How to Play Word Hunter Game

We love words games here—Scattergories, Codenames, Like Minds. And now we’ve created our own word game: Word Hunter.

This game is a little like Codenames but with a couple different twists that make it a completely different game. Let’s get right to this game that will be your next family favorite.

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A Little About Word Hunter

To start, Word Hunter is a seasonal game, but we have all of the seasons—winter, spring, summer, fall and Christmas! All of the games play the same and can be mixed together if you’d like. The difference is that the Christmas version has 108 words that are all festive and have to do with Christmas. The winter ones are all snowy and winter related. The spring ones bloom with spring related words. Summer is full of beachy summer words and fall crunches with autumn words.

Word Hunter is a secret word deduction game. It is for four or more players that play on two teams. Each team is hunting words that their knower gives them clues for and each team has their own danger word.

What You Need for Word Hunter

To play Word Hunter you will need to print the cards for the season you want to play with. For this post will we be covering the Christmas game. You will then need to cut the cards and shuffle them. You will also need a pen and paper as well as a standard dice.

Setting up Word Hunter

To set up the game, place the cards in a 6 x 6 grid. Each team will choose a knower—the player who will give the clues for their team. The knowers and hunters sit on opposite sides of the table.

Next, the knowers will find their team’s danger word. To do this, one knower rolls the dice once to get the column their word is in. Then he will roll the dice again to get the row that his team’s word is in. He then writes the danger word on the top of the paper at the top with a box around it.

Next, the second knower rolls the dice to find out where her danger word is. She will also write her word at the top of the paper.

Now the teams will roll the dice once more to decide which team goes first.

How to Play Word Hunter

The first knower gives their team one word that describes one word on the board. He will write the word he wants hunted on the paper so there is no danger of cheating. Both knowers use the same paper that they can both see. The paper is hidden from all other players.

When the team thinks that they know what the word is, someone places their finger on the word. If they guess wrong, their turn is over.  If they are correct, they get to gather the word up and put it in their win pile. It is now the second team’s turn.

The second team’s knower also has one word to describe a word on the board. His team guesses and wither collects the word or guesses incorrectly.

On the second turn, the knowers can describe up to two words on the board, but they still only have one word to describe both words. For example she could say “Shop for two” if she’s trying to get her team to guess money and tag. The knower does not have to say “for two” if she only wants her team to hunt one word.

Similarly, the team can choose to only guess one word if they are unsure about what they second word could be. Teams must guess at least one word.

Again, if the team guesses correctly, they collect both words to their win pile. However, if they guess either word wrong, they collect neither word. The knower is not allowed to share what word was wrong.

On the third turn and everyone one after, the knowers can have their teams hunt up to three words. They still only have one word to describe all three. They do not need to use all three.

The teams can also choose to only guess one word even if the knower has said “for three”. Again, if they get any of the words they guessed wrong, they pick up no words. So if they have guessed three words and two are correct but one if wrong, they pick up no words for that turn.

Danger Words

If a team guesses their own danger word, they lose.

On the other hand, if a team guesses the other team’s danger word, the second team has an opportunity to skunk them. The second team’s knower has one word to describe the first team’s danger word. If the team guesses correctly, they win and skunk the other team. If they guess incorrectly, no one wins.

Winning Word Hunter

The first team to collect 15 words is the winner.

Hunting for Fun

Word Hunter will make you laugh, it might make you cry and will certainly make you want to play again and again. If you love a challenge, a good puzzle or just having a fantastic game night, then get your copy of Word Hunter. You can get the value pack with all the cards to play all year long too.

Christmas Word Hunter, Winter Word Hunter, Spring Word Hunter, Summer Word Hunter, Fall Word Hunter, Word Hunter Big Bundle

Be sure to visit our Family Game Shelf shop for even more friends. To read more about our original games, check the list here.