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The Chameleon (2017) Board Game: Rules for How to Play

The Chameleon (2017) Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Looking for a specific The Chameleon rule?  |  Set Up  |  Playing the Game  |  Catching the Chameleon  |  Winning the Game  |  Variant Rules  |  FAQ  |  Components  |

Objective

The objective of the game is to catch the Chameleon player without revealing the secret word or escape suspicion depending on your role.

Set Up

  • Find the blue Chameleon card as well as a number of blue Code Cards that match the number of players minus one. For example if there are five players you will need the blue Chameleon card and four blue Code Cards.
  • Shuffle all of the cards and deal one face down to each player.
  • Each player should look at their card, but don’t let the other players see it. One of the players has the Chameleon card. That player becomes the Chameleon for the round.
Chameleon card
This player was dealt the Chameleon card. They will have to try to blend in while not knowing what the Secret Word is.

How to Play The Chameleon

To begin each round the dealer turns over a Topic Card so everyone can see it. They will then roll the yellow and blue dice. All of the players will use the numbers rolled on the two dice to reference their card. On their card the two numbers should reference a code.

Finding the secret code on your Code card
This round the players rolled a four on the green/yellow die and a seven on the blue die. They will look for the corresponding combination on the card. This combination gets the code D4.

That code references one of the spaces on the Topic Card. The word in the spot matching the code is the Secret Word for the round. All of the players besides the Chameleon should be able to see what the Secret Word is. None of the players should say what the Secret Word is or say anything that could lead the Chameleon to figuring out what it is. To keep their identity secret, the Chameleon player should pretend to figure out the Secret Word.

Finding the Secret Word
Based on the previous picture the secret code is D4. That makes this round’s Secret Word “Avatar”.

After everyone knows what the Secret Word is, everyone should take some time to think up a word related to the Secret Word. You want to come up with something related to the word, but not so obvious. You don’t want the clue to be too obvious or the Chameleon can figure out the Secret Word. If the word is not particularly relevant though, the other players may think you don’t know what the Secret Word is and they might try to vote you out. The Chameleon player should also think of a word that they are going to say.

Once everyone is ready the dealer says the word they came up with. The player to their left/clockwise then says their word. Players shouldn’t hesitate when saying their word. If another player says the word you came up with, you can also say it, but the other players may be suspicious.

Coming up with your word for the round
For this round the non-Chameleon players have to come up with words related to Avatar that aren’t too obvious. They probably don’t want to say something like Pandora because anyone who has watched the movie likely knows that it only applies to Avatar. They need to come up with something that could also apply to a couple of the other listed movies. For example they could say “aliens”, “blue”, “sci-fi”, etc. Meanwhile the Chameleon probably wants to come up with an answer that applies to a couple different movies. Otherwise they could come up with a couple answers and pick the one that goes best with the answers said by the other players.

Catching the Chameleon

After everyone has said their word, the players can start debating who they think is the Chameleon. Players can defend themselves and/or try to raise suspicion of other players. The Chameleon player wants to try and keep their identity hidden during this debate.

Once everyone is done debating, the players will vote for who they think is the Chameleon. At the same time all of the players will point at the player that they suspect.

Whichever player receives the most votes, is voted out. If there is a tie, the dealer chooses which of the tied players is voted out. They will reveal their card to the rest of the players. If it is a Code Card, the players voted the wrong player out and the Chameleon player wins the round.

Failing to catch the Chameleon
The players voted for this player that had a Code Card in their hand. Since they failed to find the Chameleon, the Chameleon wins the game.

Should the players vote out the Chameleon player, they still have one chance to save themselves. They have one guess to try and pick out the Secret Word from the Topic Card. If the player guesses the correct word, they still win the round even though the players caught them. Should they guess any word other than the Secret Word, all of the other players win the round.

Trying to guess the Secret Word
The player successfully voted for the Chamelon. The Chameleon player gets one chance to try and use the clues given by the other players to try and guess the Secret Word.

If you want to play another round, the Chameleon from the previous round becomes the dealer for the next round. For this next round you will use the other color cards. For the second round you will use the green cards. The third round uses the blue cards and so on. The next round is played in the same way as the first round.

Winning The Chameleon

You can play the game in two different ways.

First you can play where each round is considered its own game. If the Chameleon escapes or guesses the Secret Word, they win the game. Otherwise all of the other players win the game.

Otherwise you can keep score. Scoring depends on whether the Chameleon was caught and if they guess the Secret Word.

  • If they escape without being voted out, they score two points. The rest of the players score zero points.
  • Should the Chameleon be caught but they guess the Secret Word, they score one point. The rest of the players score zero points.
  • If the Chameleon is caught or they don’t guess the Secret Word, they score zero points. The rest of the players score two points.

The first player to score five points wins the game.

Variant Rules

Custom Topic Card

The game includes a large blank dry erase Topic Card. The players could choose to use this card and write down their own topics.

Three Players

If there are only three players, the Chameleon player is at a disadvantage. Therefore they should get to take two guesses at the Secret Word. If either are correct, they win the round.

Seven or Eight Players

In seven and eight player games, the Chameleon has an advantage. Therefore once everyone has said their word, the dealer turns over the Topic Card so the Chameleon can’t look at it to try and figure out the Secret Word.

The Chameleon FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components for The Chameleon

Components

  • 8 Blue Code and Chameleon Cards
  • 8 Green Code and Chameleon Cards
  • 40 Topic Cards
  • Six Sided Die
  • 8 Sided Die
  • Marker
  • Custom Topic Card
  • Sticker (not used in gameplay)
  • Instructions

Year: 2017 | Publisher: Big Potato Games | Designer: Rikki Tahta | Artist: Ben Drummond, Luis Francisco, Zoe Lee, Rikki Tahta

Genres: Bluffing, Deduction, Party, Word

Ages: 14+ | Number of Players: 3-8 | Length of Game: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate


For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.