1. Each player draws a card. This is their death prediction.
2. The group then looks at all the cards and tries to construct a scenario which incorporates all of the predictions into a cohesive (or at least mildly coherent) narrative.


For example: “Dan’s TRAGIC FLAW is pride, which pushes him to genetically modify birds. Patricia and Matt try to steal these marvels for themselves when Amanda walks in. She is killed by their TREACHERY, and afterward the freed birds kill the two with BEAK and CLAW. The ensuing UNNATURAL DISASTER of genetically modified birds roaming free kills Elizabeth when she checks on her husband.”

This game was submitted by Dan in the forums. If you have an idea for a game, head to the forums to let us know!

1. Every player is dealt 5 cards. (For 6+ players, each gets 4 cards). You are all psychopaths, and each card represents a Hostage that you have taken.
2. Each round, a player takes on the role of the Killer. (Start with the player to the left of the dealer, and move clockwise each turn.) The Killer declares a weapon that he or she will use on their murderous rampage. For example: “Machine gun,” or “ax,” or “semi-truck,” or “escape-proof vat of acid.” Or, choose a circumstance: “Rainy highway,” or “assassination attempt,” or “lovers’ spat.”
3. The other players then must choose the Hostage that they have that is most likely to be killed by that weapon. The goal is to have your Hostage be killed — so you want to choose one whose prediction could reasonably dovetail with the weapon currently being waved around by the Killer, or the circumstance the Killer is in.
   For example, if the weapon is “Machine gun,” then GUNSHOT would be a good card to play. But that would probably be a bad card to play if the weapon is “semi-truck” — unless you can justify it somehow during the lobbying phase (below).
4. Once each player chooses a Hostage (card), they place it face down in the center of the table.
5. When all cards are down, the Killer jumbles the cards and reveals them all. Then the Killer must decide which Hostage is most likely to die in their proposed scenario. They can use whatever criteria they choose to make this decision, and lobbying by other players is allowed.
6. Once the chosen Hostage is killed, their card is awarded back to that player as a trophy. The other cards (the Hostages that were spared) are shuffled back into the deck. Players draw new cards to replenish their hands, and the role of Killer passes to the left. The winner is the first player to reach a predetermined number of kills (say, 5), or the one with the most kills after play has passed all the way around.


VARIANTS: “Starvation:” Spared hostages (cards that were not chosen) are discarded after being played, rather than being reshuffled into the deck. New cards are drawn until the draw-deck has been depleted, but not thereafter. The game continues until everyone is out of cards.

“Morbid:” Rather than naming weapons, name individuals known to the entire group (celebrities, pop culture characters, mutual friends, etc.) The judge must then choose which death card would be most likely that of the named person.

“Musical Electric Chairs:” Only allow a certain number of Hostages to be played in a turn — one less than the number of active players. So it’s best to be quick! Slap down the card as fast as you can. If you’re the last one, you have to take your Hostage back and wait till next turn. (For extra liveliness, allow players to play up to two cards in a turn, so long as they’re put down one at a time — this allows the quickest players to ace out the others.) This is best played with a large group.

A crime spree has hit the city, and the police force is overwhelmed! To aid their investigations, they’ve brought in a group of brainstorming consultants — you. One player becomes the Detective, while the others are Consultants. The role of Detective rotates clockwise each turn.
1. For this game you need a deck of MOD cards, pads of paper or index cards, a one-minute timer, and Scrabble tiles (or other tokens with letters on them). Pass out paper to each player.
2. The Detective draws a death card and a letter tile, revealing them both to the group — for example, “SHARK” and “H”. The timer is started.
   If you have no letter tiles, you can use a book: open to a random page and point to a random letter on the page.
3. The Consultants now have one minute to write down a shark-related way to die that begins with H — for example, “Huge shark eats you,” or “Home invasion by shark in a mobile water tank with wheels,” or “Hoped unsuccessfully that shark meat was not poisonous.” When they’re done, they place their paper upside-down in the center of the table. Anybody not done in one minute is automatically out.
4. The Detective gathers and jumbles the cards, then displays them all and reads them out loud. Using whatever criteria he or she chooses, the Detective chooses the best answer and awards the writer that death card as a point. Lobbying by other players is allowed
5. The role of Detective then moves clockwise to the next player. Play continues until a player reaches a preset number of points (say, 4), or until play has passed all the way around.

Just like Think Tank, for this game you need a deck of MOD cards, a 30-second timer, and Scrabble tiles (or other tokens with letters on them). You can also use a game board if you like, and a random timer if available.

1. Every player draws one death card and keeps it secret.
2. The first player draws a letter tile, revealing it to the group — for example, “P”. (If you have no letter tiles, you can use a book: open to a random page and point to a random letter on the page.) Every player looks at their death card and tries to think of a circumstance that both starts with P and would kill a person with that specific prediction. For example, the person holding “TRUCK” might shout out “Pushed in front of a truck!” The first persion to shout out their answer — relating to their own death card — determines the theme for the round. In this example, TRUCK would become the theme for the round.
3. The chosen death card — TRUCK — is placed in the middle of the table and the timer is started. Everyone shouts out any deaths they can think of that both start with P and relate to TRUCK. Other examples might be “Pinned under truck wheel” or “Pissed off a truck driver.” Duplicates are not allowed.
4. When the alarm goes off, the last person to have gotten out a complete thought wins the round, and is awarded a point (or moves forward a space on the game board).
5. A new letter is chosen and the pattern repeates. Play continues until a player reaches a preset number of points (say, 10), or until a player reaches the end of the game board.
6. VARIANT: Winning a round allows a player to roll a die and advance that many spaces on the game board. An error (saying something that doesn’t make sense, doesn’t start with the right letter, or is a duplicate) results in a one-space penalty on the board.

Note: Hitman on a Budget can be played with 3 players, but is best with 4 or more. One player is designated the Bureau Chief. All the other players are hitmen.

1. SETUP: The object of the game is for the hitmen to kill “targets.” The Chief is responsible for revealing the targets and the unique setting each target is in. (There should be one fewer target than the number of hitmen, up to a maximum of five targets.) First, on separate scraps of paper, the Chief writes a detail about each target. It could be a location, such as “on a skyscraper roof”, “inside a school bus”, or “locked in a bank vault”; or it could be a role, such as “official plumber to the Queen of England”, “Iron Chef cameraman”, “Civil War re-enactor in the midst of battle”, etc. They should all be different. (Tip: Ask your players for suggestions such as “Name a specific, peculiar place for someone to be,” or, “Name someone you hate/dislike.” Put the suggestions on a numbered list, and ask for a random number every time you need to introduce a new setting.)
   
2. The Chief draws random death predictions and places them face down with each setting. The cards are turned over. These are the death predictions for each target, and any successful plan to kill a target must incorporate this prediction.
   
3. PURCHASING ITEMS: Each hitman then takes a turn rolling two dice. The score on the dice is the hitman’s budget for that turn. The budget determines the number of letters a hitman can buy. For example, if they roll 5, they can buy a SNAKE. (This might be useful to attempt to kill a target with a death prediction of VENOM.) Players must thus assemble the materials they need to kill the target, by systematically purchasing each item in this way. They may also “bank” dice points to use in combination with another roll on their next turn. (But on the second turn, all the points, from both turns, must be used.) Items purchased must be the exact number of letters, with no change given — but multiple items may be purchased in one round, if all items combined use up all the available letter points exactly. A given item — for example, a GUN — may only be purchased once per game. No other player may purchase a GUN later, but they may purchase a PISTOL or an UZI. Hitmen may use paper to keep track of their inventory. Players may trade unused items in their inventory with other players at any time.
   

SPEED TIP: Take one pass through the players where everybody simply rolls the dice and gets their points. Then circle back to the first player for purchasing items. If the first player isn’t ready yet, move on to the second, and come back to the first later. This avoids making players wait on others. It also encourages players to come up with their plans faster, so other players can’t kill their target first.


4. LIKELIHOOD: At any time during their turn, a player may ask the Chief to evaluate their plan, outlining their materials and their strategy to take out the target. For example: “I will wrap the SNAKE around this ROCKET and shoot it at the VENOM target, who’s on top of the building.” This assumes that the player has purchased a SNAKE and a ROCKET by that point. The Chief will then assign this plan a Likelihood of 1-6, depending on how likely the plan is to succeed. The hitman may choose to go forward with the plan, or wait to buy additional items that will increase the Likelihood of the plan’s success. For example, the Chief may say “That SNAKE might fall off that ROCKET. This plan has a Likelihood of 1. However, if you had some STRING to hold the snake on, you’d have a Likelihood of 2.” The hitman could then elect to wait another turn and attempt to buy some STRING.
   
5. MAKING THE HIT: When a hitman is ready to make their attempt on the target’s life, they must describe the plan in detail. The Chief announces the Likelihood of the plan from 1-6, and the hitman rolls one die (D6). The first round of targets all have 7HP — meaning the hitman’s plan must have a combined Likelihood score + die roll score of 7 or above to succeed. So, a plan with a Likelihood of 1 must have a die-roll of 6 to succeed; a plan with a Likelihood of 5 must have a die-roll of 2 or above to succeed.
   
6. If the hit fails, the hitman loses those items from inventory, their turn is over, and the target survives. The Chief may report that the target has been scared into a new position at this time, and create a new setting. The failed hit may affect the new setting — for example, “The OX that you loosed in the department store didn’t kill the clerk, but is now running around like crazy, impossible to control.” Later players may use this new detail to their advantage in their own hits.
   
7. If the hit is successful, the hitman gains that target’s HP as points (i.e. 7 points), and that target is eliminated. Hitmen may attack any open target at any time, so if other players were also accumulating items to kill that particular target, they must now focus their attentions on other targets. All items expended during the hit are lost from the hitman’s inventory; any items unused in the hit remain in inventory for other hits. A hitman with a successful hit and sufficient items may attempt a subsequent hit in the same turn.
   
8. When one target is eliminated, the Chief (at his or her discretion) may draw a new card and introduce a new target for the team to attempt to kill. Target cards drawn mid-game may have more than 7HP at the discretion of the Chief, but not more than 10. The Chief should write down any extra HP on the paper with the target’s details, so other players will remember.
   
9. TEAMING UP: Hitmen may team up for a hit if they have complementary items in their inventory. For example, “We use his MEAT to lure the bear into the room, and then my PADLOCK to close the door.” In these cases, the hitmen should decide in advance how they will split the target’s points if the hit is successful (for example, 3 to one person, 4 to another). If the hit succeeds, each hitman collects only the predetermined number of points.
   
10. THE END: The winner is the first hitman to reach a preset number of points (say, 25), or the hitman with the most points after 10 targets have been eliminated.
    

STRUCTURED PLAY: Only 10 targets will be revealed throughout the game. Start with 3 on the board, each with HP of 7. When one is killed, the Chief adds a new one, with HP of 8. The following two also have 8HP, the following three have 9HP, and the final “boss” card has 10HP.

VARIANT RULE: When new targets are revealed throughout the game, their HP is tied to that card’s Epicness value. The target’s HP is 6 + that card’s Epicness. So a card with E1 will have 7HP; a card with E4 will have 10HP.

ADVANCED STRATEGY: Players may attempt a Double or Triple Hit. If they believe that the items in their inventory will allow them to combine the circumstances of multiple targets’ demise in a believable way, they may present their plan to the Chief. For example, “I will use my FISHING ROD to dangle a DIAMOND in front of the FALLING target’s face. He will reach for it, stumble, fall from the skyscraper, and crush the HEAD TRAUMA target, whom I have summoned to the sidewalk outside the skyscraper with my CLASSIFIED AD.”

The Chief will evaluate the plan and assign a Likelihood for the entire plan. If the plan involves two targets, the Likelihood is from 1-12; if it involves three targets, it’s from 1-18; and so on. The hitman then rolls the same number of dice as there are targets. Multiple hits are all-or-nothing — either all targets are killed, or none are.

ADVANCED STRATEGY: Since a failed hit affects the environment in a consistent way, players may deliberately make a failed hit in order to make changes to the environment. For example, a player may say “I’m going to put a FAN in the target’s bedroom.” The Chief will likely assign this plan a Likelihood of zero, but the person should gamely roll the die anyway.

Later, if another person’s plan involves setting out some FRESH BREAD to lure the target away with its smell, the first player may say “No! My FAN is still in the room, and it blows the scent away from them.” Players may attempt to influence each other’s plans in this way.

1. All players cut squares of paper equal to the total number of players. For example, if there are 5 players, every player should have 5 squares of paper.
2. Every player draws one card, keeping it secret from the other players. (If the group is too familiar with the contents of the prediction deck, use random dictionary words instead, and interpret them as death predictions.)
3. On the first square, draw a picture of that prediction (without using any written words).
4. Once all of the players have finished drawing, pass the entire stack of papers to the left.
5. Look at the picture that has been passed to you, and on the next slip of paper, write what prediction you believe that picture represents.
6. Place the picture on the bottom of the deck, so that only the prediction you wrote is on top. Pass the entire stack of paper to the left.
7. Draw a picture of the new prediction you have received. Do not peek at the other pictures and predictions in your stack below it! Repeat steps 3-6 until there are no more squares of paper.
8. Pass each stack to their originator, who should now be the player on your left. Compare the final guesses (either picture or prediction) with your original card. The new interpretation may be drastically different!


Were you close? Will art historians look upon your work with admiring applause, or confounded confusion? Just ignore the critics – for who, in the end, is more fondly remembered than a misunderstood artist? (sexy firefighters)

1. Every player writes the name of one living celebrity or public figure, and places them in a hat.
2. Players then each pick a slip from the hat. This is now their character.
   (TIP: Choose celebrities who are are likely to be very well-known to the entire group, and whose demise you think will be easy to visualize or prove. For example, a beloved celebrity is less likely to make a fun game than a hated celebrity, or one with a career involving danger.)
3. Draw one death prediction card. Players, as their characters, debate which character would be the most likely victim of said death. (Choose a player to start the first round by making an accusation — for example, “HEART ATTACK will obviously be Justin Bieber, and here’s why!” The player to their left then must issue the first accusation in the next round.) Celebrities want to stay out of the tabloids, so players should do their best to avoid being picked.
4. After debating, players vote. The player/character who receives the most votes loses, and receives that card. (In the case of a voting tie, a new runoff vote is held between the tying characters.) A new card is drawn, and another round of accusations fly.
5. The first player to receive a certain number of cards (say, 3) loses, and must incorporate all their character’s collected cards to describe that celebrity’s final moments on Earth. Now that’s front page material!
6. VARIANT: Only choose celebrities (or fictional characters) who are already dead in real life or in their story’s canon. Players must then come up with ways to make the card match the well-known death of the character — for example, “Darth Vader was electrocuted by the Emperor, but in a deleted scene he was also bitten by a snake, which made him weaker than he would have been otherwise.”

1. Name an imaginary friend to be eulogized (say, “Chip Dipson” and “Dip Dobson”). Every player may have a different friend.
2. A one-minute timer is started, and the first player begins their eulogy by picking a card. Without saying any of the words on the card (excluding “by,” “in,” etc.), the player must try to get the other players to guess the card while eulogizing. For example, if the word is “FASTBALL,” the eulogizer might begin with “We all remember what a huge Randy Johnson fan Chip was, and how excited he was to play catcher even though he had none of the protective equipment.”
3. With each correct guess, the speaker draws a new card and keeps the old one.
4. A speaker may “skip” three times per round. The skipped card is reshuffled into the deck before the next round.
5. After one minute, the eulogy stops. A new player takes the cards and begins to eulogize a dear friend of their own.
6. SCORING: Eulogizers earn 2 points for every card that someone successfully guessed, and guessers earn 3 points for each successful guess. Play continues until everyone has delivered a eulogy OR until a preset number of points are reached.

This variant of the game was suggested by Robbertom on the forum!