How to Play The Color Monster

Game Objective

In The Color Monster, players must work together to help the Color Monster, who woke up confused about his feelings, to separate and organize his emotions in the right places. To do this, participants need to move around the board, collect all the emotion tokens, and store them in the corresponding jars. The game is cooperative, and players win if they manage to organize all five emotion tokens in the jars before THREE multicolored jars become visible on the shelves.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Unfold the game board and place it on the table.
2. Place the emotion tokens on the corresponding color spaces on the board, with the illustrations facing up.
3. Place the Color Monster and the Girl on the pink starting space.
4. Shuffle the jars and place 4 on each shelf with the opening (the hole) facing forward, so that the illustration on the back cannot be seen.
5. Place the shelves and the die near the game board.
6. The youngest player rolls the die and starts the game.

Game Flow

The game progresses in turns. During their turn, the player rolls the die and performs the action corresponding to the result:

• 1 or 2 – The player moves the Color Monster by the number of spaces shown on the die, in any direction they wish.
• SPIRAL – The player moves the Color Monster to any space on the board.
• GIRL – The player moves the Girl to the same space as the Color Monster.

After choosing and flipping a jar to see if it is compatible, the player's turn ends, and the player to their left begins their turn by rolling the die.

Actions and How to Play

Movement and Explanation of Emotions

When the Color Monster finishes its movement on a space where an emotion token exists, the player who moved it must tell the other participants something that makes them feel the emotion corresponding to the color of that space. It can be an event, a memory, an object, or a moment.

If the Color Monster stops on a space where there is no emotion token (or if it stops on the pink love space, which has no corresponding token), the player still has to explain to the others what makes them feel the respective emotion of that space and then rolls the die again to move the Color Monster or the Girl around the board.

Interaction with the Jars

After the player explains what causes the feeling, they choose one of the jars on the shelf and flip it:

• If the jar shows the same color as the token, they can put the token inside the jar and return it to the shelf so that everyone can see the emotion contained within.
• If the jar is not suitable for containing the emotion because it has a different color, the player will have to return the token to the board and the jar to the shelf, in its original position (with the opening facing forward).
• If the jar has a mix of colors (a multicolored jar), the player must choose two empty jars to swap positions and then return the multicolored jar to the shelf with the colored side visible, so that everyone can see them. If three jars show a mix of colors at the same time, the Color Monster will go to bed still confused and will have to start all over again.

The other players can help the current player by telling them which is the correct jar for the emotion, if they know where it is. However, the player whose turn it is always has the final say on which jar to take from the shelf.

Eliminating Multicolored Jars

After rolling the die, each time the Color Monster stops on the same space as the Girl or vice versa, the player can flip one of the jars that is showing the mix of colors so that it becomes hidden again. If there is no multicolored jar in sight, the player rolls the die and moves again.

End of Game and Scoring

Players win when they manage to help the Color Monster organize all five emotion tokens in the corresponding jars.

Players lose if THREE multicolored jars become visible on the shelves. In this case, the Color Monster will go to bed still confused and they will have to start all over again.

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• Other players can help the current player by telling them which is the correct jar for the emotion, if they know where it is. Communication and collective memory are important.
• The Girl is crucial for managing the multicolored jars. Try to move the Color Monster to the same space as the Girl to have the opportunity to flip a multicolored jar and avoid the losing condition.