Party · 2017

El Portero Baldomero

One player is the nosy doorman: talk about the secret word without knowing it and catch Baldomero before he overhears you.

3–8 players
10–20 min
1.2 / 5 · Light

Set up the game

0 of 6 steps

Tick each step as you complete it.

1Choose a mailbox card and put it in the middle of the table, on the landing. Every card holds sixteen words; for the first games use one of the standard cards and save the notebook for building your own mailboxes.
Components
Score pad
2Shuffle the doorbell cards, including Baldomero's, and deal one to each player. There must be as many cards as neighbours at the table, the doorman included.
Cards
3Everyone looks at their card in secret. The neighbours' cards carry the key that translates the dice roll into a word on the mailbox; one card reads "Tú eres Baldomero" and has no key at all.
Cards
Dice
4Keep the two eight-sided dice within reach. Decide who starts: the rulebook suggests the last person to greet the doorman or, failing agreement, a random player.
Dice
5In the first round the starting player rolls the dice and every neighbour checks their key to learn which word to talk about. Baldomero pretends to read the mailbox and uses the moment to memorise the words on show.
Dice
6Remember the goals: neighbours win by pointing at Baldomero when he fails to name the word; Baldomero wins if they accuse an innocent, or if, once caught, he names the topic.
Character

What it is about

El Portero Baldomero is a word game with a mole inside. The neighbours share a secret Baldomero does not have, yet he sits at the same table hearing everything, and his job is to look like one more neighbour while working out what is being discussed.

Each round balances on a fragile edge: the words must be clear enough for neighbours to recognise each other and opaque enough that the doorman cannot guess. Every clarification during the debate shifts that balance, which is why the game is won as much by talking as by staying quiet.

In the end almost everything comes down to one blind vote and one question: what were we talking about? If Baldomero names it, the round changes hands at the last second and the neighbours are left with the word on their lips.

BGG page Official rulebook

Source note

The Spanish rulebook is a scan covering setup, the doorbell-card deal, the dice roll, the word round, the vote and the resolution. It does not include the text of the twelve mailboxes and does not detail the three-player and seven-eight-player adjustments, which this guide only mentions. The rulebook was consulted online: BGG blocks direct PDF downloads.

Reglamento ES (Zacatrus, 2017) · Reviewed: 24 Oct 2026