Taboo

Overview

Get your team to say the word on the card without saying it yourself, or any of the Taboo words printed underneath it.

Checked against Hasbro's Classic Taboo instructions (F5254, ©2023). Taboo is a trademark of Hersch and Company, published by Hasbro. Older boxes have a buzzer instead of a squeaker and may differ in detail.

1. Setup

4 or more players, split into two even teams, seated so each team can keep an eye on the other.

Each card has a Guess word and five Taboo words. The cards are printed in two colours: choose one colour for the game and stack the cards with that side face down.

Decide which team goes first. The box has a sand timer, or you can use Hasbro's online timer and buzzer.

2. Your team's turn

1. Pick a describer and hand them a stack of cards. Everyone else on the team guesses.
2. Someone from the other team takes the squeaker and watches over the describer's shoulder.
3. Start the timer. The describer flips a card and describes the Guess word without the Taboo words.
   • Your team says the Guess word: put the card aside as a point.
   • You get squeaked, or choose to skip: put the card on the other side.
4. Keep going until time runs out.

3. When to squeak

The describer is squeaked for:

• Saying any part of any word on the card. If the word is "spaceship", neither "space" nor "ship" is allowed.
• Sneaky plurals or abbreviations, like "feet" for "foot" or "TV" for "television".
• Gestures, noises or sound effects. Singing is allowed.
• "Sounds like", "rhymes with" or "starts with the letter".

4. Scoring and winning

After each turn:

• 1 point to your team for each card guessed.
• 1 point to the other team for each card squeaked or skipped.

Then the other team plays, with a new describer each round. When everyone has described the same number of times, the team with the most points wins. If it's a tie, each team plays one more turn.

Commonly argued

• Skipping costs you. A skipped card gives the other team a point, just like a squeaked one.
• No gestures, noises or sound effects, but you may sing.
• No part of any word on the card, including parts of the Guess word itself.
• No "rhymes with", "sounds like" or first letters.
• The squeaker is held by the other team.
• There's no target score. The game ends when everyone has described equally.