Dobble

01Discover the game

Dobble is a game of observation in which everyone is looking at at the same time. Between two cards, there is always a single common drawing, even if its size and orientation change. To spot it is not enough: you must also name it and perform the gesture requested by the chosen mini-game. So you can win one card in one variant and try to get rid of it in another.

This tutorial follows classic Dobble, English notice DOBB01-FR: 55 cards with eight symbols, for 2 to 8 players, and its five mini-games. It does not concern Dobble Kids, Connect, Access+ or six symbol boxes. The overall difficulty is Easy: strategic decisions are limited, but observation and coordination between speech and gesture improve with practice. Count about 15 minutes for several mini-games.

02Equipment

The classic box contains 55 round cards and its ruler. Each card has exactly eight symbols; the overall reserve has more than fifty drawings. No tray, pawn, die or hourglass is required. For a series with ranking, add a sheet and pencil. Leave a clear space to see the cards without hiding them with the hands.

Our examples use generic words or drawings to show comparisons. They do not constitute a reproduction of the 55 cards: manufacturing a few cards at random does not guarantee the mathematical property of the real package. Two symbols only resembling are not identical; their shape and colour must correspond. Their size may differ.

03The goal

The common principle is to announce the same symbol before the others. The final objective depends on the mini-game: to accumulate a lot of cards, receive little or empty its reserve. So choose the variant before distributing. To start with, the infernal tower is the most direct; the well comes naturally next.

To start with, play each mini-game independently, with its own final condition. If you want a ranking of the five mini-games, use the tournament scale of the booklet detailed below: it takes into account variants that mostly designate a loser, instead of arbitrarily assigning a victory to all others.

04Preparing Players

Start by placing two visible cards and looking together for their unique common symbol. Repeat with a new pair until everyone understands that orientation and size do not count. Set understandable names: "flake" and "snow" can designate the same drawing if everyone recognizes it.

Then mix the maps. Read the preparation of the chosen variant and give a common start. There is no personal turn: we must not wait until a neighbour has finished his search. On the other hand, a map taken or placed changes the comparison immediately; we must then look at the new peaks.

05The Five Ways to Play

The Tower of hell

Give each person a hidden card. The others form a central Stock, visible face. At the start, each one returns his card. Search for the common drawing between your personal top and the central top. Advertise it, take the central card and put it on your heap. Your new reference is now this card. Continue until you exhaust the center. The one who has the most cards has won.

The Well

Distribute the cards one by one between the players by reserving the last one for the center, face up. Each mixes his package and the guard hidden until the start; all then turn it back to make the top visible. Compare your top in the center, announce the symbol and place your card on the center. Therefore, the center changes constantly. You have to empty its package; the last one to keep cards loses the mini-game.

The Hot Potato

One handle uses a card hidden in each person's hand. At the start, all show it by holding it flat. Compare your card to that of another player still in play. If you name their common drawing, put all your pile on his: you no longer participate in this handle. The receiver must leave his new card from the top and can transmit all his cards at once. The last one to hold all the cards loses the handle and keeps them as a penalty. Make several rounds, at least five depending on the booklet; the one who received the most cards loses all of this mini-game.

Catch them all!

Place a visible central card and as many cards hidden around as there are players. Initially, return the peripheral cards. All freely compare a peripheral card to the center. After announcing the common symbol, take only the relevant peripheral card. The central reference remains in place the whole handle. When the cards around have been taken, slide the reference under the Stock and prepare a new handle. Keep the winnings; the largest total of cards taken wins when the reserve no longer allows to continue.

The Poisoned Gift

Prepare the cards as for the Infernal Tower. This time, look for the common symbol between the central top and the card of an opponent. Advertise it and place the central card on the pile of this opponent. You can aim for different neighbors during the game. When the central Stock is empty, the player who has the least cards wins. Receive a card is therefore unfavourable here.

Resolve an equality of speed

Priority is given to the person who named the symbol first. If the ads are simultaneous, the first consistent gesture of taking, pose or defeat sets the players. A final equality resolves with a duel: one card each, simultaneous revelation, first correct identification winning. More than two ex æquo, the booklet offers a hot potato handle.

06A concrete sequence

At the infernal tower, let's imagine that your top and the center both show a key. You announce "key", take the map of the center and the poses on yours. Your neighbor does not have the right to finish a comparison with the old central map, since it has disappeared. He must look at the new center.

Suppose then that your new card shares a heart with this new center. You can immediately announce "heart" and take another card: no turn of role forces you to wait. At the poisoned gift, the same reasoning would target the card of an opponent, and you would give it the center instead of keeping it.

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07Win and Count

For a discovery, make a part of the Tour infernal and count the cards. The starting card is held by each; counting it or comparing only the winnings does not change the ranking of this variant. For a series, announce in advance the classification mode.

The tournament of the booklet gives: Infernal Tour, one point per card recovered and five bonus points to the first; Well, ten points to the first to empty its package and less twenty points to the last; Poisoned Gift, twenty points at least loaded and ten points to the second; Hot Potato, minus five points per lost handle; Catch them all, one point per recovered card. This scale is optional and does not transform a simple isolated part into complicated calculation.

08Frequent errors

• Take the card before clearly naming the symbol.
• Search for two matches: each pair has only one.
• Continue to compare maps that have already been covered.
• Pick up the central map in Catch them all: it remains the reference.
• Give only one card to the hot potato: we pass on its entire pile.
• Trying to accumulate at the Poisoned Gift: the smallest heap wins.

09Tips for starting

Scan the cards from the look by small groups of symbols rather than fix a drawing for a long time. Learn the names before speeding up. A child who quickly identifies but hesitates on the vocabulary can use a simple name admitted by the table.

Move the cards without dragging them under the piles of others: the top must remain identifiable. Make a test round without ranking each variant change. Speed only helps if the comparison and gesture are accurate; a clear part is more fun than a hand battle.