Party games
Time's Up
Repos ProductionPeter Sarrett1999
- players
- 4–12
- minutes
- 45
- years
- 12+
In the box
Time's Up! game + sand timer
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Peter Sarrett
- Artwork
- Jennifer Vargas, John Vetter
- Publisher
- Repos Production
- Mechanics
- ActingCommunication LimitsMemoryTeam-Based
- Expansions
- Time's Up! Game Geek Expansion · 2009
- Time's Up!: de Troy · 2011
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
Affiliate link: Marquoir may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
The basics
Each team must get as many cards guessed as possible, over three rounds played with the same forty cards. On your turn, you have thirty seconds to get your team guessing: talk freely in the first round, say just one word in the second, mime in the third. Each card guessed scores 1 point, and the team that guessed the most over the three rounds wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
40 cards, Teams of 2 or more, 30-second sand timer
- Teams of at least two players; they need not be the same size, but they take turns one after the other.
- Choose which side of the cards to use (yellow or blue) and deal forty cards among the players. Everyone reads theirs in secret and may swap a card they dislike for a fresh one.
- All the cards then form a single shuffled deck. Pick the team that starts.
- A thirty-second sand timer.
How to play
Round 1: talk, Round 2: 1 word only, Round 3: mime
- On your turn, you have one run of the timer to get your team to guess as many cards as possible. Team members take turns giving clues.
- Round 1: talk freely, and your team may make as many guesses as it likes. Not allowed: passing a card, saying a word from the same family, a word that sounds the same, a translation, or spelling it out.
- Round 2: one word per card, and only one guess from the team. Here you may pass a card.
- Round 3: mime, without speaking; humming and sound effects are allowed. Gestures and sound effects are reserved for this round.
- Card guessed: lay it face up and go on to the next. When the timer runs out, the deck passes to the next team, which carries on with the current card.
- Foul (breaking a restriction): the card goes to the bottom of the deck and the turn goes on.
- In rounds 2 and 3, a missed or passed card is set aside until the end of the turn; when the timer runs out, it goes back into the deck, which is reshuffled for the next team.
- A round lasts until every card has been guessed. Then take the same forty cards, shuffle them, and the next team opens the following round.
Scoring
1 point per card
- A card guessed earns the team 1 point.
- Enter the team's total at the end of each round.
End of the game
3 rounds, Most cards guessed
- The game ends after the third round.
- The team that guessed the most cards over the three rounds wins.
House rules and pitfalls
The whole fun comes from the deck being the same in all three rounds…
- The whole fun comes from the deck being the same in all three rounds: what you heard in round 1 helps in round 3.
- When a team has more than two players, only the first guess counts in rounds 2 and 3.
- Expert variant for five or seven players: no teams. Each player gives clues to their left-hand neighbour, and scores the cards found with both neighbours.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
What is the idea?
Get famous people guessed, over three successive rounds with the same cards: more and more restricted, and funnier and funnier.
What are the three rounds?
Round 1: talk freely, without passing a card. Round 2: only one word allowed, and you may pass. Round 3: mime, without speaking, but humming and sound effects are allowed. The cards are the same, so memory helps.
Why play the same cards three times?
Because you memorised them in the first round: when miming, a single gesture is enough to bring back a name already guessed. The progression is what makes it.
How long is a turn?
A thirty-second sand timer: guess as many cards as possible, then pass the deck to the next team, which carries on with the current card.
How do you win?
Count the cards each team guessed in each round, and add up the three rounds. The team with the highest total wins.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.