Game Archives - Coupling, the Game

Singles: When You Don’t Have A Partner

By Lan Rahne / April 12, 2021 April 12, 2021

A Single Puzzle Piece Looking At A Couple

Chances are that when you’re playing board games, you don’t always have an even number of players. That might be a problem with games that need to be played in teams – The singles are bound to feel left out. With coupling, that’s not a problem at all! Rather, it makes the game even more exciting!

At first, everything works normally…

For the first and second stage, there’s no difference in gameplay, whether you’re playing with an odd or an even number of players. In the third stage, though, Singles come into play. One of the players – the one that didn’t manage to get to the third stage with any of their stage two partners – will play by themselves.

Different rules

Playing by themselves gives the Singles certain advantages and also gives them different rules to play by. Firstly, in the third stage, other players try to find their partners out of all the answers. They move ahead when they find them. Singles, on the other hand, must write an answer that will make other players choose their answer instead of their partner’s. How they achieve that is up to them, of course.

Break up a Couple!

If a Single player makes it to the finish line, they do the same as other players. They take two Stage One cards and read the question out loud. Others must all write an answer. The Single then chooses one of the answers, and the player who wrote that answer becomes their partner – The Single goes to where their new partner is and breaks up their old couple to join them. The player that was now left out of that couple, becomes the new Single!

When It Seems Like You’ve Already Won: Finish Line

By Lan Rahne / April 6, 2021 April 6, 2021

You and your partner got through the third stage, and it seems like this is it: you’ve already won! Right? Well, not really. Not just yet. There is one more hurdle that you have to overcome: The Finish Line.

How do you get through the Finish Line?

First, you pick two stage one cards (they come in pairs). Now everyone playing has to answer what they think your answer to the question would be. But the real challenge falls on you: You must find your partner’s answer. If you manage to find it, you guys have won! Otherwise, you go back one step and another couple gets the chance to win.

Others might try to sabotage you and try to write something that your partner would write. Your partner, on the other hand, can try to write an obvious message that will tell you it’s them. You’ll have to prove that you and your partner have what it takes to win Coupling! Even though, you know, it’s not all about winning, it’s about having fun and all that…

Next week, we’re looking at a special type of player that appears only in games with an odd number of players – Singles!

Stage Three: Time to Get to Know Your Partner!

By Lan Rahne / March 29, 2021 April 2, 2021

And now, we’re nearing the end of the game. You are now in only one couple! There is a change of objectives in this stage: you must put yourself into your partner’s shoes.

Divide and Answer

First, every couple has to divide into groups A and B, so that half of players belong to group A, and the other half to group B. When you’re playing with an uneven amount of players, someone will have to play as a “Single” at this stage. They’ll have special rules to play by, and we’ll look into those next week.

Unite the Couple

Next, the player whose turn it is takes a card and reads it out loud. Now, let’s say that this player belongs to group A. Everyone in group A now writes down the answer to the question and hides it. Then, one of the members of group A collects the answers and reads them to the members of group B. Finally, they must now figure out the answer that belongs to their partner!

If they figure out which answer belongs to their partner, their couple can move forward. If they don’t, they stay in their place. Then, they change roles. The partner that belongs to group B answers the question, and the group A partner tries to find it!

There is More Than Just One Challenge

Similarly to stage two, stage three offers many different types of challenges while keeping the same purpose of finding your partner. You might have to choose between multiple choice answers. You might have to figure out which koala bear your partner drew or what party they wrote about. Or, you might just have to unriddle what your partner saw in a Rorschach blot.

Either way, you’re going to see if you can actually think like the partner that stayed with you for the entirety of the game. And if you can get to the Finish Line together before everyone else!

Recipes: Stage two, Minigame Four

By Lan Rahne / March 22, 2021 March 22, 2021

The fourth minigame is called Recipes, and it’s all about food! If you’re looking for a short run-down of the second stage of the game and its other three minigames, click here, here and here.

To start, you take the card and roll a D6 die to see which word(s) you’ll get. If you roll a 6, you can choose which word(s) you want (out of the ones available). Then, you must describe the food-word to your co-players by describing the recipe required to make it. But, you mustn’t use the root of the word to describe it!

It’s important to note that Recipes isn’t just another word-describing game. You’re challenged to try to accurately describe the process to make the food that you get. And it’s not much of an issue if you don’t know the recipe for the food, just make it up, or try to guess how it would be made! It makes for an incredibly fun challenge that can provide a ton of laughs exactly when someone gets a recipe they don’t know and they try their best to somehow describe their word.

The rest works exactly like the other stage two minigames. Whoever figures your word (or sentence) out the fastest (or at all), moves a step ahead with you! If no-one figures out the word, it’s the next player’s turn.

Charades with Sounds: Stage Two, Minigame Three

By Lan Rahne / March 15, 2021 March 19, 2021

For a short run-down of the second stage of the game and its previous two minigames, click here and here. Today, I’ll tell you all about the third minigame: Charades with Sounds!

You start in the same way as the previous two minigames. You take the card and roll a D6 die to see which word (or sentence) you’ll get. If you roll a 6, you can choose which word (or sentence) you want. This time, when you have your word (or sentence), you have to perform it as you would with normal charades, but you can also emit sounds! Of course, that doesn’t mean you can talk. But, you can make sound effects that accompany your Charades moves.

That means that, for example, if you get the word bird, you can not only flap your hands like you have wings, but also chirp. Or, you know, emit whatever other sounds a bird would make. Yes, this is an incredibly simple example – don’t worry, the ones in the game are harder!

The addition of sounds adds a fun dimension to the usual game of Charades. It also opened up lots of new possibilities for us to use some fun words that couldn’t be used in just Charades. With that, it’s even funnier to see your friends not just trying to act out their words, but also struggling to add sounds to the mix!

The rest is exactly like with the other stage two minigames. Whoever figures your word (or sentence) out the fastest (or at all), moves a step ahead with you! If no-one figures out the word, it’s the next player’s turn.

The Shape Drawing Game: Stage Two, Minigame Two

By Lan Rahne / March 8, 2021 March 22, 2021

As we‘ve already mentioned, the Contest (stage two) cards consist of multiple challenges: Mumbling, Shape Drawing, Charades with Sounds and Recipes. The cards are shuffled, so which challenge you get is entirely up to chance (like the order in which we’re posting these minigames). Let’s check out the Shape drawing game.

It’s time to get visual with this minigame! When you pull the card, you have to roll a D6 die to see which word you’ll get. If you roll a 6, you can choose which word you want. When you have your word, you then try to describe it to your two co-players, who have to draw it. But, there’s a catch! You can only give your instructions in terms of geometrical shapes!

For example: You get the word radio and you try to describe it by instructing your co-players to draw a rectangle with two circles on either sides of its interior, a small rectangle lying on top of the larger one, and a short line sticking out of the top-right side of the large rectangle. Aaaand while you might think you’re perfectly describing the object, your co-players might not have the same idea in their head (cue example):

Whoever figures it out the fastest (or at all), moves a step ahead with you! If no-one figures out the word, it’s the next player’s turn.

The Mumbling Game: Stage Two, Minigame One

By Lan Rahne / March 1, 2021 March 22, 2021

In the stage two of the game, you’re now coupled with two of your co-players, making every player part of two couples. The person that first finished stage one takes one of the Contest (stage two) cards and reads it to his two partners. They have to compete who will first find out the answer.

The Contest cards consist of multiple challenges: Mumbling, Shape Drawing, Charades with Sounds and Recipes. Today, we’re focusing on the Mumbling game. The concept of this game is simple. You take the card and read the topic of the card out loud. Then you roll a D6 die to see which word you’ll get. When you have your word, you then try to tell it to your two co-players without opening your mouth. Whoever figures it out the fastest, moves a step ahead with you! If no-one figures out the word, it’s the next player’s turn.

The mumbling game consists of different topics because it’s pretty hard to figure out what the other person is saying when they can’t open their mouth. These topics make the figuring out process a bit easier and much more fun. And to keep things interesting, we included a wide range of themes – from household items to social settings!

Stage One: Find Out Whose Answers You Like The Most!

By Lan Rahne / February 9, 2021 March 9, 2021

In the stage one of the game, everyone starts out as single. Your first objective is to couple up with two co-players through interesting questions. For example: What have I always wanted, but never got… on a date? You ask the question, everyone else answers it, and then you choose your favorite answer.

The Coupling™℠® process (meaning the process of you finding two other partners) is random. You don’t find out the authors of the answers until you choose the one that you like the most. We decided this was the best way to play because we often encountered some annoying issues when playing party games. For instance, almost every single time we ended up with the same partners. But it was important to us that we achieve fun randomization which doesn’t include just throwing dice.

So we came up with the Singles stage – it’s a fun, new and original mini-game that works great as a standalone game, but is also perfect as the introductory stage for Coupling, the Game. And not just that, it also offers you a chance to find out some pretty bizarre and random things about your co-players!

What’s Coupling? It’s a Diverse Game!

By Lan Rahne / January 11, 2021 March 22, 2021

You know that feeling when you’re playing a new board game, and while you’re having fun the first half of the game, it can sometimes get repetitive when you’re nearing the end?

Well, we know that feeling all too well. That’s why we’re making sure that Coupling keeps you on your toes until the last second of playing it! The game consists of three different phases. Each of them provides you with a different experience of a party game. It keeps things diverse, but in tone with the game without overcomplicating the rules.

The pace gets faster and faster towards the end of the game, leaving you with just the right amount of time to have a drink.

Okay, well have a good (and diverse) day (and check out our Facebook (and sign up to our Newsletter)). K thanks

What’s Coupling? It’s a Layered Game!

By Lan Rahne / January 11, 2021 March 22, 2021

Oftentimes, party games completely focus on one aspect: fun and only fun. But only fun can only be fun for so long. Coupling merges fun and depth! It assures that you not only have a great time carrying out fun challenges, but also learn something new and profound about the people you’re playing with, whether you know them well or not (yet).

Throughout different phases of Coupling, you’ll discover different layers of personalities that you never thought your friends had (in a good way)!

To give you a taste: we have incorporated themes such as the Rorschach ink blot test, tough decisions in picking the least worst option, drawing associations, and muuuch, muuuuuuuch, muuuuuuuuuuch more!

Thanks for stopping by (again), see ya soon!

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