Playing the game is simple.
Overview
The game is simple. Each round, you taste a wine, and race to guess what's in it. Whether you are a wine connoisseur or wine-newbie, this game is sure to bring fun to any night-in with friends.
Objective
The objective is simple: score the most points by the end of the game by making the most correct guesses (and have fun while doing it)!
Components
The components of the game are as easy as the game itself. You will find 3 of each card. Each card is a potential “characteristic” of wine. These characteristics are the “notes” you taste when diving into your favorite bottle. For example, a card could say “oak”, “strawberry”, or “bell pepper”.
Setup
To get started, you will need a flat surface to play on. A table, an ottoman, or those textbooks from college that you just can’t seem to get rid of will do! On the flat surface, you will lay out all of the cards facing up, so everyone can see them. Same cards (multiples of one word) should be grouped together, on top of each other.
Look at the diagram below for an example of how your game board may look:
Gameplay
‘Wine Night: The Game’ is most certainly a game. But, most importantly, it is an event where you and your friends can get together to drink delicious wine, eat amazing food, and score some points along the way.
Wine Night is an opportunity to host and be hosted in a fun setting!
To play, each player will take turns presenting their wine to the other players, each of these turns is one round.
After the presentation, the players will taste the presented wine, and race to guess what's in it by racing to select 3 cards from the pile. Each card, as you may recall, represents a characteristic.
There will be a scorekeeper assigned to keep track of points throughout the game; usually this is the host.
This person will ask at the end of each round how many points each player acquired (based on the correct answer) and record it in the scorekeeping book (see the end of the instructions for more about this).
Number of Rounds
‘Wine Night: The Game’ is broken up into multiple rounds, dictated by the number of players.
The host of the game invites their friends over, typically 6-8 people, and those guests are the players.
Each friend brings a bottle of wine and a dish that it pairs nicely with. The number of friends, and subsequently number of wines, translates into the number of rounds. Meaning, if you have 5 guests, there’s 5 rounds. If you have 8 guests, there’s 8 rounds, and so on.
How to Start
To begin, the order of the players must be decided. This is typically defined by the type of wine and food pairing each guest has brought with them for the evening.
We recommend starting with appetizers and working your way through to the heartier dishes, or consider switching off from red to white wine to keep your palate on its toes.
The host will ultimately make the call for the order in which people present.
When the order has been decided, it’s time to play! The first presenter will bring out their wine and food pairing. Once the wine is presented, served, and tasted, the players are to select 3 cards from the board.
Taste and think fast, because the correct cards are first come, first served.
Each selection represents the player's best guess of what they think are the TOP characteristics of the wine. It is important to note that there are many characteristics of wine, but the correct ones will be the most prevalent, top three characteristics. After all players have made their card selections, the presenter will reveal the 3 correct answers. Every correct answer equals one point. Scorekeeper, don’t forget to jot these down!
After this, the next round begins and operates the same way.
The Presenter & Presenting
As mentioned above, the participation of the friends (or guests) is a heavy component in Wine Night. Everyone, not just the host, plays a huge part in making the game, and the evening, amazing.
Each guest is responsible for BRINGING a wine and knowing the top characteristics within that wine.
The characteristics serve as the correct answers during their presentation round. The guest will be responsible for confirming if the characteristic guesses are correct or not.
And, if we recall, correct characteristic guesses = points & points = winning.
The guests can bring whatever wine they would like, as long as they know the top characteristics. They can use their eye for design to pick one out with a beautiful label, or find a wine whose flavors are intentionally confusing.
The Presenter will present their wine, pour it for the guests, and tell a little something about the wine and why they’ve selected it. However, the Presenter will NOT participate during their presentation round (that would be too easy!).
The Cards & Characteristics
Each card represents a single characteristic that could be found in wine.
There are fewer correct cards than there are people. There are only 3 cards for each wine characteristic, so players will have to race to get the correct answer by reaching into the pile and grabbing the card they think is right. Then, they will keep it in their possession for that round until the points are tallied. After the round, players will return their cards to the pile and set up for the next round of wine tasting.
The Scorekeeping Book
This book is all-knowing. Here, the scorekeeper will write down each person’s points as the rounds go on. At the end, they will add up the points and declare a winner!
Tips and Tricks:
- When picking out a wine to bring, take note of the reason you chose it.
- Research the top characteristics of your wine BEFORE attending the hosts game night. Maybe take a second to jot these down so you remember them.
- You can find the characteristics of the wine by searching for them on the internet, asking the attendant at the store you purchased your wine from, or hunting down a sommelier for answers.
- Do not get discouraged if you don’t know anything about wine, this game was created for you to have fun and learn more about wine.
- Make sure to cleanse your palate before tasting the next wine.