The quick version
Deal six word cards each. One customer draws and announces a customer identity. Everyone else selects two words for a product and pitches it in about 30 seconds. The customer awards their card to one seller. Discard used words, refill to six and move the customer role clockwise. After everyone has been the customer once, most customer cards wins.
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Give inventions a clear audience
Separate and shuffle customer and word decks after removing unsuitable content. Use the original clean base-game pool, not adult expansions, and screen your copy before play. Deal six word cards each. Choose the first customer, who draws a customer card and selects one printed identity as the audience for this round.
The customer briefly describes an ordinary need consistent with that identity. For an original example, a gardener might want to keep track of tools. This is an optional house teaching aid; it must be announced before sellers select cards and cannot change after pitches start.
Make two words sound indispensable
Each seller chooses exactly two cards from their hand and combines them into a product name. Decide what the invented product does and how it helps this customer. Do not borrow cards from another player or add a third product word.
Hear sellers in clockwise order from the customer’s left, using about 30 seconds per pitch. This fixed order is the guide’s house convention. Put the two chosen cards face up while speaking. Other sellers listen without interrupting or changing the customer’s needs midway through the pitches.
The customer chooses one product and gives that seller the customer card as a point. No purchase or real-world claim follows. Discard the two words from every pitch and refill those hands to six. The former customer keeps their unused hand, and the next player becomes customer.
After one complete customer rotation, count customer cards. Highest count wins; tied leaders share the win in this guide. A fresh game starts with shuffled hands and a new customer rotation.
A clear use beats a complicated backstory
Ask first-time sellers to say the product name, the problem it solves and one example of using it. Keep the focus on the invention rather than mocking a customer identity. Replace any uncomfortable customer before anyone chooses product cards. If words run out, shuffle discarded word cards into a new draw pile.
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Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Snake Oil · See main rules
House suggestionThree-word invention
Choose three word cards per product instead of two and refill all three after pitching. Keep six-card hands and the same customer rotation. Extra words must all matter to the product.
Snake Oil · See main rules
House suggestionOne question from the customer
After each pitch, the customer asks one practical question about that invention. Give the seller one brief answer before hearing the next pitch. Judge only after everyone has had the same opportunity.
Snake Oil · See main rules
House suggestionSurprise second word
Choose one word from your hand, then reveal the top word of the deck as your product’s second word when your pitch starts. Discard both afterward but draw only one into your hand, restoring six.
Snake Oil · See main rules
House suggestionThirty-word pitch
Limit a pitch to 30 spoken words, including the product name. The table counts generously rather than interrupting for every mistake. No follow-up pitch is allowed before the customer chooses.
Snake Oil · See main rules
House suggestionPair of inventors
With exactly seven or nine people, choose one customer and pair the remaining players clockwise as sellers. Each pair gets a shared six-card hand and alternates sentences in its pitch. After judging, move the customer role clockwise and rebuild pairs from the next seat. Play one round per person as customer; award 1 point to each member of the winning pair. Highest individual total wins, with shared ties.
About this guide
Core six-card hands, two-word products, customer judgment and one-rotation finish follow publisher guidance. Clean selection, fixed pitch order, customer-need teaching aid, ties and all five variations are house choices.
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