Overview

Probe is a word-guessing game by Parker Brothers where each player thinks of a secret word and places letter cards face-down in a tray. Players take turns guessing letters in opponents’ words, scoring points for each letter exposed. Activity cards add bonuses and special effects. The game combines deduction with a Hangman-like mechanic for up to 4 players.

Components

• 4 word trays
• Letter cards (multiple sets in different colors, containing 40 cards each)
• 36 Activity Cards
• 1 Activity Deck Tray
• Score pad and pencil

Setup

1. Shuffle the Activity Cards and place them face-down in the Activity Deck Tray.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding set of letter cards.
3. Each player thinks of a word to use in the game. The word may be no more than 13 letters and no less than 2. A dictionary may be used before the game begins, but not during. No proper nouns, abbreviations, or words spelled with hyphens.
4. If the word has less than 13 letters, you may disguise its true length by adding dots (blanks) before or after the word, or both. You may use up to 5 dots total.
5. Starting from the right-hand side, place the letter cards into the slots at the top of the tray, face-down. The word reads left-to-right when exposed.
6. Cover the tray with the shield.

Turn Structure

On your turn:

1. Draw the top Activity Card from the draw pile and read it aloud.
2. Apply the Activity Card’s effect (score bonus, restriction, etc.).
3. Guess a letter in one opponent’s word. State the letter and indicate left, right, or both sides of the opponent’s tray.
4. If the opponent has that letter in the indicated position(s), they must expose it. The guesser scores the point value printed on the card.
5. If your guess is correct, you may continue guessing (on any opponent’s word) until you guess wrong. As long as your last guess was correct, you may continue.
6. Once a guess is wrong (no matching letter in the indicated position), your turn ends.

Actions

Guessing

• Name a letter and say whether you want to check left, right, or both.
• If correct: the letter is flipped face-up. Score points.
• If incorrect: your turn ends.

Activity Cards

Various effects including:

• “Add 20 to Your Score”
• “Triple the Value of Your First Guess”
• “Subtract points from opponent”
• “Use the Interruption Buzz” (steal a turn)

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Ending the Game

Sooner or later, only one player will have unexposed letters or dots. When this happens, each opponent has two final turns (twice around in player order) to guess those remaining letters. After these final turns, the player with unrevealed letters or dots exposes them and earns the point value for each. If a player had 6 or more unexposed letters or dots in their word, they receive 100 bonus points for successfully hiding the word.

Winning

At the end of the game, the scorekeeper totals all points for each player. The player with the highest score wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• 2-player variant: Each player takes two word trays and places one word per tray. Players guess left or right when indicating letter position.
• Party Game variant (PROBE as a Party Game): 12 players join, 1 set of PROBE for every 4 players. Highest score at each table advances.
• If your opponent has more than one instance of the guessed letter on the indicated side, all instances are exposed.
• You may ask for a letter or for a dot (to identify whether a particular position is a blank).
• Use the interruption buzz when drawn to steal a guess from an opponent.

Player Reference

Action	Description
Draw Activity Card	Apply bonus/penalty effect
Guess Letter	Name letter + indicate left/right/both of opponent’s word
Correct Guess	Letter exposed, score points, continue guessing
Wrong Guess	Turn ends

Win: Highest total score after all words are fully exposed.