Where Are They? Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Objective

The objective of Where Are They? Board Game is to quickly find the hidden objects before the other players in order to reach the finish space.

Set Up

Each Seek Sheet matches one of the Scene Cards. You can find the matching cards by looking at the color strips at the bottom of the cards. Match up the Seek Sheets with the Scene Cards and place both in separate stacks so both are in the same order in their corresponding stacks.

Matching up cards — The Seek Sheet on the left side has the same color bar at the bottom as the Scene Card on the right. These two cards match and should be placed in the same position in their corresponding piles.

Keep the gameboard inside the bottom half of the box. Place the Seek Sheets to the left of the house on the gameboard.
Place the View Finder on top of the stack of Seek Sheets. Insert the tabs on the View Finder between the board and the bottom half of the box.
The gameboard should be placed so everyone can see it face up.
Place the stack of Scene Cards above the gameboard. Cover the cards with the top half of the box.
Each player chooses a playing piece and places it on the start space on the gameboard.
Place the spinner where everyone can reach it.
The youngest player starts the game.

How to Play Where Are They? Board Game

The youngest player starts the game by spinning the spinner. The character they spin on the spinner indicates which tab they will open up on the View Finder. Find the corresponding character on the pink stripe of the View Finder and pull up on the tab so the picture underneath is visible. This picture shows what you are going to try to find in the larger scene.

Looking for a turtle in the scene — Looking under the Freddie tab, you can see a turtle. The players will try to find this turtle on the Scene Card.

Finding the Object

After everyone has looked at what they are trying to find, the oldest player lifts the box top off the scene cards. All of the players will then scan the scene to try and find the picture revealed underneath the View Finder. When a player finds the object they will alert the other players by pointing at the picture in the scene. The first player to find the picture moves their playing piece forward one space on the gameboard. The oldest player then puts the box top on top of the Scene Cards.

Finding the turtle in the scene — The players are looking for this turtle in the scene. The first player to find it points at it to score one point.

Should two players find the pictured object at the same time, whichever player is further back on the gameboard gets to move forward one space and spin the spinner. If the two players are tied, both players move forward one space.

The player that found the last picture gets to spin the spinner next. Based on the character they spin, the players will lift up the tab in the purple stripe that matches what was spun. The players then need to try find the corresponding picture in the same way as the previous turn. The player that finds the picture first gets to move their playing piece one space. Play then continues to the yellow stripe followed by the green stripe.

Spinning ?

Should you spin the Where Are They? Board Game Bonus Symbol (?), the player that spins it chooses one of the characters from the current stripe. You will lift up the tab and look for the corresponding object. The first player to find the object gets to move their playing piece forward two spaces.

Changing the Scene

Once you finish finding the object under the green stripe, you have completed the current scene. The oldest player lifts up the View Finder and removes the top Seek Sheet. They will then place the View Finder back on top of the remaining Seek Sheets. The Seek Sheet you took out should be placed in a discard pile where you can see the side that you just played.

Next you will take the Top Scene card and place it into its own discard pile. You should place it so the side you just played is face up.

You will then continue playing the game in the same manner. The player currently in lasts spins the spinner and the players try to find the object under the corresponding character under the pink stripe. If there is a tie for last place, the youngest player tied for last spins the spinner. When you are finished with the green stripe again, you will swap to the next scene.

This continues until you have played all six scenes. The oldest player then flips over the pile of Scene Cards and Seek Sheets and returns them to the corresponding spaces. The players will now continue playing with the new scenes.

Winning the Game

Players will keep playing trying to find objects until one of the players reach the finish space. The first player to reach the finish space wins the game.

Winning Where Are They? Game — The yellow player has reached the finish space. They have won the game.

Where Are They? Board Game 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

12 Scene Cards
12 Seek Sheets
Game Board
View Finder
4 Playing Pieces
Spinner
Instructions

Year: 1991 | Publisher: University Games

Genres: Children’s, Speed

Ages: 3-8 | Number of Players: 1-4 | Length of Game: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | 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.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.