Lapsus

About this board game

Lapsus is a cooperative word card game for 2–8 players, designed to play in about 20 minutes. Each round, one player becomes the interpreter while everyone else receives a secret theme card and eight syllable cards.

Using only the syllables available to them, players must form a word connected to their secret theme. They have one minute to create their word, making quick decisions about how best to express the hidden concept through the cards in hand.

When time runs out, all the theme cards used in the round are shuffled. The interpreter then reveals the theme cards one at a time and assigns each one to a player based on the concepts they formed. Each card must be assigned to one single player, turning the round into a test of association, communication, and interpretation.

• Receive a secret theme and eight syllable cards.
• Form a related word within one minute.
• Let the interpreter match shuffled themes to players.
• Score according to how many assignments are correct.

After the interpreter has finished, players check the assignments and score the number of theme cards matched to the right players. For the next round, the player seated to the interpreter’s right becomes the new interpreter, giving everyone the opportunity to take on the role.

Lapsus combines word-building with imperfect information: players know their own theme, but the interpreter must reconstruct the connections from the words created by the group. The game also includes a competitive variant, offering another way to approach its central challenge of forming and recognizing themed words.