Ek Second

Who does what?

See a turn

In Team Play, the reader belongs to the answering team and the next team checks. Only the player answers; teammates may cheer but cannot help.

What the cards look like

250 cards with a prompt on each side, so 500 prompts. There are four kinds:

Set up

1. Sit in a circle. Take out the rules card and the @houseoftimepass card, shuffle the deck without flipping individual cards, and put it in the middle. Play the upward-facing side of each card first; keep that orientation as cards move between piles.
2. Pick your way to play: Casual, Individual or Team Play. Casual and Individual work with 2–15 players. Team Play needs at least two people per team, within the overall 15-player maximum.
3. Individual or Team Play? Choose a scorekeeper, or have each player or team track their own score. Record scores on paper or a phone after each turn.
4. Set a phone timer to 1 minute. Every turn in Individual and Team Play, including tie-breaks, lasts 1 minute. Casual stays untimed.
5. Pick who goes first.

★ How to play: Individual — the timed turn

Main way to play

With three or more players, each turn has three people doing three different jobs. Everyone plays for their own score.

For example, Player A is answering, Player B sits on A’s left, and Player C sits beside B, one seat farther along.

Only two players? One answers and the other reads and starts the timer. There is no separate checker; the player taking their turn can look at the current card too.

1. One player takes the hot seat. The player on their left is the reader and takes a starting stack of about 10 cards, and the player beyond the reader is the checker.

Keep the upcoming prompts out of the view of the player taking their turn. The reader takes one card at a time and reads its upward-facing prompt, keeping the remaining cards in the same orientation. If it runs out before the minute ends, take more cards from the deck and keep going; the timer does not reset.

2. The reader reveals the first card and starts the phone timer for 1 minute, then reads straight away. The audible alarm ends the turn; nobody needs to keep watching the clock.
3. Answered the card correctly? The reader puts it on the answered pile and immediately reads the next card. You can correct your answer while the timer runs. Only correctly completed cards earn a point.
4. Stuck? Say “pass”. Each pass costs you 1 point. Put that card on a separate passed pile for this turn and read the next card. The timer keeps running.
5. When the timer ends, stop. Only cards fully answered before the timer ends count. An unfinished card scores zero—it isn’t a pass. Put that unfinished card straight onto the used pile.
6. Count the answered and passed piles. Your turn score is correct cards minus passed cards. Add it to your running score. The scorekeeper—or each player tracking their own score—records the total on paper or a phone. Your passes come off your score; the reader’s misreads come off their score.
7. After scoring, both the answered and passed piles go onto the used pile, with the prompts just played facing up. Return any unread cards from the reader’s stack to the draw pile without flipping them.
8. You play, then you read. When your turn ends, the hot seat passes to the player on your right, and you become their reader. The old reader becomes the checker. Nobody has to move seats, and the roles rotate: answer → read → check.

With three players: after A’s turn, C answers, A reads and B checks. Next, B answers, C reads and A checks. Nobody changes seats.

Disagree about an answer? Look it up on Google after the turn, before recording the final score.

How to play: Team Play

Each turn has three people doing three different jobs. When Team A is playing, Team A supplies both the player and reader; Team B supplies the checker.

Everyone else watches and cheers without helping. The audible alarm ends the turn.

1. Split into 2 or 3 teams, with at least two people on each team. Two teams need 4+ people; three teams need 6+.
2. Teams take turns: Team A, then Team B—and Team C if you have three teams.
3. Pick one teammate to answer and a different teammate to read. Only the player answers. Keep upcoming prompts hidden.
4. Your own teammate reads. Take about 10 cards to start, topping up as needed. Read each prompt exactly as written, promptly and clearly, without hints. Use the same card handling, answer cutoff and scoring process as Individual.
5. The next team supplies the checker. With two teams, Team B checks Team A and vice versa. With three, Team B checks Team A, Team C checks Team B, and Team A checks Team C. The checker sits beside the reader and follows the cards. The reader reveals the first card, starts the continuous 1-minute timer and immediately reads; the checker also watches the clock.
6. Misread a card? The reader's team loses 1 point. The card is read again, correctly.
7. Add correct cards minus passed cards to your team’s running score. The scorekeeper—or each team tracking its own score—records the total. Passes come off the answering team’s score; misreads come off the reader’s team’s score.
8. Next time it's your team's turn, a different player goes. Everyone should get a turn.

A round is one turn for each team. Agree how many rounds before you start. Most team points wins.

Your team picks who goes each turn, and it should be someone different every time. Everyone should take a turn — that's the game. But if someone really doesn't want the hot seat, their team sends someone else again, and they still share the team's score.

How long is a team round? Each team gets one timed turn. With two teams, that is 2 minutes of timed play per round; with three teams, 3 minutes, plus reading-role changes and scoring. The number of prompts used depends on how quickly players answer.

Uneven teams? The smaller team picks one player to go twice, so every team gets the same number of turns of 1 minute each.

Misreading a card

The reader must read the card exactly as it’s written. In Individual, misreading it (for example, saying “Name 4” when it says “Name 2”) costs the reader 1 point. In Team Play, the reader’s team loses 1 point. Read the card again correctly. Casual has no points or deductions; simply correct the reading.

Who catches it? The checker. In Team Play, that's someone from the next team. In Individual, it's the player sitting beyond the reader, two seats to your left. In Casual, anyone can ask to see the card.

When the deck runs out

Keep played prompts facing up in the used pile. Once every card’s first side has been used, turn the whole used pile over. The unplayed prompts now face up. Use that side next and keep scores running.

Used up both sides? Finish the round so everyone has had the same number of turns. The game is over.

What counts as an answer

Disputed answer? Check it on Google after the turn and settle the score before moving on.

• Name everything the card asks for. "Name 3" means three. You can correct your answer while your time runs; only correctly completed cards earn a point.
• Language: For everyday words like colours, answer in a South Asian language. English names are fine for things from South Asia—for example, “peacock” or “Bengal tiger.” If the card names a language, use that language.
• Names stay as they are. Movies, people, places, dishes and brands. Raazi and 2 States are perfect answers.
• No repeats within a card. You can't say the same thing twice.

The other cards

• SAY: say it. If you don’t speak that language, pass. Passing costs 1 point in Individual and Team Play; Casual has no penalty.
• DO: do the move.
• BREAK: do the step. Everyone watches. That's the joke.

Scoring

Your total = correctly answered cards − your passed cards − penalties for your own misreads as reader. In Team Play, combine these for your team. Never deduct another player’s or team’s misreading penalty from the score of the player taking their turn.

For Individual and Team Play. Casual has no scoring. Each skip or pass costs the answering player or team 1 point. Misreading costs the reader or the reader’s team 1 point.

Winning

Casual: no winner. Play as long as you like.

Individual: play as many rounds as you like. Everyone must have the same number of turns. Most points wins.

Team Play: a round is one turn for each team. Agree the number of rounds up front. Most team points wins.

Tied? Each tied player (or team) gets one more turn lasting 1 minute. Most points in that extra turn wins. Still tied? Share the trophy—you’re joint winners!

How to play: Casual

1. The player on your left reads you the top card, out loud.
2. Answer it. No clock. Take a moment to think, but don't keep everyone waiting forever.
3. No points. The cards are easy, so scoring would just end in a tie. Casual is for chai and conversation.
4. Can't think of it? Say "pass".
5. Either way, put the card onto the used pile with the prompt just played facing up.
6. The next answering turn passes to the player on your right. The person who just answered now reads to that player.

Stop whenever you like. There's no winner in Casual.