Scream! - How To Play

Hi everyone, my name is Mon'nique and today I'm going to be showing you how to play a game called Scream designed by Ted Alpock and published by Bezier Games for helping sponsor this video. In Scream, players play as campers who are trying to protect their campsites from spooky creatures that have invaded.

And so just like its predecessors such as the card game Scram, this is a card reduction game for two to five players in which players compete to have the safest campsite by the end of three rounds by having the lowest cumulative score. And in order to do that, players will need to exchange cards from their campsite, discard cards, and specifically in this game, players may also need to bluff.

And so today, I'm going to be showing you how to play it. But for more information regarding the game, I've included a link to the publishers's website in the description below. Last but not least, if you enjoy content like this and would like to see more in the future, please consider subscribing. And with that, we are ready to begin.

So, if you please jerk your attention to the set of the table, we're all set up here for a four-player game of Scream. Welcome to your spooky campsite. Now, if you're familiar with games such as the card game golf or scram, this is a spiritual successor of sorts where just like in those games, players will want to have the safest campsite by having the lowest cumulative score after three rounds.

But the difference is this game also includes bluffing. First, let's talk about setup. So, here we are set up for a fourplayer game. And in this game, the cards are numbered 1 through 13. Now, if you're playing with fewer than five players, like we have here, then you'll first need to remove an entire set of 1 through 13 from the deck.

During setup, one player is randomly determined as the start player, and the person to their right is the dealer for the first round. Then, each player is dealt a total of six cards, one of which starts the round face up and the others face down. But players may look at all of their cards before arranging them in any order.

So, you'll know the values of all six of your starting cards going into the round. Each player should also be given a reference card, which is double-sided, and the rest of the deck goes in the middle of the table with the top card flipped face up, forming the starting discard pile. And then the round begins.

And so, the game is played over the course of three rounds. And at the end of each round, players will calculate their scores by adding up the values, also known as the fright factor, on all of the cards remaining in their campsite with the goal of having the lowest score, making it the safest campsite.

And so, starting with the start player and going clockwise, on your turn, you'll either draw the top card from the draw deck, the top card from the discard pile, or later in the round, you'll scream, which is one of the ways in which the round can end. Now, if you choose to draw from the draw deck, you'll secretly look at it without showing it to anyone, and then you'll decide what to do with it, in which you have three options.

The first option is you can play a card to use its card action, which is listed at the bottom. Only cards from 5 through 13 have card actions. And in order to use them, you must first discard the card face up to the discard pile. Card actions may allow you to secretly view faceown cards, discard cards, or exchange cards between campsites and even the draw deck.

Unless it states otherwise, card actions can be used on any combination of cards from any player's campsites, the draw deck, and the top of the discard pile. As an example, the value six card action allows me to view any two cards. So, when taking this action, I can choose any combination of two cards from different places.

I can choose one card from my campsite as well as another from another player's campsite, or I can choose to view one or two cards from the draw deck or the discard pile. Because, as you'll see later in this game, some cards may be played to the discard pile face down. But keep in mind that when taking a card's action, the card you drew gets placed into the discard pile first before resolving the action.

Alternatively, instead of playing a card for its action, you can choose to exchange it with one or more cards from your campsite. Because remember, your goal is to have the lowest total sum by the end of the round. Now, when exchanging, you can always choose to just exchange the card with a single card from your campsite.

And when discarding a single card, regardless of whether it was face up or face down, the discarded card always goes to the discard pile face up, and the drawn card would take its place face down. Although, you may choose to exchange your newly drawn card with more than one card from your campsite. As an example, here we are several turns into the round.

And if I'd like to exchange with multiple cards, then I would first slide forward all of the cards that I'd like to exchange, just like this. And it can be any combination of face up and face down cards. Now, as an important rule, any face up cards you'd like to exchange must match in value. As an example, since I have these two face up sixes, I can exchange them because they both match.

Similarly, any faceown cards you're trying to exchange must technically match the values of the face up cards. And if there are no face up cards, then they must technically match each other. And so, this is where the bluffing comes into play. Since the values of the face down cards are technically hidden, you can pretend like they're the same value.

However, if your exchange includes any number of face down cards, starting with a player seated to your left and going clockwise, all other players around the table have the opportunity to challenge you. if they think any of your faceown cards do not match. If a player decides to challenge you, you must then flip over your faceown cards to prove whether or not you are bluffing.

And if they are correct, because your cards do not all match, like we see here, as a reward, the player who challenged you gets to discard a card from their campsite, either one that's face up or face down, to the bottom of the discard pile, maintaining its orientation. And as for you, you must then slide all of the cards back into your campsite, keeping them face up, and place your newly drawn card on either end of your campsite as a penalty.

Now, if the challenger was incorrect because you were not bluffing as their penalty, they must draw a card from the draw deck, secretly view it, and place the card into their campsite. And you may discard one of your other cards to the bottom of the discard pile, maintaining its orientation. And lastly, if the challenge was unsuccessful, such as in this case, or if no player decided to challenge you, then all of the slid cards are placed into the discard pile with any face up cards placed on top, and the card you drew gets added to your campsite in place of one of the cards you exchanged it for.

Then slide any remaining cards in your campsite together. In addition to exchanges, players may also challenge the use of some card actions, namely cards 7, 8, 9, and 10. If a player successfully challenges you when you're taking one of these actions, as a penalty, you must draw the top card from the draw deck, secretly view it, and add it face down to either end of your campsite.

As an example, the value seven card action allows you to use the ability of one of your faceown cards. When taking this action, you may not first look at a faceown card. This must be done from memory. Or of course, you can bluff. And so I might say, I'm going to use this value eight card ability, sliding the card forward.

Before using its ability, starting with a player to your left and going clockwise, all other players may choose to challenge. And if they are correct because you were bluffing or you were just incorrect about the card value, then you must draw the top card of the draw deck, secretly view it, and add it to your campsite.

And of course, you won't get to resolve the card's ability. On the other hand, if no player decides to challenge me or if they were incorrect because I was not bluffing, I then get to take the chosen card action, which may also be challenged depending on the card. And that is generally how challenging works in the game.

And so, as you can see, there will be several opportunities for you to bluff, though always at a risk of being challenged by other players. Lastly, when drawing a card from the draw deck, if the card's action or ability are not useful to you, your third option is you can discard the card face up into the discard pile, ending your turn.

Now, going back to the start of your turn, instead of drawing a card from the draw deck, you can choose to draw the top card from the discard pile. But doing so only allows you to exchange it with one or more cards from your campsite. You cannot use its card action this way and you must also maintain its orientation.

Which means if the card is face down, you are not allowed to view it first. But otherwise, exchanging cards works the same way as we discussed earlier. And finally, if at the start of your turn you have two or fewer cards in your campsite and you think you might have the lowest sum of cards around the table, then instead of drawing a card, you can scream, triggering the end of the round.

At this point, your turn immediately ends and all other players have one final turn before the round ends. Now, once a player has screamed, no other players may scream. But in that final turn, players may still challenge other players, including the player who screamed. And keep in mind that it is also possible for you to have no cards in your campsite at the start of your turn.

In this case, on your turn, you may only either draw a card from the draw deck or you may scream. you may not draw a card from the discard pile. In addition, another way in which the round can end is if the draw deck is empty at the start of a player's turn. In this case, the round ends immediately.

Once the round ends, players reveal their faceown cards and calculate their end of round score by adding up the values of all of their cards in their campsite. If the round ended due to the draw deck being empty, then players record this value as their score for the round. On the other hand, if a player triggered the end of the round by screaming and they either have the lowest score or they are tied for the lowest score, they instead score zero points for the round.

And so, as an example, if I had screamed with a total of seven points tying for the lowest, I would instead score zero. However, if the player who screamed did not have the lowest score, then they would add an additional 10 points to their score. So, in this example, I would instead score 23 points.

and all other players would record their scores as normal. Then once all players have recorded their scores, you would then clean up and prepare for the next round, making sure to keep all face down cards that are in the discard pile face down to avoid revealing any bluffs before shuffling the deck.

Then you would begin the next round starting with a player who scored the lowest score that round. And in the case of a tie, the tied player who is seated to the left of the previous dart player begins the next round. And at the end of three rounds, the player with the lowest cumulative score wins. And in the case of a tie, the tied player who has the lowest score in the final round wins.

But that's essentially how you play Scream. For more information regarding additional tiebreers, as well as full clarifications for all of the card actions, please refer to the back of the rule book. Otherwise, if you have any questions about anything that you saw here today, please feel free to leave me a comment down below, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for watching the video. I really hope it was helpful. If you enjoy content like this and would like to see more in the future, please consider subscribing. Thank you. Bye. [Music]