Image credit to Words to Die By

Lights…Camera…Die! That’s the tagline of the new adult party game Words to Die By, created by Duane Freeman. In this card game for 3-10 players (best with 5-8), people take turns “directing” other players how to act out the final words of a dying person, as if they were starring in a movie. The more dramatic, or funny, or outlandish the performance, the better. The first player to give three award-worthy performances is the winner.

Let’s take a look at this game, which is running on Kickstarter right now and already fully funded.

How to Play Words to Die By

Dying Words

To start the game, each player draws 10 Dying Words cards. These are the phrases that players will utter to complete their death scenes. Many of the cards have famous catchphrases, such as “Hadouken!” and “Oops, I did it again.”

Death Scene

To start a round, pick one person to be the director. Each other player will be a writer/actor for the round. The director draws a Death Scene card and a Director’s Cut card.

The Death Scene card lays out the scene for the actors, giving the backstory of what’s happening, leading up to a character’s death. The director reads this card out loud, then the writer/actors will each pick a Dying Words card from their hand to give to the director face down to submit for the scene. The director then mixes up these cards so they don’t know which player submitted them. 

Once mixed up, the director can look at the Dying Words cards. It’s up to the director to determine which Dying Words cards will be given back to which players. The director might decide one phrase would be funnier said by a particular player, for instance. Alternatively, the director may choose to distribute them randomly. Each writer/actor gets one Dying Words card back to them.

Director’s Cut

Additionally, the director must decide if they want to use their Director’s Cut card. These cards add a little extra something to the scene, such as using an accent or singing the Dying Words. The director can choose to apply their Director’s Cut to one actor, all actors, or nobody.

Nominations

Once the writer/actors are given their Dying Words and optional Director’s Cut assignments, in turn order they’ll act out their Dying Words.

Once all actors have performed, the director decides which actor gave the best performance. That player gets a Golden Scythe Nomination card. Also, the player who submitted the winning Dying Words card gets a Writer’s Award Nomination card.

Then move onto the next round, with the next player in turn order taking over as the director. Each player should draw back up to 10 Dying Words cards in hand, and the new director draws a Death Scene and a Director’s Cut.

How Do You Win Words to Die By?

As soon as a player receives their third Golden Scythe Nomination card, that player is declared the winner.

But the game doesn’t end there! The winner has one last task: their award acceptance speech. This is where the Writer’s Award Nominations come into play. The player with the most of these gives three Dying Words cards from their hand face down to the Golden Scythe winner. They’re not allowed to look at them yet.

Then the Golden Scythe winner gives their acceptance speech, as if they were up on a stage accepting an illustrious award. At three different points in the speech, which is completely improvised by the speaker, they’ll reveal one of the three Dying Words cards and add the phrase on the card to their speech.

This speech has no bearing on any competitive aspect of the game; it’s simply there to add to the fun and hilarity.

Is Words to Die By Fun to Play?

It’s important to note that this game is absolutely not for everyone. Each person in your group should be up to the task of acting out their Dying Words, and potentially making a fool of themselves. If even one person isn’t up for it, it’ll probably kill the vibe for everyone else. If acting silly isn’t your thing, this game is not for you.

Also, the game is not intended for kids; there’s a lot of swearing, and some of the Death Scenes and Dying Words get gruesome, violent, or sexual.

All that said, if all players are down to act a fool, and not offended or disturbed by talking about death, then you’re likely to have a fantastic time playing Words to Die By. I played two rounds with my group of friends, and we all had a blast.

Going into it, I was worried that the acceptance speeches would be a throwaway, or uninteresting to the game, since they don’t change any outcomes. But I was proven wrong both times, as the randomness of the Dying Words included in acceptance speeches was hilarious every time.

While the concept of Words to Die By is great, some of the rules and mechanisms could use a bit of polish. For instance, we struggled to use the Director’s Cut cards. Frequently, these cards didn’t fit with the Death Scene, or even directly contradicted it, so often they ended up not getting used. We would’ve preferred to use them more often, because when we did use them, they added a fun bit of extra silliness. 

The Card Gamer Verdict

Interested in other standalone party games? Check out our reviews of Flip 7 and Gloom.