ZPOONS!

Zoot Deck

Each ZOOT deck contains 118 letter cards and 4 wild cards

Letter Frequency

Each letter appears a certain number of times :
A-10 B-2 C-2 D-4 E-14 F-2 G-5 H-3 I-9 J-2 K-2 L-4 M-3 N-6 O-9 P-3 Q-2 R-7 S-5 T-6 U-4 V-2 W-3 X-3 Y-3 Z-3

Point Value

Every card has a point value :
VOWELS - 1 CONSONANTS - 3 VWXY - 10 JQZ - 20 WILD - 0

OBJECT

Players take turns trying to create a word with a previously agreed number of letters - this works best with four, five, six or seven letter words. Depends how quickly you want the game to go. Once someone does, everyone tries to grab a spoon. Without a spoon, you get a letter. If a player spells “S-P-O-O-N”, they’re out! The last player standing wins!

Choose a Dealer

Place the deck face down in the middle of the table. Each player cuts the deck. The player who turns up a card closest to A becomes the first dealer. All cards are then returned to the deck.

Shuffle the Deck

Include one or more wild cards if desired. Each player is dealt the agreed number of cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in a pile next to the dealer.

The Deal

Arrange the spoons in a small circle in the center of the table and deal four cards to each player.

The Play

Each player tries to make a word. The dealer takes a card off the top of the deck to have one additional card in their hand, removes one and passes it face down to the left. Each player discards to the person on their left.

The last player places their discard into a trash pile. Cards are picked up and passed quickly around the table until someone gets a word, and takes a spoon from the center. Once the player with a word takes a spoon, anyone can take a spoon. The player left without a spoon gets a letter. If at any time the draw cards run out, pause to reshuffle the trash pile and keep going.

Keeping Score

The winner is the last player remaining. Players move closer to elimination each time they don’t get a spoon and take the next letter in the word S-P-O-O-N. Spell it and you’re out. Using chips or coins or any other small thing you have lots of to keep track of how close players are to S-P-O-O-N can be helpful.