So Clover! rules: how to play and how to win

So Clover! quick rules

The goal

So Clover! is a cooperative word association game. Each player writes Clues on their clover-shaped board, then the whole team tries to figure out the words behind those Clues. At the end, you add up your points and try to beat your high score.

Writing your Clues

Your board holds four cards, with a word on each edge. The words facing outward form four Pairs, each below a Clue Zone. All at once and in secret, write a single word that ties together the two words of each Pair: “Station” for House and Firefighter.

Invalid Clues

A compound word, a proper noun, an acronym, a number or an onomatopoeia are allowed. Not allowed: one of your words or its translation, a word in the same family, and a made-up word.

Covering your tracks

Once your Clues are written, remove your four cards, draw a fifth without looking at it and shuffle them all. The five cards wait in a face-down pile on your board.

The Resolution

One player becomes the Spectator: they place their board and five cards in the middle and stop communicating in any way. The others put the cards back in the right spaces, facing the right way; one card is extra. If there is a disagreement, the player to the Spectator’s left decides.

Points

All right on the first attempt: 6 points. Otherwise, the Spectator silently removes the incorrect cards, and the team gets a second and final attempt: 1 point per correct card, from 0 to 4. The next player becomes the Spectator, and the game ends when everyone has been the Spectator once.

Beginner pitfalls

A card in the right space but turned the wrong way does not form the right Pairs. A Spectator who smiles or sighs is already communicating. And often, the first word that comes to mind is the best Clue.

How to win So Clover!

A board solved on the first attempt

6 points: 1 per correct card, plus a 2-point bonus.

After the second attempt

1 point per correct card on the board, from 0 to 4, with no bonus.

The team score

The sum of all the boards, once every player has been the Spectator: 18 at most with 3 players, 36 with 6. There is no win or loss: you try to beat your high score.

Example ending

With 4 players, Mia’s board is solved on the first attempt: 6 points. Leo’s needs a second attempt, with 3 correct cards: 3 points. Emma’s and Jake’s score 6 and 2 points. Team score: 6 + 3 + 6 + 2 = 17 out of 24.

Common mistakes

• Counting words found instead of cards: the score counts correctly placed cards.
• Giving the 2-point bonus after a second attempt: it only applies on the first attempt.
• Skipping a board: every player is the Spectator once.

How to set up So Clover!

Setup takes two minutes.