The Number

The Number

Smarter than you think, easier than you expect!

2-5 Players  |  15-20 Mins  |  Ages 8+

Features: Paper-and-Pencil, Numbers

Description: 

This little Japanese game doesn’t fit into any single category. You don’t realize how rich The Number is while playing.

The Number is an expert mix of mechanics: Bluffing, Risk-taking, but also Guessing (a mechanic that involves anticipating your opponent’s next moves and adapting your strategy accordingly). It takes 5 minutes to learn, but you won’t have it all figured out yet!

In each of the five rounds of The Number, which was first released as Suzie-Q (スージィ・Q), players choose and write a three-digit number on their secret sheet, hoping to score points based on the numbers that other players have written.

At the start of each round, you write a three-digit number using the digits 0-9, repeating numbers as you wish, but not using any number that you've Xed in a previous round. Everyone reveals their number at the same time, then you arrange them in order from high to low.

Starting with the highest number, you check to see whether any of the digits in that three-digit number appear in any three-digit number of lower value. If they do, then that player takes back their board and scores nothing; if not, then the player scores points equal to the first digit in that number and places an X through each digit used in their three-digit number. For example, if the highest number were 882, and no one else had included an 8 or a 2 in their number, then the player would score 8 points and X out the 2 and 8 on their board. This player also circles the bonus number for that round, a bonus given only to the player with the highest number who successfully scored points.

You then look at the next highest number, and so on, with the lowest number automatically scoring points equal to its first digit and Xing all of its digits. In the fifth round, players double their score.

After five rounds, players sum the points they earned over the five rounds. To this sum, they add the quantity of digits that they Xed out. Whoever has the highest score wins!

Suzie-Q includes a variant in which numbers are evaluated starting with the smallest number. Whoever has the smallest number automatically scores, then for the player with the next lowest number, they score only if one or more of the digits in their number is used by the player with the smallest number, etc.