How to Win at Taboo

Every few weeks, a bunch of my friends end up at Guilt & Co. playing Taboo. The premise is relatively simple, if you've seen Million Dollar Pyramid; you have a single taboo word that you need to elicit from your partner without saying five associated words that are listed on the card. Do as many of these as you can in about 62 seconds¹, tally the score, and pass the turn onto the next group. An example card would look something like this;

Some things in the game are really obvious; the go-to on a card like this would be to explain that it's a breakfast food that isn't pancakes that requires batter, and that it visually resembled a grid.

People however, tend to fail at the transititional game, which, to me, is the most important. The movement to grab a new card and quickly scan it for unmentionable words without losing the beat is the most important element between equally matched pairs.

1. Thank you, okay, so.
I find that these words open up every transition I make. They keep me talking, they thank the person who correctly guessed my clue (which relieves tension), and I've already got an approach for the next card. One that I didn't have to think about, because I'm still reading.


2. Analyzing card difficulty
I find that a lot of filler words will keep you talking, and can give very subtle clues about your card. If I get a card that says "malevolent" and I can't say evil, I can tell the person how incredibly difficult my card is by saying something like "Oh, man." or cursing it. They'll then know that we're not working with something easy. Saying something like "Oh! Hey!" lets them know that this should be an easy card for them to deal with.

3. En français?
In Canada, the cards have two different words on each side; often, they're just a French equivalent, but this is not always true and can burn you if you're not careful. It's also much more difficult to read the unspeakable words upside down. If the upright word on the card you're about to flip is in French, when you flip it, you'll see English. It's important to know when the opposite is about to be true, so you can rotate the card before settling it in the tray for play.

I hope this helps. If you're a Vancouverite who'd like to lose at Taboo, give me a shout.

¹I tested this with a copy at home. For science.