Ver. 2.12

All players co-operate, trying to put down cards of the same color in the same order. When the lead player says a word from a Subject card, what colour do you think matches that? Everyone has their own ideas, things get confused. And the color cards are put face-down, so who knows what to think?

When all the players have put 5 of their cards face-down, the cards are turned up and checked. If the cards all have the same color in the same order, all players win!

The game can be played at different skill levels. As you play, the game gets harder. But for variation, you could choose to play an easy game, or a very hard game.

90 Color cards (15 cards for each)

Red, Orange, Yellow, Lime, Green, Pale Blue, Blue, Purple, Pink, Brown, Black, Gray, White, Silver, Gold

Each player receives 15 Color cards with the same color on the back. Unused color cards are put back in the box.

One player chooses 5 cards from their 15 Color cards at random, and places them face up.

All players pick out the same 5 Color cards as a new pile, and they’re placed side by side on the table, leaving 10 matching Color cards in each player’s hand.

Preparation figure (Ex. for 6 players)

40 Subject cards + 2 Blank cards

The 40 Subject cards each show 5 Topics. Topics 1 and 2 are on the black side, and Topics 3, 4 and 5 are on the white side. The no. 1 Topics are easy, getting harder through to the no. 5 Topics, which are difficult.

The Subject cards are shuffled and placed as a draw pile on the table at the edge of the Color cards, with the black side up.

(See “Preparation figure”.)

After playing, write down new Topics on the blank cards. Make your own original "Match Me!".

The start player is the one with a color in their name. If no-one fits, choose a start player randomly.

The start player is the turn player. The turn player will advance clockwise each turn. The turn player draws a Subject card and places it face up near the pile. If the turn player doesn’t like the Subject card, they can draw again (once only in a turn), putting the next Subject card on top of the previous.

The turn player reads out loud the first Topic line on the Subject card, and then says a word or short phrase related to that Topic. For example, if the Topic is “Stationery”, the turn player might choose to say “Pencil”.

Now all the players, including the turn player, play one Color card from their hand face-down in the center. The chosen Color cards stay face-down on the table in each row. Please see the figure.

Going clockwise, the next player is the turn player, and continues as above by drawing a Subject card. The turn player puts it face-up next to the previous Subject card, reads out the Topic and says a matching word or phrase. All the players choose a Color card face-down, placing it to the right of the previous face-down card. 

When a new game starts, the first turn player chooses a level no.1 Topic for the first turn. Each turn following, the new turn player should choose the next level Topic. For the final turn, the turn player should stay on level no. 5 Topic.

Special Subject cards

Some special cards are included in the Subject cards.
For example, for the Topic “4.Sing a song” and "5.Humming" on card “20. Music”, the player hums any music instead of choosing a spoken word.
For the Topic “40. Players” where it says “1-5. One of the players in this game”, the turn player chooses any player at the table and says their name out loud. The level on the card doesn’t matter, it’s all the same for this card.

The game ends once 5 Color cards are played. Now all the players turn up their face-down Color cards one by one, to check with each other. If all the players played the same colors in the same order, the players win the game. Congratulations!

If there is even one mismatched color, the players all lose the game.

Work together and win the game!

Agree one Topic level for the whole game (playing five turns at no. 5 is very hard!).

Change the number of Color cards players can hold (down to a minimum of five). Does having fewer colors to choose from make it easier or harder? Or add more Color cards and more rounds. 

OHTANI Tadashi

Associate Professor in Tottori University. He is specialized in Education, and studies Social Education and Environmental Education. Also, he organizes the NPO (Non-profit) - Everyone’s place “Potto” -.

*Part of the sales of Match Me!  is donated to help Potto.