13 Words

About this board game

13 Words is a cooperative idea-association party game for 2–8 players that takes about 20 minutes to play. Work together to identify the most obvious connection between a central word and one of twelve words around the game board.

To begin, place twelve double-sided word cards around the perimeter of the board and one word card in the center. Each round, the Captain chooses the outer word they believe links most clearly to the central word, marking their choice on an answer wheel while the other players try to predict it.

• Players who guess the Captain’s choice correctly earn a star.
• The Captain earns a star if at least one player guesses correctly.
• The player to the Captain’s left becomes the Captain for the next round.

For the following round, the new Captain flips over the word card matching the previous choice and places it in the center. Everyone then considers how the new Captain will connect this revealed word to one of the remaining perimeter words.

After eleven rounds, the team counts its stars to determine its success level. The best possible result is 11 times the number of players, giving the group a clear target as it works to understand each Captain’s thinking.

With its shared objective, rotating Captain role, and simple word-association challenge, 13 Words turns familiar words into a test of communication and prediction. How closely can your team’s ideas match the Captain’s?