WELCOME TO LOQ

The game of deft descriptions and express guesswork! ​

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•      Fun for all, with 4 levels of difficulty

•      Play a game in just 10 minutes!

•      Team mode or competitive mode

•      A staggering 6000 words to describe!

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OVERVIEW

On your turn, you draw a card and try to describe as many words and phrases as possible before your time runs out; your teammates try to guess the words. The team scores points for each word guessed correctly. There’s a twist, though: in each round, you have to describe or guess the words in a particular way. For example, sometimes the describer can use just 3 words; sometimes their teammates can make just 1 guess! Each of the 10 rounds presents a fresh challenge.

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CATEGORIES

There are 5 categories of word to describe: people and places, adjectives (descriptions), nouns (things and ideas) ,verbs (actions), and phrases. The words can be described in any order. However, in each round there is a key word worth 1 extra point, so it’s often best to start with this.

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GAME MODES

You can play LOQ in 2 ways:
Cooperatively; with everyone together against the game, or
Competitively; with teams of two or more players competing against each other. It’s a lot of fun either way!

The game ends after 10 rounds and lasts about 10 minutes per team. In competitive games, the team with most points wins. If you're playing a cooperative game, check your score against the ratings card for the difficulty level you played at. Was your performance Excellent or just Ordinary?

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DIFFICULTY LEVELS
There are a staggering 6000 words and phrases to describe and guess! These are divided into four levels of difficulty:
Level 1 (yellow)
Level 2 (green)
Level 3 (red)
Level 4 (blue)

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There's enough content inside LOQ to keep you playing for years. If you like, you can also try experimenting with some of the print and play materials and expansions below.

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PRINT AND PLAY

Blank LOQ cards to create your own personalized games of LOQ

Family score cards (you can use these cards for cooperative games with younger players included)

International score cards (you can use these cards for cooperative games with people who speak English as a second language)

LOQ score trackers for the standard game and the New Rounds expansion

LOQ variants score trackers (for LOQ Golf and LOQ Centurions)

All LOQ score trackers together

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THE NEW ROUNDS EXPANSION

An 8-card expansion pack to transform, extend & customize your games of LOQ!

Available now.

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CHRISTMAS AND HALLOWEEN EXPANSIONS​

Two themed expansions packs for LOQ with hundreds of seasonal words to describe and guess.. Coming soon.

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SILVER KEYS EXPANSION

A 5-card expansion pack with new bonuses and a new restriction on top of the rules already in play! Coming soon.

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HOUSE RULES FOR LOQ

Your copy of LOQ includes a House Rules card which you can use to personalise your games. Here are some suggestions to experiment with if you're in need of inspiration.​

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Restrictions:

• 1-syllable: describers may only use 1-syllable words.

• Eyes closed: guessers must play with eyes closed.

• 5-word clues: describers may use no more than 5 words in their descriptions.

• Alliteration: all the words that describers use for a clue must begin with the same letter.

• Lipogram: describers may not say any words that contain the letter "e" (or another letter as preferred).

• Pen: the guessing team cannot speak, and must write down all of their guesses.

• Endless clues: if describers stop talking, their turns end immediately. 

• Penalty 3-word clues: the key word must be described in no more than 3 words, and teams score -2 points if they don't guess it correctly.

• 1-syllable words or 3-word clues: for each clue they give, describers must choose one of these restrictions.

• All play restriction combinations (competitive games only): try playing an all play round with one of the regular restrictions (e.g. 3-word clues).

• 4-Level special: you can attempt the key words at every difficulty level. If all of them are correctly guessed, the team scores 10 points.

• Catch-up key word (competitive games only): the keyword is worth a number of points equal to your team's current position (e.g. 4 points if your team is in 4th place).

• No examples: Describers may not give any "example-style" clues. For instance, if the word to be described is “fruit”, you can’t say the words “ apple” or "lemon". 

• Charades: Play with double time, but describers may not speak! All the words must be described with gestures and actions.

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Bonuses:

• Second letter: describers may reveal the second letters of the words they have to describe.

• Last letter: describers may reveal the last letters of the words they have to describe.

• Numbers: describers may reveal how many letters and syllables each word contains.

• Extra time (competitive games only): the timer is hidden from the guessing team. When any member of the guessing team says "flip", the timer is turned immediately. The timer may only be flipped once. It cannot be flipped if the time has already run out.

• First letter memory: Before the time begins, describers tell their teammates the first letters of all the words they will describe.

• Gestures: You can use gestures (including pointing) to help you describe the words.

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General Advice:

If you're playing a cooperative game, it's a good idea to swap your house rules card for a round of more or less equal difficulty. This will ensure that the score card offers a fair assessment of your performance at the end of the game. Alternatively, you could change the value of the key word for your house rules card, having it grant more or fewer points according to the difference in difficulty between your new round and the round it replaced.

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LOOKING FOR NEW WAYS TO PLAY LOQ?

Play to 100 points with LOQ Centurions or for a full 18 rounds with LOQ golf. You'll find rules, ratings and score trackers below.

LOQ variants score trackers (for LOQ Golf and LOQ Centurions)

All LOQ score trackers together

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ADDITIONAL RULES CLARIFICATIONS

Here are some further rules clarifications that weren't included in the original rulebook.

Set up: Leave any cards you don’t need in the small compartment at the end of the box. 

Description rules: When describing a phrase, it's OK if you inadvertently mention non-functional words in your description. For example, if you accidentally say "the" or "of" when describing the phrase “at the end of the day”, you shouldn't be penalized.

Team Spirit round: 1) Once the timer is turned, both describers may look at their word cards 2) Your team can score multiple key words. 3) When the first describer is speaking, the second describer may contribute guesses (and vice versa). 4) After this round, play continues from player to left of first describer. 

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OPTIONAL RULE

Competitive games and score cards:​

The score cards don't usually give you an accurate indication of how you performed in competitive games because in two rounds your opponents are able to block you. If you really want to the use the score cards in competitive games, we suggest that you play the entire game with key words worth 2 extra points instead of 1. This should compensate for the times when your descriptions may be blocked. 

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CREDITS

Game design by Shae Spreafico.
Illustration by Olga Kozhukhova.
Graphic Design by Shae Spreafico, Vic Reyes and Olga Kozhukhova.

 

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Special thanks to Alice Kinghorn, Matt Carrelo, Viktoria Petrusevich, Ophelia Deng, Gary Snyder, Rachele Melelli Roia, Anna Onischiuk, Marwan Hesham, Dmitry Donskoy, Kader Meşe, Norbert Fukker, Céline Merlet, Kevin Campbell, Nicolás Vignoli.

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THANKS TO PLAYTESTERS​

Thanks to playtesters: Adam Wickenden, Beth Wickenden, Ian May, Lucy Ellis, Lyntton Peppiatt, Kim Peppiatt, Keaton Peppiatt, Kim Webb, Stuart Collier, Isabella Matania, Katrina Avilla, Clara Jung, Maria Tarugashvili, Arduino Melelli Roia, Felicia Coccia, Daniela Lopez, Luca Tulli, Maggie Koutsomichali, Cecilia Falorni, Vera Kokorina, Ekaterina Semenchik, Gustavo Perazzo Dantas, Iordanis Papazis, Francesco Gioia, Giovanni Varchetta, Maria Cristina Timpani, Roberto Altieri, Debora Berardi, Lena Chinkova, Mitsuki Uomura, Ami Furushima, Lauren Moore, Victoria Kinghorn, Michael Collins, Andrew Kinghorn, Alison Campbell, Martha Baillie, Sandy Kinghorn.

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