Socken Zocken

Lucky Sock Dip (socken zocken)

A monstrously quick searching game for 2 to 6 players ages 4 - 99.
Author: Michael Schacht
Illustrations: Martina Leykamm
Length of the game: approx. 10 minutes

There is bedlam in the cupboard. The big sock monster has muddled it all up!
Only the one who has a close look and is quick can find many pairs.

Contents
1 sock monster
48 socks (24 pairs)
13 clothes-pegs
1 set of game instructions

Aim of the game
Who will be able to collect lots of pairs thus being the first to receive three clothes-pegs as the reward?

Preparation

Get the sock monster ready.
Put all the socks into the box, close it and shake it well. Thus the socks are mixed. Then pour the socks into the middle of the playing surface. The clothes-pegs remain in the box.

How to play

Whoever is today wearing two matching socks may start.

Various players are wearing matching socks? Then it’s the player with the biggest feet who starts by giving the starting signal “Lucky Sock Dip”.
All players start at the same time to rummage in the heap of socks. Everybody tries to find as many matching pairs as possible and puts the pairs in front of them.
Watch out! The socks look very much alike. Really make sure you find pairs that match – and are completely identical.

Important:

• You can only rummage with one hand. The other hand has to rest on your lap.

• You cannot take any pair of socks in front of another player!
Stop socks!
As soon as a player has five pairs of socks in front of them, they grab for the sock monster in the center, and the rummaging stops.
Whoever still has socks in their hand, has to let them drop back on the heap. These socks cannot be added to one’s sock provision.
Together you check if all the pairs of the player who caught the sock monster, really match.


• If all pairs match, the player gets a clothes-peg as a reward

• If there is an odd pair, the player does not get any reward.
Now each player counts the number of pairs they have collected. The player with the most pairs takes a clothes-peg as a reward.
If various players have found the same amount of pairs, each gets a clothes-peg.
A new round starts:
The socks are returned to the heap. Together you rummage the heap before the next round starts. The winner of the previous round returns the monster into the center and shouts the starting signal “Lucky Sock Dip”!
If there were various winners in the previous round, the oldest one takes the monster.

End of the game

The game ends as soon as the first player has collected three clothes-pegs thus winning the game.
If various players have collected three clothes-pegs, a last and decisive round is played. All socks are put back into the center.
Once the starting signal is given, these players rummage. The one who locates a matching pair first and places it in front of them wins the game.
The sock monster already is waiting for the next Lucky Sock Dip. So: ready, steady, lucky sock dip!


Variation

The game gets more difficult if one sock is taken off the game after each round and kept in the game box. Now it can happen that a matching sock which no longer is in the game, is searched for.