A Question of Scruples Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Objective

The objective of A Question of Scruples is to anticipate how the other players will react to specific dilemmas in order to get rid of all of your dilemma cards before the other players.

Set Up

Choose a player to be the dealer. They will shuffle one of the decks of dilemma cards.
The dealer deals five cards face down to each player. If there are six or seven players the game recommends four cards. For eight players it is recommended that each player gets three cards. The rest of the cards are placed facedown to create the draw pile.
The dealer then shuffles all of the reply cards (the cards that say yes, nor or depends). Each player is dealt one reply card. Players can look at their own reply card, but they shouldn’t show them to the other players.
Each player takes one ballot card (halo/pitchfork). You will set this card aside until there is a vote.
The player to the left of the dealer starts the game. Play passes left/clockwise throughout the game.

How to Play A Question of Scruples

The current player becomes the “Asking” player for the round.

The Asking player looks through the dilemma cards from their hand. They will have to choose one of the cards from their hand to play this round.

When choosing a dilemma card, you should keep your reply card in mind. Your goal is to get a player to give the response shown on your reply card. Think about how you think each player will respond to the dilemma. You want to pick a question and player that is most likely to give a response that matches your reply card.

The Asking player chooses which card they want to play, and which of the other players they will ask it to. The player they choose to answer is referred to as the “Answering” player.

If you choose to use a “Invent a Question of Scruples” card, you will make up the dilemma that you want to ask the other player.

The Answering Player Analyzes the Dilemma

Once they have chosen a card and a player, the Asking player reads the dilemma out loud to the player that they chose. When you read out the question you can make some slight embellishments in order to try and get the response you want. You cannot significantly change the question though.

The Answering player thinks about the question and how they would respond. The Answering player can choose to either tell the truth, or they can give a different answer. Your goal as the Answering player is to not match the Asking player’s reply card. Especially if you are making up the answer, you should come up with explanation for your answer in case a player challenges it.

The Answering player can use one of three different responses.

Yes. Don’t give an explanation.
No. Don’t give an explanation.
Depends. You should give an explanation of when you would answer yes and when you would answer no.

When they have their answer, they will say it out loud.

Checking for a Match

Once the Answering player gives their answer, the Asking player reveals their reply card. They will then take an action based on if the card matches the answer given by the Answering player.

If the reply card matches the answer, the Asking player discards the dilemma card they used this round from their hand. You will discard it next to the draw pile.

If the reply card does not match the answer, the Asking player discards the dilemma card they used this round. They will then draw a new dilemma card and add it to their hand.

Whether the reply card matched or not, the Asking player discards their reply card and draws a new one. They can look at the card, but they shouldn’t show it to the other players.

Challenging the Answer

At this point the players can decide to challenge the Answering player if they think they weren’t giving a truthful response to the dilemma. The Asking player has the first opportunity to challenge. If they don’t want to challenge, any of the other players can choose to challenge. Only one player may challenge each round. Whichever player challenges is referred to as the Challenger. To start a challenge you will say “I Challenge”.

To begin the challenge the Challenger tries to convince the other players why they think the Answering player is not telling the truth.

The Answering player then has the same amount of time to try and convince the other players that they were telling the truth.

The Challenger gets a quick final plea. All of the players then discuss the arguments of the Answering player and the Challenger. After the discussion, all of the players will vote. The Answering player and Challenger get to vote along with the rest of the players.

Voting

All of the players take their ballot card (halo/pitchfork) and choose which side they want to play. If you think the Answering player was being truthful, you will play the halo side. If you think the Answering player is not telling the truth, you will play the pitchfork side.

Once everyone is done picking which side of the card they are going to play, all of the players reveal their cards at the same time. Count up how many votes are for each side. Whichever side gets more votes wins the challenge. If there is a tie, neither side wins the challenge.

Should there be more pitchfork cards, the Challenger chooses one of the dilemma cards from their hand and gives it to the Answering player.

Players vote that the player was not honest — A majority of the players voted that the Answering player wasn’t being truthful. The Challenger chooses one of the dilemma cards from their hand to give to the Answering player.

If there are more halo cards, the Answering player chooses one of the dilemma cards from their hand and gives it to the Challenger.

Players vote that the player was truthful — A majority of the players played the halo side of their card. Therefore the players decided that the Answering player was truthful. The Answering player chooses one of the dilemma cards from their hand and gives it to the Challenger.

Winning A Question of Scruples

The first player to get rid of all of their dilemma cards wins the game.

You can only get rid of your last card when your reply card matches the Answering player. You cannot get rid of your last card by winning a challenge.

A Question of Scruples 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

1986 Version

252 Dilemma Cards
36 Reply Cards
12 Ballot Cards

Year: 1984 | Publisher: Endless Games, Maruca, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers | Designer: Henry Makow

Genres: Bluffing, Party

Ages: 18+ | Number of Players: 3+ | Length of Game: 60 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.