Description

???? (CODE6) is a word deduction game from Japan for 3 players only (more can play if you provide extra chips).

Players are trying to deduce a word or expression from just a few letters laid out. The game has a deck of letter cards showing both the Roman letter and Japanese characters. But the deck represents the normal Hiragana sounds, so only 15 Roman letters are used including the vowel A. This enables players to construct Japanese words in steps that are more or less obvious.

Players declare a theme to their word and lay out cards in a crossword style, one by one. Players score points for correctly guessing words from limited steps.

The game was revised as Code 6+, with more components added, including hint cards. These allow the game to be more subtle and harder to crack. The guessing players can ask for hints, using six specific hint cards. These hints apply to parts of the secret word, or the whole meaning. The word deck was revised to remove dice symbols from the letter cards. Crib sheets of suitable words were included with the game to assist players.

The game relies upon a good knowledge of Hiragana words and would be difficult for non-speakers of Japanese.
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