Spot it! rules: how to play and how to score

Spot it! quick rules

The goal

Spot it! is a series of speed mini-games. Between any two cards, there’s always exactly one matching symbol: spot it and name it out loud first. The player who wins the most mini-games wins the game.

The golden rule

The matching symbol has the same shape and color; only its size can change. Name it first, then take, place or give your card. If two players speak at once, the first move wins.

The Towering Inferno

One face-down card in front of each player, the draw pile face up in the middle. Compare your top card with the draw pile’s; the first to name the symbol takes the draw pile’s card and puts it on their pile. Most cards wins.

The Well

All cards are dealt except one, placed in the middle. Compare the top card of your pile with the middle card, name the symbol and put your card on it. The last to empty their pile loses.

The Hot Potato

In rounds: each player holds one card, shown to all. Name the symbol you share with an opponent’s card and put yours on it; they then get rid of their whole stack the same way. Whoever ends up with everything loses the round. After at least 5 rounds, the most cards loses.

Gotta Catch Them All

In rounds: one card in the middle, surrounded by as many hidden cards as players. Everyone flips one; name the symbol shared with the middle card to take a flipped card, never the middle one. Most cards wins.

The Poisoned Gift

Same setup as the Towering Inferno, but you compare another player’s card with the draw pile and give them the draw pile’s card. Fewest cards wins.

Ties and the end of the game

Tied at the end of a mini-game: duel, each flips a card and the first to name the symbol wins; with more than two, a round of Hot Potato. Play as many mini-games as you like, in any order.

Beginner traps

Name it before moving your card. Reread each mini-game’s goal: the Towering Inferno rewards the most cards, the Poisoned Gift the fewest. And a symbol of the right shape but another color doesn’t count.

How to score Spot it!

Mini-games won

Spot it! has no points during play: you record who wins each mini-game, and the player who wins the most wins the game.

Tie in a mini-game

A duel between the tied players, or a Hot Potato round with more than two.

Tournament scoring

Optional, with its own sheet in Ludingo: Towering Inferno +1 per card and +5 to the leader; Well +10 to the first out, −20 to the last; Poisoned Gift +20 and +10 to the two with the fewest cards; Hot Potato −5 per round lost; Gotta Catch Them All +1 per card.

Worked example

Three-player tournament: in the Towering Inferno, Emma collects 22 cards, Jake 18 and Alex 12. Emma scores 22 + 5 = 27 points, Jake 18, Alex 12. Alex, who lost, picks the next mini-game.

Common mistakes

• Counting cards over the whole game: you count mini-games won.
• Forgetting the mini-game’s goal: in the Poisoned Gift, fewest cards wins.
• In a tournament, forgetting the leader’s 5 point bonus in the Towering Inferno.

How to set up Spot it!

No overall setup: each mini-game has its own, in a few seconds. For a first game, start with the warm-up.