Summary: Story Slam is played in repeated short rounds with each player taking a turn as the Judge, who plays against the rest of the group. The Judge lays out four cards in an attempt to stump the players, who must tell a coherent story within six minutes.

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First Round: Players select a Judge. The Judge's role is to select cards, keep track of time, and give directions to the other players.

 

Another player shuffles the deck and deals six cards facedown to the Judge. The Judge picks one of their cards as the beginning card and lays it down in front of the group. The beginning card must have at least one person in the image.

 

The remaining players have two minutes to develop the beginning of the story.

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Second Round: At the end of two minutes, players have to stop talking, even if they are mid-sentence. The Judge then lays down two more cards.

 

The Judge picks one element from each card that the players have to incorporate. The Judge will want to pick cards and elements that make it hard for the players, as the Judge wins if the players can’t conclude the story.

 

Players have up to two minutes.

 

Third Round: The Judge puts down a fourth card. The story must end with the scene in that final card. Players have two minutes.

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Fourth Round: This is the Judging round. If the players were able to tell a complete, coherent story ending with the final card, then the players win. If the players fail to do this, then the Judge wins.

 

The Judge can try to make an argument that the story was not logical or concluded sufficiently. However, the majority of the group must agree with the Judge. Players may decide to side with the Judge if they think the Judge is correct, and if they want the player who is the Judge this round to potentially vote in their favor when they are the Judge in a later round.

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Adjusting play for the number of players

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If you playing with 3-4 players, all non-judge players will play each round.

 

If you are playing with 5-6 players, one will be the judge, one or two will talk during Round One, two will talk during Round Two, and one will talk during Round Three.

 

If you have 7-8 players, two will talk during Round One, two or three will talk during Round Two, and two will talk during Round Three.

 

Decide who is playing which round before starting the game.

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Repeated play 

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We recommend replaying this game until everyone has been the Judge, but players can decide to end at any time.