Year: 2020 | Publisher: Asmodee, Exploding Kittens | Designer: Elan Lee | Artist: Matthew Inman, Elan Lee

Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame. Divide the players into two teams (Team Glad and Team Mad). You should divide the players as equally as possible. If there is an odd number of players, the extra player becomes the judge for the game. If your teammates are struggling to guess the correct word/phrase, you can choose to skip the card. Should you choose to skip the card you will tell your teammates “skip”. You will place the card in the “Oops” (-1 point) section of the Poet Point Slate. The current Poet doesn’t think they can describe Tutor to their teammates. Instead of wasting time trying to describe it, they decide to skip the card and move onto the next one. They will place the skipped card in the Oops! section and will lose a point. Drawing A New Card Otherwise you can choose to try for the three point answer. If at any point you commit a penalty, you will lose the point you earned from the correctly guessed word. Three Point Words Next, discard all the used Poetry Cards from both slates into the box, rotate each player's role, and start the next round.

If it is determined that the Poet broke the rules, they will place the card that they are currently holding on the “Oops”/-1 point section of the Poet Point Slate. The Poet will then draw a new Poetry Card. While describing this word the Poet uses the word utensil. As utensil is three syllables, the Poet gave an illegal clue. The Poet moves the card to the Oops! section of the board. The card will end up scoring the team negative one point. Guessing the Word/Phrase

Reciting the poem has no impact on the scoring or outcome of the game. Therefore it is completely optional. Variant Games This story is also an example of game developers (some who spent most of their careers in video games) using their ingenuity to design around a big problem: We can’t hand physical cards to each other during online calls. Lee spoke about this challenge with Theresa Duringer of Temple Gates Games at our recent GamesBeat Summit 2020 event. You will keep playing rounds until all of the players have had one turn as the Poet. You could also choose to keep playing until all of the teams have had the same number of turns as the Poet.

Ending your Turn

Avoid saying single words and then waiting for your team to guess! Instead, try speaking in Full sentences like the example above. Now you may be wondering why we’re covering this, as it’s a physical card game. The reason, at least for me, is that this is a physical card game that is made possible only by the online connectivity of videoconferencing during the pandemic. While we’re tired of video calls on Zoom and other platforms, they’re a lifeline that is preserving our social lives and mental health during a very tough time.

Exploding Kittens also uses its physical card games as a trial for testing ideas of games that could eventually become global digital games, and so the innovation that it shows in its physical games can eventually affect the digital market. Exploding Kittens has also figured out a way that physical card games can compete with digital games during social isolation. Best friends bring Grok joy. Grok want Stonehenge too. Grok must have it all. Only Silent will not do. Team Glad starts the game. They will choose who on their team with be the first Neanderthal Poet. This player places the Poet Point Slate in front of themselves. Everyone on your team can shout out words at the same time when trying to guess the word or phrase. During each round the Poet and Guesser try to score as many points as they can. At the end of the round you will add up the total number of points that the Poet and Guesser earned. These points will be added to the both players’ (Poet and Guesser) past scoring totals.Once the Poet starts describing the word/phrase, their teammates can start yelling out answers. There is no penalty for incorrect guesses, so you should try to yell out as many answers as possible. The words/phrases can be multiple syllables, so there is no punishment if a teammate says a multi-syllable word.

At the end of a turn, both teams add up the points they've earned on a piece of paper where each player's individual scores are kept. (The Poet and Guesser earn the same number of points each round). While factories have started to resume manufacturing, the supply chain was still disrupted because many of the ports where the game was shipped were disrupted. During this time, Exploding Kittens had to figure out how to create the initial run of Poetry for Neanderthals. One of the challenges was that you had to have a long inflatable club to play the game while social distancing (when people can do it in person). So the company had to figure out how to manufacture the inflatable club and fit it in a box that was small enough to easily ship.

You Can

We're not going to give you a lot of rules here... but as you aggressively debate about personal pronunciation, accents, and that one rule about syllables you learned in school, please try to remember that this is just a game, and really probably not that important. The same goes for Poetry for Neanderthals. The goal is to score the most points by correctly interpreting words and phrases. The chosen Poet starts off the game with a Poetry Card and tries to get their teammates to say the listed word, using only words with one syllable within a 90-second time limit. If the Poet feels they were penalized incorrectly, they shout "WAIT!" and turn the timer on its side. Decide as a group if the challenge is valid. Then decide as a group what to do with the Poetry Card in question.