and provide a new clue.
Until the final player must guess which card is the right one.

Variant 3: Now the whole “close your eyes” feels a bit useless. (Yes it matches the dream theme and is fine, but can we do more with it?)

One or multiple players are “nightmare bringers” => they are allowed to swap a card with a new one? They have some other power to really mess things up? Or is “saying the wrong thing” already enough? (Which you can explain away because of the uncertainty what is the “right thing”.)
The game becomes just as much about guessing who is on which team.
IDEA: Whenever somebody swaps a card, they do so with their hand / with the card laying facedown in front of them. At the end, when the guesser needs to guess, they can decide to look at/swap back 1 or 2 of those cards. (If they think you’re a nightmare bringer, they can bring back the correct answer this way.)

A simple party game about association and clues. ## General Idea Every round, all players close their eyes. The first player draws as many cards as there are players. Now repeat the following for each player, moving clockwise around the table. * They pick _one_ card that is a **"nightmare"**. (They place a facedown token with the same number to remember this.) * They pick **one word** to describe _all remaining "dream" cards_. As such, with every next player, it gets harder for them to remember all clues and know which cards are probably "dreams" and which ones are "nightmares". By picking the same card as a nightmare multiple times, you make the game much harder for yourself (but we can also purposely penalize that). This continues until the final player, who is the **guesser**, * They open their eyes. * Based on all clues given, they must figure out which _single card_ remains. (That is a dream and not a nightmare!) * If correct, you get X points. (You can check this by revealing the facedown tokens and checking if your chosen card was never picked.) ## Variant **Variant 1:** The idea above is probably best suited to Dixit-like images. We can also do it with simply a list of words on a card. **Variant 2:** Instead of eliminating one card each time, * The first player simply picks one card. (Which holds multiple words/images.) * Every subsequent player must guess which card we're dealing with and provide a new clue. * Until the final player must guess which card is the right one. **Variant 3:** Now the whole "close your eyes" feels a bit useless. (Yes it matches the dream theme and is fine, but can we do more with it?) * One or multiple players are "nightmare bringers" => they are allowed to swap a card with a new one? They have some other power to really mess things up? Or is "saying the wrong thing" already enough? (Which you can explain away because of the uncertainty what is the "right thing".) * The game becomes just as much about guessing who is on which team. * **IDEA:** Whenever somebody swaps a card, they do so with their hand / with the card laying facedown in front of them. At the end, when the guesser needs to guess, they can decide to look at/swap back 1 or 2 of those cards. (If they think you're a nightmare bringer, they can bring back the correct answer this way.)