Pick your poison is a party game for 3 to 16 players, aged 17 and up. Components are a game board, a rule book, 350 Poison cards, a Scoresheet, 16 “A” cards, 16 “B” cards and 16 Doubledown cards.
Place the game board on the table, deal out 6 Poison cards, one “A” card, one “B” card and one Doubledown card to each player. Shuffle the remaining Poison cards and place the deck face down near the game board.
The person who last had a birthday is the first Judge. The Judge picks a Poison card from their own deck or from the one on the table, reads it out loud and places it face up on the “A” position on the game board. Each player must now choose which card in their own deck fits the “A” card the best in terms of level of discomfort and hand it to the Judge, who then reads out loud all the cards given by the players. Everyone picks up a new Poison card from the deck so as to have 6 again.
The Judge ponders and chooses the one they think is the most equivalently bad as the “A” card and places it on the “B” spot on the game board. The player whose card was chosen gets one point.
Now the players must decide which Poison, “A” or “B”, they would rather have. They may question the Judge, who will clarify either card’s conditions, trying to make them both horrible and difficult to choose between. Examples of Poisons: “Use sandpaper as toilet paper”, “Sleep on the floor every night for the rest of your life”, “Be 3 feet shorter than you are”, “Be 3 feet taller than you are”, “Have each new day be slightly more boring than the last”, “Have it feel like someone stepped on you when they step on your shadow”, “Wake up every morning unable to remember who you are”, “Have fingers as long as your forearms”, “Hibernate for 4 months every year”...
Once players have decided, they play their “A” or “B” card facedown, plus the Doubledown card if they feel sure everyone else will choose like them. 597
Players reveal their Pick card all at once. If they all chose the same option, they all get one point and the Judge loses two points. A player who put the Doubledown card as well, receives an extra point.
If the vote is divided, those in the majority receive one point, the others get none. If it’s a tie, the Judge gets 3 points and the others get nothing. Players who bet their Doubledown card and lost lose it for the rest of the game. Since it’s important to be able to have a tie, the number of players must be even. When it isn’t, the Judge gets to put their own Poison card and receives points only if there is a tie.
A new round begins with the position of Judge passing to the player on the left. The game is won when one player has obtained 15 points.
This game is easy to learn, stimulates lots of remarks and jokes and can be fast paced. A good addition to board game night, especially if everyone is tired and just wants something entertaining, not too challenging. 67