The Headlines Game
BGG rank
BGG #12,281
BGG rating
7.0

The Headlines Game

1989

Rules assistance for The Headlines Game

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–12 players
  • 45 min
  • 12+
  • Complexity 1.0/5

Rules assistant for The Headlines Game

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

The Headlines Game is a board game released in 1989 for 2–12 players, 45 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. Its main mechanics are Open Drafting.

Similar games

About the game

In this party game, players try to create headlines for a newspaper. They are given 4 letters, a theme and about 3 minutes to make as many headlines as they want. The words in the headlines need to start with the 4 given letters in the given order and the headline needs to fit into the given theme. Example: Letters: S, B, N, R Theme: Society Headlines created by the participants: Suegra Busca Nuera Rica Submarinista Bucea Nueve Rios Sin Botella Ni Ron After the 3 minutes, the game is stopped and every player shares his/her headlines with the rest. Every round, one player is the 'Editor' and chooses the best headline and awards this player one token. The Editor must take into account the adequacy of the headline to the theme and its originality. The winning player receives a token and becomes the next turn's Editor. The player that reaches first 5 tokens, wins the game. If a player didn't present any headline or makes a mistake (e.g. wrong order, wrong letters), he or she is disqualified from the next round. The theme cards are divided into 4 categories: Regular Theme: Sports, Society, Politics, etc. Prefixes: Players need to complete a given sentence, such as "Every 9 out of 10...", or "The majority of women prefer...", etc. Tongue Twisters: Only one letter is given and all 4 words of the headline need to start with this letter. Editor's Choice: The Editor chooses the theme as he likes. There are some variations given in the rules: 5 Word Headlines: choose 1 more letter card. 2 Players: First one to find a headline in the theme wins. Play to 10 points instead of 5. Team Play: Players work in teams to create the best headlines. The content of the box: 55 theme cards 55 letter cards card support (to show the 4 letter cards and the theme card) sand clock (3 minutes) 4 note pads tokens rules in the form of a small 4 page newspaper

Mechanics

Publishers

  • The United States Playing Card Company
  • Juegos Fournier

Questions and answers

The Headlines Game supports 2–12 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.