On the surface, Remember the Milk seems like a very simple game for 2 – 6 players. A deck of cards is shuffled, wherein each card has a single word printed on it and the pile is placed at the center of the table.

Determining Player Order:

Shuffle the deck, and each player takes one card from the top. The player with the highest alphabetical order word is the starting player. All other players progress in a clockwise fashion (unless the game modifies this order)

1. Shuffle the cards and place the deck at the center of the table.
2. Draw 4 cards from the top of the deck and place them in order under each other, face up to show the words printed on them.
3. Each player recites the words in order.
4. When the last player successfuly recites the order, the first card facing up closest to the beginning of the succession is flipped over, and one card is added to the end of the succession.
5. Players then take turns reciting the new order, starting from the top of the order.
6. If all players successfully recite the order of the list, the next card facing up is flipped over and another card is drawn to add to the end of the list (facing up).

How to Win

The purpose of Remember the Milk is to be the last player left in the group, all other players having been removed from the game. In order to accomplish this, players have the ability to Challenge other players if they believe that player has gotten the order wrong. If a player is challenged, the cards that are not facing up are flipped over to reveal their words and order. If the player is correct, the challenger is out of the game. If the challenger was correct, the player who was challenged is out of the game.

Continue this until all except one player remains.

Challenging Other Players

When you challenge another player because you believe they have gotten the list wrong, the player who has been challenged recites the list again while the challenger flips the cards in the list as they do so in order to prove whether they have gotten the words right or wrong. If the player who has been challenged manages to make it through the list without an error, the challenger is eliminated from the game. If the player who has been challenged is found to have been wrong in reciting the list, then that player is eliminated from the game.

Obviously, players will not challenge each other unless they, themselves, are confident that they are correct. Much of the time players will manage to make errors without being challenged, which in turn may actually propagate the errors to the next players until one player absolutely knows the list is wrong. Think of this like a game of telephone gone horribly wrong as you listen to the last player recite what they think the list is, and you are not entirely sure what the list is yourself so you repeat what they have said to the best of your memory, and so forth. The players who will be successful in this game are the ones who are really good at bluffing and the players who are very good at memorization.

Special Cards

Remember The Milk is mostly comprised of single syllable word cards, but there are more than those included in the set. Special Cards are cards in the deck which alter the game in some manner with a symbol representing the action (as well as the word description) and are explained below:

Immunity: The Immunity card does exactly what the name says. A player holding an immunity card cannot be removed from the game due to a challenge. When a challenge occurs, and the challenger is correct, the player must return their immunity card to the bottom of the deck. Players may obtain multiple Immunity cards during the game.

Split: A Split card implies that two cards will be in the order. When a player draws a Split card, it is placed in the succession as would other cards, and two more cards are drawn from the deck and placed on either side of the Split card. When a player comes to a split card when reciting the order, the player may choose to recite either card at their discretion. When a split card is turned over in the succession, the cards on either side are also flipped over with it.

Reverse: The player drawing a Reverse card puts the card under the deck, and the order of players is reversed. If the order of progression is currently clockwise, then the order of progression is now Counter-Clockwise. If the order of progression is Counter-Clockwise, then the progression is now Clockwise.

Retire: If a Retire card is drawn from the deck, it is placed at the bottom of the deck, and the first card in procession is returned to the bottom of the deck. The new first card in procession is flipped face up so players can see the word and reorient themselves with the new list.

Optional Rule: For extra hardness, players may choose not to flip the next card to show the word, thus forcing all players to recite completely from memory without any hints.

Random: The player which draws the Random card from the deck, chooses a card at random to flip over in the procession. The card can be a hidden card or a visible card at the discretion of the player, and any card in the current procession may be flipped over.

Hint: When a player takes a Hint card from the deck, the player may keep the card until used. The Hint card is used when a player forgets a word in the procession and would like to turn over a card in the procession as a “hint”. When the player uses the Hint card, it is returned to the bottom of the deck.

Pass: When a player collects a Pass card from the deck, they may keep it for use later in the game or use it immediately. When a player uses a Pass card, they replace the card at the bottom of the deck and the round goes to the next player in the order.

Optional Rule: A Player using a Pass card may choose any other player in the game to pass to.

Genius Elimination

When there are no longer any words in the deck to add to the procession (Genius!), the game switches to individual words per person. Starting from the current player, each player takes turns reciting one word from the procession (in order), each player saying the next word in procession until the entire procession is recited. For every round this is done correctly, the last player to recite a word flips a remaining word which is facing up to conceal the word and the process begins again, with each player reciting a single word in procession. During this phase of the game, Special Cards may still be used (if players have any in their possession) but no new cards are drawn.

In The Event Of A Tie

Should all players manage to successfully make it past the Genius Elimination phase of the game, and all cards are concealed, the game ends in a draw between the remaining players.

Suggestions for Making an RTM Deck

Remember The Milk is not currently a game in mainstream production, and as such is not available in stores. Because of this, if you wish to try this game, there are some guidelines to help you out.

Card Stock

Since you will be printing the cards for RTM on your own as a DIY project, I suggest using Avery Clean Edge Inkjet or Laser Printer Business Card Stock.

How many words/specials?

How many word cards to print is entirely up to you, though I suggest no more than 52 cards in total with the following breakdown:

3 Immunity Cards

3 Split Cards

4 Reverse Cards

4 Retire Cards

4 Random Cards

4 Pass Cards

30 Word Cards

This breakdown would suffice as a “Starter Deck” for Remember The Milk, and other expansions can be added later as you deem fit using this breakdown. Each deck you add to the total should follow this breakdown in order to ensure an even deck overall. The reason I suggest only 30 words in your deck is obvious – when was the last time you could memorize and recite 30 random words in order?

What Words Shall I Use?

While the special cards are defined firmly, there is a matter of choosing 30 words for your deck. While you can choose whatever words you wish, I will offer some suggestions for your first deck and subsequent decks.

Starter Deck: The theme of the starter deck should always be food items. Items you would normally find at a supermarket are what this deck is made of, in short being a shopping list and keeping in line with the title of the game Remember The Milk.

Subsequent Deck Ideas: Remember The Milk is an interesting game in that, when you add more theme decks to the mix, the game becomes much harder to play. To this end, I would suggest printing something on the backs of further theme decks in order to denote what theme they are (and also to help you put them back into their separate piles later). A symbol on the backs should be enough to denote what the theme is for those cards (as well as act as a hint to players trying to remember the procession).

Foreign Languages: French, Spanish, Japanese, German, etc. You may not know what the words mean, but you still have to remember them. Even if you know the forign language, a Foreign language deck mixed with English words make it much more challenging as you are memorizing in multiple languages.

Adult Decks (After Dark Expansions): Who said that this game was just for children? Remember The Milk could also be added to with adult themed decks with overtly sexual words, again the multiple themes making for hilarious recitals.

Essentially any theme you pick will work for expansion decks, and each expansion you add to the game will make it that much more challenging.

What’s The Point Of This Game?

Remember The Milk may seem like an easy game to begin with, but the longer it continues, the harder it becomes, literally taxing the minds of all of the players. Why would we play such a game then, and does this game have any actual benefit?

Aside from the silliness of the mixed themes and the lists it will produce, RTM is a game of memorization and memorization practices. The more you play this game, the better you get at memorization of seemingly unrelated items, and as a result memorization of related items on a daily basis will become easier over time.

In short, RTM is a fun way to exercise your brain and can even be used in an educational setting.

About The Name

I am aware that there is an iPhone application with the same name, and the purpose of that application is to help you manage your tasks. While the official name of this game is really unimportant, I chose Remember The Milk as the obvious name as a reminder of large grocery lists and how we constantly tell ourselves when shopping “Don’t forget the milk…”.

If a better name for this card game can be offered, I’m more than happy to consider it. If you’re a board/card game manufacturer and are interested in this card game, feel free to contact me at:

DarianKnight@Gmail.com

I would love to see this game professionally produced if there is interest.