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Walkie Talkie, created by Devir Games, is a cooperative card game where 2-8 players must work together to score big. Games last between 1-4 minutes, making them super quick. Did I mention it’s also tiny, you can take it anywhere. Only problem is, how do you play it?
Shuffling The Deck
Walkie Talkie has a simple to setup. Take the cards out of the box and split them into two equal piles. You want one pile to have all the colours facing up and the other letters. Then shuffle these two decks together. The result will be a deck that has an equal ratio of colour cards to letter cards.
Once you have done this, deal 6 cards to each player. Then place one colour card in the middle of the table and one letter card. These cards will act as a base for players to put cards on top.
Finally, depending on your player count set a timer. Each player will add 30 seconds to the clock. So, if you are playing with two, this game will be over in one minute.
How To Play
The object of the game is for players to get rid of their cards. To play a card you must select a colour card or letter card, from your hand, and place it down. When placing your card, you must put it on one of the two piles in the middle of the table. Colour cards will go on top of colour cards and vice a versa. Players will play simultaneously.
Once you’ve placed your card down you must say a word which begins with the letter and is associated with the colour in the middle of the table. For example, if you put down a ‘G’ and an orange card is in the middle, you could say ginger. If the group agrees that your word is correct, play resumes. If you cannot convince the group that your word is associated with the colour, you’ll have to pick up the card you put down and the top card of the other pile.
During the game you cannot say a word which is the same as the colour. For example, you cannot put down the letter ‘R’ and say ‘Red’ if that is the colour card in the middle.
If you get stuck during the game, you can use two code words to help you out:
Roger: If you shoutout ‘Roger’, all players must flip their cards. This will make all letter cards become colours and all colours become letters. This will help get rid of those difficult letters like ‘X’.
Over: If you shoutout ‘Over’, everyone must pass their hand to the player on the left. This is worth doing if you are struggling with the hand you have, and the ‘Roger’ code has been exhausted. It's also a good way of getting stronger players back into the game if they have run out of cards.
The game ends when all players have got rid of their cards or when the timer is up!
My Variants
Finding Walkie Talkie to easy? The great thing about this game is you can add your own variants. Want to restrict words down to just animals? Do it! When players place cards they have to say animals which begin with the letter and are associated with the colour in play. For example, if you place ‘G’ and the colour card in the middle is orange, you could say giraffe. You can try out other themes too.
Want to play competitively? Do it! This game can be played competitively with smaller player counts. Just give each player their own area and 30 seconds to work through their own hand of cards. Codeword ‘Over’ can be adapted, instead of passing to the left, players can exchange a card. If you are finding the game to quick, you can always lengthen it.
These variants are just ones I've tried but once you have the core rules down get imaginative. See how far you can push this party game’s boundaries.
Scoring
When the game has ended, you can tot up points. To do this pick up all the letter cards that players placed during the game. Do not include the base letter card that started off the game. (The one you added to the table during the setup phase.)
Look at the letter cards that were played and count the stars on them. Each star is worth 1 point. If players still have cards in their hand, these cards must be deducted from the score. Each card left in a player's hand is worth –1. Once you have done some quick maths, you can write the total in the score table found in the rule book.
Remember, you are working cooperatively. Each time you play you’ll be trying to beat your last group score.
So how fast can you think up words and associate them with colours? To find out pick up your copy of Walkie Talkie. Over and out!