How to Play Slash Cards

Though at its core Slash Cards is a trivia game, we really wanted to make it more engaging than a simple collection of trivia questions. Since the game is about horror movies, we decided to include game mechanics that alluded to the genre in some way. We settled on two simple game modes: The Slasher and The Survivor.

The Slasher

In The Slasher, players take turns drawing cards from The Categories Deck and answering questions in order to collect at least one card from each of the five trivia categories. Shuffled into The Categories Deck are Slash Cards which, when drawn, force the player to immediately discard all the Category Cards they have managed to collect. The Slash Card is the killer lurking in the shadows, the monster under the bed, or the exploding kitten in some other card game. You don’t want any part of it!

• Players begin the game without any cards in their hand.
• Players take turns drawing Category Cards and answering trivia questions.
• If a player answers the question correctly, they keep the Category Card they drew. If they answer incorrectly, they put the card in the discard pile.
• The object of the game is to be the first player to collect at least one Category Card from each of the game's five question categories.
• The Slash Card is the Russian roulette element, the maniac with a chainsaw, of this game mode. At the start of each game shuffle one fewer Slash Cards into the Categories Deck than there are players in the game (i.e. 3 players = 2 Slash Cards, 4 player = 3 Slash Cards). 
• If a player draws a Slash Card from the category deck, they must immediately discard all their cards and start over. 
• Players are not eliminated from the game for drawing a Slash Card.

 

The Survivor

In The Survivor, each player begins the game with a full set of Category Cards. The object of the game is to try to keep as many of those Category Cards as possible by correctly answering trivia questions. The game progresses like any self-respecting slasher movie would: cards disappear with each incorrect answer, slowly whittling down the group until only a few remain. But who will outlast the others and become The Survivor?

• The object of the game is to be the last player with at least one Category Card in their hand.
• Each player begins the game with five Category Cards, one for each question category.
• Each player chooses the category of their question from the cards they currently have in their hand. 
• Each time a player incorrectly answers a question they must discard the corresponding Category Card from their hand. This category is now closed to that player for the remainder of the game. They must choose from the remaining categories in their hand for their next turn.
• If a player answers a question correctly, they get to keep their Category Card. Remember, survival is the name of the game.
• Play continues until only one player has any cards left in their hand. This player is The Survivor.

 

The Slacker

We believe that Slash Cards – like any trivia game – has another, less structured game mode. We call ours The Slacker and it consists entirely of asking and answering trivia questions. 

No Category Cards. No Slash Cards. You can keep score, but you don’t have to. You can play with your friends, but we won’t judge you if you do it alone...