What is this?
Cameo was a Kickstarter run and funded in 2018, specifically created for Kickstarter's Make100 campaign. You can view the original campaign link here.
Basic Games
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The 3:3 Game +
Setup
Shuffle the deck and place 6 cards on the table info side up. Set aside a separate draw deck of 15 cards.
Objective
Be the player with the most points after the draw deck is empty.
Gameplay
Think of a question that exactly 3 of the face up people would answer YES to and exactly 3 of the face up people would answer NO to. Any other combination of answers (4 YES and 2 NO, 1 YES and 5 NO) is invalid. Example: Is your favorite movie animated?
There are no turns. The first player to think of a question shouts “Question!” and says it aloud to the table. All other players verify that the question is valid. Players are allowed to use the Internet to look things up at this time.
If the question was valid, the player who asked it takes a random one of the 3 cards that said ‘YES’ and keeps it in front of them. This card is worth 1 point at the end of the game. Shuffle the other 5 cards together and add 1 from the draw deck. Lay out all 6 on the table and then repeat the process.
Game End
When you would need to add a card from the draw deck and cannot, the game is over. The player with the most points wins.
Variants & Clarifications
To make the game harder, add a rule that prevents asking the same question twice in one game.
If a person does not have relevant info on their card, e.g. not having a song listed, you can decide how you want that answer to be interpreted, either always in your favor or always against.
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The Outlaw Game +
Setup
Choose one player to be the Sheriff. Shuffle the deck and place 8 cards on the table info side up. The Sheriff should secretly choose one card to be the Outlaw.
Objective
Leave the Outlaw as the last card on the table.
Gameplay
Each turn, one player asks a yes or no question to the Sheriff about the Outlaw. The question can’t be a question that can be answered by looking at the info on the cards; they must be subjective. The Sheriff answers, then the other players can discuss who they think the Outlaw is. After discussing, the players must agree on at least one face-up card to eliminate as a possibility, and remove that person from the board.
After removing at least one person, if the Outlaw has been removed, the players lose the game. If the Outlaw is still on the table, the game continues. Pick a new person to ask the next question
Game End
Repeat until either 1) the Outlaw is removed from the table or 2) the Outlaw is the only remaining card on the table. In the case of 1, all players win. In the case of 2, all players lose.
Variants & Clarifications
"Subjective" means you cannot answer the question directly from looking at the card info, for example, "Does the Outlaw's name start with the letter E?". But it's ok if there's a strong implication, e.g. "Does the Outlaw like cooking?" when their card contains a picture of a frying pan.
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The Bachelor Game +
Setup
Deal each player a hand of 3 cards. It’s not necessary to keep the cards secret. Pick one player to be the Bachelor this round. The Bachelor plays a card to the center of the table. This is who they are.
Objective
Convince the Bachelor your card is compatible.
Gameplay
In clockwise order, each player plays a card from their hand face up and makes an argument to the Bachelor about why they’d be compatible with each other. The more commonalities you can justify, the better! After everyone has gone once, the Bachelor chooses the person they think made the best argument. Give the pair of cards to the player who won that round, they keep it in front of them. The player sitting in clockwise order from the Bachelor becomes the new Bachelor. Everyone who has fewer than 3 cards in their hand draws back up to 3. Repeat this process until everyone has been Bachelor once.
Game End
The player with the most cards in front of them at the end of the game wins. In the case of a tie, both players win because everyone got matched happily.
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The Codemaster Game +
Setup
Shuffle the deck and place 12 cards info side up on the table. Pick one player from each team to be the Codemaster for that team. Both Codemasters secretly pick a card from the 12 to be the Spy.
Objective
Each team is racing to be the first team to correctly identify who the Spy is.
Gameplay
Each turn, the Codemaster says a single word that is a clue as to who the spy is. Then, the opposite team makes a guess as to who the Spy is by putting a finger on a card. If they are right, they immediately win. If they are wrong, they lose. The Codemaster must be careful to not give too specific a hint as the opposing team has the first opportunity to guess. After the opposing team guesses, repeat with the other Codemaster and the other team.
Game End
When one team successfully finds the Spy, that team wins.
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The Domino Game +
Setup
Deal each player a hand of 5 cards. Set aside 10 cards from the deck as a draw deck. Take the top card of the draw deck and place it in the center of the table.
Objective
Get rid of all your cards first.
Gameplay
Each turn, the current player plays a card from their hand orthogonally adjacent to an existing card on the table. To do so, they must find something in common between the person card they are playing and the person they are playing the card next to. (example: Both their names start with A.) They cannot use a commonality someone else has used before.
A player can play multiple cards in a turn provided all cards played meet the same commonality. (example: I can play 2 cards next to 1 person if all 3 people’s names start with A.) If a player cannot play a card, they draw a card from the deck. If a player successfully plays a card, they draw to refill their hand back up to 5.
Game End
Once the deck runs out, the first player to play all their cards wins.
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The Icebreaker Game +
Setup
Create a deck of 20 cards picked randomly from the full deck, shuffle it, and place it on the table portrait side facing up.
Objective
Win challenges by correctly remembering peoples’ names.
Gameplay
Each player takes turns drawing the top card of the deck, reading the person’s name out loud, and then placing the card face side up on the table. They must then recite the name of every person whose card is face up on the table, going in reverse order until the very first person.
At any point, any player can call “challenge” and contest the card that the active player has just named. The challenging player says the actual name out loud, and the card is flipped over. Whichever player had the correct name gets a point; remove the card from the table and give it to the player who won the challenge. If no players were right, leave the person on the table. The active player must still continue to name people until they reach the very first person.
Game End
After the deck has been used up, the player who has won the most challenges wins.
Variants & Clarifications
Keep adding rules to make it more difficult. One I like to play with is adding extra rules to different card backgrounds, for example, anyone with a Maroon background, you must say their name but replace the first letter with P. You can challenge people for missing these rules as well as getting names wrong.
More Games
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The Luncheon Game +
Setup
Place 10 cards on the table. Pick one player to be the Luncheoneer. The Luncheoneer should come up with a rule that applies to some of the people but not others. (Example: their names have double letters).
Objective
Figure out what the Lunchoneer's rule is.
Gameplay
The Luncheoneer is holding a luncheon and only the people who the rule applies to are allowed to come. At the start of the game, the Luncheoneer tells the rest of the players how many of the face up people are allowed to come on the luncheon.
Each player goes around picking a person and asking if they can come on the Luncheon. They can then openly discuss what they think the rule is.
Game End
Once all the cards on the board have been asked about, the players have to guess what the rule is. If they correctly guess it they win! If they cannot, the Luncheoneer wins.
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The Dream Game +
Setup
Deal everyone a hand of 5 cards. Pick a player to be the Dreamer. Empty out the game box, you'll need it to keep cards secret.
Objective
Identify which card the Dreamer played, or fool other people into thinking that you're the Dreamer.
Gameplay
The Dreamer for the round takes the game box and places one of their cards into it. They then say a word that describes the person that they played. Everyone else chooses a card from their hand and also places it into the gamebox secretly. Their goal is to try and trick other players into thinking the card they played was the Dreamer's card.
After everyone has played, the Dreamer takes the cards out from the box, shuffles them under the table, and places them face up in front of everyone. On the count of 3, everyone except the Dreamer points to the card they think was the Dreamer's. Then reveal which card was the Dreamer's.
Each player gets a point for every player that voted for their card. They also get a point if they correctly voted for the Dreamer's card. The Dreamer gets 1 point per vote as well, but they get 0 points if all players voted for them.
After the point tallying
Game End
The first person to get 10 points wins.
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The Chainlink Game +
Setup
Deal everyone a hand of 5 cards. Set aside a deck of 20 cards.
Objective
Have the biggest chain in front of you when the game ends.
Gameplay
On each player's turn, they can either 1) start a new chain, 2) build on an existing chain, or 3) steal another player's chain.
To start a new chain, play at least 2 cards from your hand who have something in common with one another. For example, 'these people both like 80s music!' There's no limit on how big a chain can be.
To build on an existing chain, add at least 1 card from your hand to a chain that's in front of you. To do this, you only have to find a commonality between the person you're playing and the 1 person at the end of the chain you're adding on to. You can build with more than one person as long as they all have the same commonality.
You can build on a chain that one of your opponents has in front of them. If you do this, you steal their chain and put it in front of you.
After playing a card, draw back up to 5 cards. If you cannot make a move or take too long thinking, draw a card and end your turn.
Game End
After the draw deck is empty, the player with the largest chain in front of them wins.
Questions?
How do I get a copy?
Because Cameo was a bespoke and small run project, only one print run was ever manufactured. You can contact me at robert.vinluan@gmail.com to inquire about additional decks, although I can't guarantee any stock.
Something is wrong with my deck!
Printing errors and typos can happen. Please contact me at robert.vinluan@gmail.com and I will do whatever I can to replace your copy!