Game: Question of Scruples, A

Image

CarnubaWax — 2008-06-26T23:03:59+00:00

A T-Shirt (based on Scruples components) that I designed for my friend's birthday.

Thread: Spanish Review

Cospeito — 2008-01-21T12:18:25+00:00

Escrúpulos, en su vérsión en español, es un juego de cartas ligero en el que debes tratar de adivinar la respuesta de los demás a determinadas preguntas.

Tenemos tres tipos de cartas de calidad media que son los únicos componentes del juego a pesar de venir en una caja grande convencional:
- Cartas de pregunta. Preguntas de índole moral como si por ejemplo aceptarías un soborno, devolverías una pluma de oro que encontrases en la calle o si le contarías una infidelidad a tu pareja.
- Cartas de respuesta. Sí, No o Depende.
- Cartas de votación. Un tridente o un halo.
]]>

Cada jugador comienza con 5 cartas de pregunta y una carta de respuesta. En cada turno irá haciendo la pregunta que quiera a quien crea que le va a dar la respuesta que en ese momento tiene en su 'Carta de respuesta'. Si no coincide se descartará de las cartas de pregunta y respuesta utilizadas y cogerá otras dos nuevas. Si coincide pasa a tener una 'Carta de preguntas' menos. La 'Carta de respuesta' siempre se substituirá por una nueva después de cada turno. Gana el primer jugador en deshacerse de sus 5 'Cartas de pregunta'.

Cuando la persona que formula la pregunta, en primera instancia o cualquier otro jugador en su lugar no está de acuerdo con la respuesta dada se puede pedir un debate. Al iniciar el debate se plantea la objeción, luego el interrogado debe justificar su respuesta de forma breve y quien inició el debate da su conclusión. Después todos los jugadores dan su veredicto con las 'Cartas de votación': Halo a favor del interrogado o tridente en contra.

En estos debates está la verdadera gracia del juego, si es que la tiene. En cualquier caso funciona mejor con un grupo de gente que se conozca y donde estén dispuestos a debatir sobre su propia moralidad.

Conclusión: No es mala opción para pasar un rato o abrir una velada de juego, pero muy de vez en cuando. Si alguien lo encuentra en el desván de casa (teniendo en cuenta que es un juego de los 80) puede rescatarlo, si no, no merece la pena gastarse más de unos pocos euros.

Image

Cospeito — 2008-01-20T16:13:09+00:00

Spanish open box

Image

Cospeito — 2008-01-20T16:10:06+00:00

Spanish Box

Image

Hobbespm — 2007-12-29T23:42:00+00:00

game box with instructions

Image

Hobbespm — 2007-12-27T16:59:25+00:00

Good or bad

Image

Motorkopf — 2007-08-24T08:45:48+00:00

german box

Image

Dolphonic — 2007-04-26T14:06:07+00:00

Image

Dolphonic — 2007-04-26T14:05:36+00:00

Image

kilroy_locke — 2007-01-30T13:40:00+00:00

Red edition contents

Image

kilroy_locke — 2007-01-30T13:39:33+00:00

Red edition Box Front

Thread: User Review

potterama — 2005-02-23T01:58:59+00:00

Game Review: Scruples

The Quick and Dirty:
"Guess what I'm thinking" game with no real moral depth

Rules/Mechanics:
Players are each issued five yellow Question cards and one red Answer card. Question cards present a variety of moral quandaries (examples: "If you found a wallet, would you return it intact?" or "would you alert a vegetarian dinner guest to the (indetectable) presence of meat in a dish you had slaved over?"). Answer cards say either "Yes," "No," or "Depends." On your turn, you choose a player you think will answer one of your questions with the answer printed on your card. If their answer does indeed match, you get to discard the Question card, decreasing the size of your hand. Otherwise, you discard and have to draw a new Question card. In either case, you draw a new Answer card.
In the advnaced variant, you may "challenge" a player you believe is providing a false answer to your question in order to stymie you, and they have 20 seconds to justify their answers. All other players vote on whether they believe the other player or not using provided voting cards.
The winner is the first player to successfully discard all their Question cards.

Strategy:
As with any game with a significant bluffing mechanic, the best strategy in Scruples is a sincere understanding of your opponents -- not only how they are likely to actually behave, but how they are likely to react to the pressure of the game and their desire to keep you from successfully discarding your cards. However, there are also useful strategies which apply to any group of players. The Questions provided with the base Scruples game are, almost without exception, ridiculously slanted -- very few people would answer "no" to any of the challenges, or at least admit to it in public. Therefore, it is often quite difficult to get rid of a Question during a round in which you possess a "No" Answer card. Your best bet, in this case, is to focus on a player which you think will likely try to stifle you by falsely answeing "No" to the Question -- then, to their consternation, you simply don't challenge their response.

Components:
The game is played entirely with cards and yet, oddly enough, is shipped in a full-sized game box. It is possible to cut-down and re-tape the box to save significant shelf space. The cards themselves are printed on lightweight cardstock with a thin layer of lamination, and will not stand up to very much punishment.

Remarks:
For a game which purports to be about divining the morals of those around us, or at least sparking some degree of discussion about moral issues, Scruples doesn't actually possess the depth which its material deserves. Instead, games almost always devolve into bluffing contests or free-form discussion which meanders away from the original topic. While the game is advertised as a way of getting to know people in a social setting, this denies the fact that the entire mechanic depends on players knowing one another fairly well. In addition, who would be confident enough to reveal their actual moral sensibility in an unfamiliar crowd, particularly if it will be open to challenge?

Caveat: while all efforts have been made to correctly represent factual information, all comments are solely representative of the article author, and not necessarily the opinions of Board Game Geek, its hosts, editors, or moderators. Please send corrections directly to the author.