The Game of Midnight Confessions and Cheap Thrills
By Jared A. Sorensen

Number of players: 4-5
Setup: Paper, pencils, 20 tokens, coins or marbles for each player
Playing time: 30 minutes to an hour (depending on # of players)

Hellcab is a freeform roleplaying game where you and 3-4 friends will take turns playing the role of a beleaguered hack driver in the big city. Of course, where there are taxi cabs, there are fares - so when you're not the cabbie, you'll play one of the unusual people who hail your cab in need of a ride.

Each player should write up a Passenger description. These characters must also possess a secret, composed of three layers. Secrets can be anything (and we mean it!) and should start out fairly simple and broad (this is called layer 1). Layer 2 of the secret should be a bit more detailed…perhaps specific people places or things involved in the secret. Layer 3 would consist of really specific details, weird facts and/or odd twists in the character's story.

The goal of the player portraying the Cabbie is to unravel the secrets of his or her passengers before they exist the cab. The goal of the player portaying the Passenger is to confound the Cabbie and not entirely let on what his or her secret is (or at least not every single layer).

After the Passenger characters are created and the three layers of their secret is written down, one player (chosen at random) starts as the Cabbie (get those tokens out!). The player playing the Passenger should sit behind the Cabbie. The Cabbie begins the game by asking, "Where to?" This counts as the first question. Each time a question is asked (including the first!), a token is given up by the Cabbie. When all 20 tokens have been spent, the ride is over and the Passenger exists.

The Cabbie must always ask questions (or, if speaking in multiple sentences, must finish with a question). The Passenger must always answer in a truthful statement of some kind. If the Cabbie asks multiple questions at once, s/he must hand over an equal number of tokens.

At any time, should the Cabbie figure out one, two or all three layers of the secret, he or she may signal the end of the ride by telling the Passenger "Ride's over" (or something similar). If this happens, or when the Cabbie runs out of tokens (and the ride ends normally), the Cabbie must guess the three layers of the Passenger's secret.

Cabbies get 5 points for guessing layer 1, 10 points for layer 2 and 15 points for layer 3 (for a total of 30 possible points). If the Cabbie doesn't know (or guesses incorrectly), the Passenger gets points instead - 5 if the Cabbie misses the layer 3, 10 for layer 2 and 15 if the Cabbie can't even guess layer 1.

When the Passenger has exited the cab and the points have been awarded, that Passenger becomes the Cabbie and the next person becomes the Passenger (the order is usually arranged so that the first Cabbie is the last Passenger).

When all players have played the Cabbies, the game ends and the highest point total wins. Have a good night…and be careful out there. The City is full of weirdos…