Décorum (Board Game)

Decorum is a cooperative, hidden information game where you and your partnershare the same objective: decorate your home in a way that makes you both happy.The problem is, different things make each of you happy and nobody says exactlywhat they need. Can you find a happy compromise, or is it time tomove out?!

• Play through 30 unique scenarios, each introducing new twists andchallenges.
• Keep your conditions a secret, they say how you want the housedecorated.
• Add, remove, and swap objects or repaint rooms to make the house look justright… for you.
• Respond with “Love it”, “Hate it”, or “Fine with it” to worktogether toward a perfectly decorated home.
• There is a solution for each scenario, the trick is figuring it outin time.

At its heart, Décorum is a pretty straightforward logic puzzle. There are asmall number of ways to arrange the internal pieces that meet all therequirements listed on the player’s rule sheets simultaneously. The twist ofDécorum is that it’s also a hidden information game. No player has all ofthe rules. While playing, the players will have to watch theirpartner’s moves just as carefully as they’re planning their own. Even morecrucially, they’ll have to communicate why they’re making the movesthey’re making–using the very limited means we’ve provided them.

Décorum might be about solving a puzzle, but it’s really a game aboutcommunication and compromise. The real challenge isn’t just solving theproblem with the limited information you and your players have; it’s dealingwith the frustrations that will inevitably occur when your partner doessomething that messes up your plan. In order to be successful in Décorum, therewill come a point where both players will have to let go of their initialstrategy for how they were going to finish the board and start paying attentionto what their partner is doing instead. By introducing and providing anincentive to resolve conflict, Décorum mechanically encourages (or evenrequires) a positive form of compromise.

Each player draws a “Scenario” card that lists a set of criteria of whattypes of décor a room must have or cannot have. For example “No room maycontain a lamp” or “Every room must contain a wall hanging”. Players keeptheir criteria secret.

The play surface is a board displaying various rooms in a house. Each roomhas multiple items that can potentially be placed in the room. Players taketurns placing, moving, or removing colored tokens on the board, where each tokenrepresents an item of home décor. Each token placed may conform with, orviolate, the other players' criteria. After each token is placed, other playersmay state they like the item of décor, as placed, or they do not like the itemof décor, as placed. Further discussion or explanation is not allowed.

The game ends when all players' criteria are satisfied.

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