NOTE: (If you aren’t watching HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, you should be. It’s AWESOME. The game of Marshgammon comes from the Season One Episode appropriately entitled Game Night. Several rules, as well as the major games Marshgammon borrows from are used as the basis with additional rules clarified and flushed out.)
Marshgammon is an Awesome game. These are the rules for Marshgammon. Enjoy.
Marshgammon combines all the best elements from all the best games: Candyland, I Never, Pictionary, and Poker. From Backgammon, it ONLY borrows the name, and leaves all the other lame stuff behind.
To Play Marshgammon, you will need the following items-
- A Candyland Gameboard
- One Deck of Playing Cards
- One Pictionary Drawing Board or Pad of Paper
(IT COULD ALSO BE THE HAT…)
- 20 – 30 Autobiography Question Cards
(NOTE - THESE CARDS ARE BLANK. YOU’LL HAVE TO WRITE QUESTIONS ON THEM.)
(It IS a drinking game after all…)
The object of the game is to be the first person to make it all the way to the Candy Castle.
ROLES are all characters from How I Met Your Mother. The exceptions are Barney and Marshal. Marshal is the game master and does not play. Always. it is important that Marshal knows the rules backwards and forwards. Cause NOBODY else will. And Barney is not a ROLE.
BEFORE THE GAME BEGINS Marshal
places 5 pieces of folded paper bearing different ROLES. Game play begins with all players/teams drawing ROLES from the Sorting Hat.
The roles are as follows.
Every time an odd number is rolled, Victoria will be asked to answer an Autobiography Question. Autobiographies will always concern your present or previous dating experiences and will be varying degrees of enlightening and/or embarrassing. However, there is a benefit to being Victoria. Every time you answer truthfully, you’ll roll one die and advance forward that many spaces regardless of whether or not it’s your turn. In some cases, if Marshal deems your answer “honest”, you may be moved all the way to the Gumdrop Mountains for your truthfulness. You don’t do anything for the space you land on.
Any time Victoria answers an Autobiography Question you MUST insult Victoria referring in some way to the answer. Anytime you fail to be witty, you will have to drink. However, there is a benefit to being Robin. Every time Marshal deems the insult acceptable you can move forward one space.
Lily cannot speak. Any time Lily speaks, Lily MUST take a drink. Any time Victoria answers an Autobiography Question and Ted shouts, “C'mon!” Ted will look at Lily, and Lily must shrug. Ted and Lily must then take a drink. Any time you miss this action, you both take two drinks. However, there is a benefit to being Lily. Since Marshall and Lily are together, you can at any moment point to another player and Marshal will make them drink, unless you hold out your hand in order to TAKE A CHANCE. When you TAKE A CHANCE, you roll one single die. On a six, you can take 5 chips from any player. On a one, you must take a drink.
Ranjit must get everyone drinks. However, there is a benefit to being Ranjit. Any time a player fails to thank you for bringing a drink, you can take 5 chips from them as a “tip”.
Ted -
Any time Victoria answers an Autobiography Question you must shout, “C'mon!” At which point you look at Lily, and Lily must shrug. The two of you must then take a drink. Any time you miss this action, you both take two drinks. There is no benefit to being Ted.
It may be helpful to have the rules for each ROLE written or printed on cards that can be handed out to each player.
THEN, players/teams must come up with ten words (either: people, places, things, or film/book/album titles) for the Pictionary Bowl. If teams are being used, everyone on any given team MUST know what the word means/is. Since all players will draw from the same Pictionary Bowl, don’t try to be too obscure.
Next, each player/team is given chips. Chips are inportant for several reasons.
First, most spaces you land on involve a wager. Wagers are made with chips. Duh.
Second, any time you don’t want to drink, or answer an autobiography, or tell an embarrassing story, you can GO BARNEY.
When you GO BARNEY, you throw your hands up in the air and refuse to participate. This costs you five chips to do. When you GO BARNEY you are exempt for that action/round. Going Barney will also signal Marshal to bring out the Twister Spinner for Embarrassing Stories.
Third, any time you have the most chips, you can call out CHANGE ROLLS. When this is done all players/teams stand up and re-draw rolls from The Sorting Hat. Players then assume the corresponding roles at that point in the game. Calling out CHANGE ROLLS costs twenty-five chips. Calling out CHANGE ROLLS if you DON’T have the biggest stack costs you one ENTIRE beverage, or INCREDIBLY embarrassing story.
Finally, if you have more chips than the first person who makes it to the Candy Castle, you may challenge them to a game of Truth or Dare Chicken, or a chugging contest. If the challenger wins, then the person who was challenged moves backwards TEN spaces. If the challenger loses, the game is over.
Once Roles are chosen, and chips given out, all Players are given a single card from the Poker Deck. The player with the High Card goes first.
On each turn, players roll two dice. You will only be using ONE of the die for movement purposes. You can choose which of the two die you would like to use. If you choose the higher number, you must take a drink.
The player then moves forward the number on that die. The player does whatever action is required based on the color of the space the player lands on.
The different colors/spaces are as follows.
Purple -
Purple is for Pictionary. The player draws a word from the Pictionary Bowl. The player who draws has ONE minute to get people to guess the word by drawing it on the drawing pad or board. If there are no teams the word is an all play, and the first team to guess in under a minute then rolls a single die and moves forward that many spaces. You don’t do anything for the space you land on. If teams are being used, then the player’s own team has one minute to guess the word. If the team accomplishes this, then the team rolls one single die and moves forward that many spaces. You don’t do anything for the space you land on. In addition, you can bet that you will either win, or your team will complete the Pictionary Puzzle. If so, everyone puts in one to five chips. If you win and everyone but you drinks then you get all the chips. If you lose, you give that many chips to everyone else.
Yellow -
Yellow is for I Never. The player plays I Never. Before the I Never declaration is made, you may make a wager. You can bet that everyone but you will HAVE to drink. If so, everyone puts in one to five chips. If you win and everyone but you drinks then you get all the chips. If you lose, you give that many chips to everyone else.
Blue -
Blue is for Poker, specifically Texas Hold ‘Em. Every player must wager chips BEFORE the cards are dealt. Marshal deals two cards to every player. Betting once again occurs. Betting follows as it would in tournament play.
Orange -
Go Back 3 spaces.
Green -
RED IS THE BEST COLOR EVER! Therefore, anytime you land on these spaces you will be gifted with 5 chips, not strings attached.
Are awesome. If you land on one of these spaces, you get 15 chips AND get to make all other players drink. Except for the Molasses/Chocolate Swamp. That place is lame.
It may be helpful to have the requirements for the different colors/spaces written or printed on cards that can be handed out to each player.
Additional Rules.
Any time an odd number is rolled, Victoria must answer an autobiography question.
Any time someone GOES BARNEY, Marshal spins the Twister Spinner. The person the Spinner lands on has to tell an embarrassing TRUE story. If Marshal deems the story not embarrassing enough, that player/team must drink.
Any time Marshal Demands it, ROLES are automatically changed.
Anytime a player says, “What” they must drink. Marshal will press the Taboo Buzzer to signal this.
If a player/team lands in the Molasses/Chocolate Swamp,
the player/team to their left gets 5 of their chips.
If you roll an Odd number next to the Peppermint Forest, you must take a drink.
If you roll and Even number next to the Peppermint Forest you MARSHAL OUT and all your chips go into the pot. There they will remain until the next wager is made.
At any point, you may ask Marshal for more chips. Marshal MAY give out more chips, but it will always cost you something….
If this is done right, when you are finished explaining the rules at least one player will say, “WHAT?”, have to take a drink, and the fun can begin.
NOTE: (These are my rules for Marshgammon. They are awesome. But their “officialness” may not be validated by the cast and crew of How I Met Your Mother.)
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