Resonym | How To Play – Phantom Ink

Printable Instructions

HOW TO PLAY

OVERVIEW & GOAL

Renowned Mediums are competing to guess a Secret Object, with help from mysterious Spirits giving Clues from the World Beyond!

These instructions are for 4 players, but you can add more players.

There are 2 teams, each with 1 Medium and 1 Spirit. There is a Secret Object that both Spirits know. Each Spirit wants their Medium to guess the Object first. Mediums take turns giving their Spirit secret Question Cards to answer about the Object. The Spirit writes an answer (Clue) slowly, letter by letter until interrupted by their Medium. The first Medium to guess the Object wins for their team!

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SETUP

1. Split the players into 2 groups: the Sun team and the Moon team.
2. Decide who on your team is the Spirit and who is the Medium.
3. Each Medium draws 7 Question Cards and privately looks at their cards.
4. Together, the Sun Spirit and Moon Spirit draw 1 Object card to share. They look at it without showing the Mediums. Together, they choose which word will be the Object for this game. (They can use the numbers to discuss)

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PLAY

Teams take turns. The Sun team goes first. On a team’s turn, rotate the Pad to face that team. That team’s Medium decides either to ASK A QUESTION or GUESS THE OBJECT, then follows these steps:

ASK A QUESTION

(to receive a clue)

1. You, the Medium, choose and give 2 Question Cards from your hand to your Spirit.
2. Your Spirit chooses 1 to answer, gives it back to you, and discards the other face up.
3. In your team’s next space on the Pad, your Spirit starts to slowly write a Clue. The Clue must answer the chosen Question about the Object.
  ⮚Spirits should say the letters aloud as they write.⮘
4. When you think you know the Clue your Spirit is writing, call “Silencio.” Your Spirit stops writing. (If they are writing a letter, they finish it, then stop)
5. Place the answered Question face down in front of you. You can peek at it if you forget.
6. You draw 2 Question Cards.

– OR –

GUESS THE OBJECT

(to try to win)

You, the Medium, write the first letter of your Guess in your team’s next space on the Pad, and say the letter aloud.
- - If the letter is correct, your Spirit knocks on the table. Add the next letter, and say the letter aloud. Repeat until you get a letter wrong, or complete your guess.
  - If the letter is wrong, your Spirit puts their finger to their lips. Cross out the wrong letter. Your turn is over.
When you finish writing your Guess, add a period. If you’ve correctly written the Object, your team wins!

There’s no penalty for making an incorrect Guess, except that you waste a turn when you could have been getting a Clue.

STRATEGY TIP

Mediums: Say “Silencio” as soon as you can. It’s better to say “Silencio” early so the other team doesn’t get too much info.

Spirits: Choose a Clue that will be clear to your Medium after only a few letters. Write slowly; give them time to say “Silencio.”

CLUES

Clues must answer the chosen Question Card about the Object
Clues can only contain letters and spaces
Clues should be in a language everyone knows
Clues cannot contain any form of the Object (e.g. if the Object is “Airplane,” you can’t answer “Air” or “Plane” or “Deplaning”)

Otherwise, Spirits use whatever Clue they like—dictionary words, proper nouns, and made up words are all okay! You can even use multiple-word phrases, but careful: they often give away too much.

EYE SPACES

When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, your team’s Medium asks to see the next letter of any Clue on the Pad (from either team). The Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to the Clue. Then your team continues your turn as normal.

EXAMPLE TURN

Avery, a Medium, hands 2 Question Cards to Jordan, her team’s Spirit. Jordan chooses the card “What is it made of,” shows it to Avery, and discards the other card. The Object is “Calendar,” so Jordan decides to respond “Paper.” Jordan writes ‘P A P’ in the empty space, pausing after each letter. Avery thinks the Clue is “Paper,” and says “Silencio” to hide the rest of the answer from the other team.

CO-OP MODE

OVERVIEW AND SETUP

A standard game of Phantom Ink requires 4 or more players. If you only have 2 or 3 players, you can play this cooperative version instead! Try to guess the Secret Object within 8 rounds.

Choose one player to be the Spirit, and the rest of the players will be Mediums. The cooperative version plays just like the standard game, with the following changes:

NO SILENCIO

When the Spirit is writing a Clue, the Medium(s) can’t call Silencio. Instead, the Spirit writes a specific number of letters:

The Spirit writes 2 letters initially, and the number of letters goes up by 1 whenever you reach an Eye space on the Sun side of the Pad, as shown above.

PLAY

The Medium(s) alternate taking a Sun turn (on the left side of the pad) and then a Moon turn (on the right side of the Pad).

SUN TURN

In the next empty space on the Sun side of the Pad:

Ask A Question, just like in the standard game. Your Spirit writes the first few letters of the Clue. They write 2 letters initially, and the number of letters goes up the further you are in the game (see No Silencio on the previous page).

– OR –

MOON TURN

In the next empty space on the Moon side of the Pad choose 1 of the following:

Guess The Object just like in the standard game, 1 letter at a time. Continue until you write an incorrect letter, immediately ending your turn, or you correctly write out the Secret Object!
Listen for Guidance by having your Spirit draw the top 2 question cards from the deck. The Spirit discards one and answers the other but the Medium(s) cannot see the question being answered. The Spirit writes the first few letters of the Clue (see No Silencio on the previous page).

GOAL AND GAME END

If you successfully Guess The Object, the whole team wins! The number of rounds you played is your score (the lower the better). If you weren’t able to Guess The Object before the 8 rounds were up, everyone loses—better luck next time.

EYE SPACES

When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, you get to reveal the next letter of a Clue on the Pad before taking your turn. If it’s a Sun turn, the Medium(s) can choose any Clue, as in the standard game. If it’s a Moon turn, the Spirit chooses a Clue from the Moon side of the Pad.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I play with more than 4 players?

Add more Mediums to each team. Mediums on a team share their hand of cards, work together, and can whisper and pass secret notes. Any of them can call “Silencio.”

What happens if the Medium doesn’t say “Silencio”?

If the Spirit writes the last letter of a Clue without the Medium calling “Silencio,” they add a period to the end of the Clue to show the word is complete. If the Spirit finishes the word but the Medium calls “Silencio” before the Spirit writes a period, the Spirit doesn’t need to add the period. Keep the other team guessing about whether the word is finished!

What if I don’t like any of my Question Cards?

Once per game, each team’s Medium may discard their Question Cards face up and draw 7 new ones.

What if all the spaces on the Pad are full?

If neither team correctly GUESSES THE OBJECT in 8 rounds, both teams lose.

Can I look up how to spell things?

Phantom Ink isn’t a spelling game. Anyone can look up how to spell specific words. Spirits can also look up facts if they want. Mediums shouldn’t look up facts, and should be especially careful not to try to figure out Clues by putting the first few letters into a search engine.

Table talk

Spirits can’t give any additional guidance. Be careful to avoid saying things like “this Clue is going to be hard.”