Looking for a specific Rubberneckers rule?: | Set Up | Playing the Game | Cards | Winning the Game | Variant Games | FAQ | Components |
Objective
The objective of Rubberneckers is to be the first player to score 100 points by spotting things while riding in a car.
Set Up
- Determine who is playing the game. It is recommended that the driver does not play.
- Choose a player to be the dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards and deals five to each player.
- Place the rest of the cards in a location where everyone can reach them.
How to Play Rubberneckers
All of the players will look at their cards. Each card lists a specific thing on it which you can find while traveling. There are no turns in the game. You will constantly be on the lookout for the items listed on your cards.
Whenever you spot something that is pictured on one of your cards, you will point it out to the other players. You will then place the corresponding card in your scoring pile. Each card is worth a specific amount of points. Each players is responsible for keeping track of their own score.
After you place a card in your scoring pile, you will take a new card from the draw deck and add it to your hand. There are a couple unique cards in the deck that are handled a little differently. See the corresponding Cards of Rubberneckers section below.
Once during each game you may decide to trade in cards from your hand in order to get new cards. You may trade in as many of your cards as you want. You may only do this once during the game though.
Cards of Rubberneckers
Wild Cards
Whenever a player draws a Wild card, they will immediately draw another card.
They will then look at all of the cards in the other players’ hands. They can choose any one card from another player’s hand and add it to their own hand. The player will then choose one card from their hand to give to the player that they took the card from.
You can then set the Wild Card aside as it scores no points in the game.
Share the Road Cards
Share the Road cards are unique because they don’t require you to spot something. Instead they require you to make a specific gesture towards other cars on the road. You are trying to get a person in another car to mimic the gesture you make or acknowledge it in some way. This could include smiling, waving, or gesturing in some way.
If you get a person in another card to acknowledge your gesture, you can place the card in your score pile.
Car Pool Cards
When you draw a Car Pool card, you must alert the rest of the players. This card is unique since all of the players will compete to be the first player to spot the item from the card.
The first player to spot the corresponding item points it out and adds the Car Pool card to their score pile.
No matter who scores the card, the player that drew the Car Pool card will draw a new card to replace it in their hand.
Super Rubberneckers Cards
These cards are unique because you can score them multiple times. There are multiple items listed on the card. To complete the card you only need to spot one of the items printed on the card.
Once you spot one of the items, you can either choose to score the card or keep looking for more of the items from the card. You will score ten points for each item you spot from the card. You cannot score the same type of object multiple times.
Should another player use a Wild card to take a Super Rubberneckers card, the can only score points for items not already scored by the previous owner(s).
Winning the Game
The first player to score 100 points wins Rubberneckers.
If you want a longer game you can keep playing to see who gets second, third, etc. Otherwise you could decide to play to a different amount of points.
Variant Games
There are a couple of variant rules you can add in to change up the gameplay.
Super-Competitive Rubberneckers
In this mode players can never trade in cards to get new cards. You have to score a card in order to be able to draw a new card.
If a Wild card is drawn, you can either take a card from another player, or draw another card from the deck.
Whenever a player has a Super Rubberneckers card, all of the players can score points from it.
Team Game
If you would like to play in teams, the rules basically stay the same. All of the players on a team combine the points they score though.
Rubberneckers FAQ
If you have any questions about how to play Rubberneckers, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Components
- 67 cards
- Instructions
Year: 1999 | Publisher: Chronicle Books | Designer: Mark Lore, Matthew Lore
Genres: Children’s, Family
Ages: 5+ | Number of Players: 2+ | Length of Game: 90 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.