This game was introduced to me a bit after playing the game Catch Phrase (which we really enjoyed by the way). It was explained as being like the aforementioned game but there are rounds, and it gets progressively harder, eventually ending with a round of acting out the clues. Sounded interesting, but I remember games of Charades going terribly before because people were too shy/embarrassed to look like a fool.

Luckily for our group, that isn’t the case, so we jumped right in, and I’m glad we did.

This game sets up a lot like some of those traditional party games you might remember. Where you pull the big stack of cards out of the box, but the twist being that each player picks the first few cards they know and puts them into the common pile you will be using for the duration of the game.

This is the first thing to note that I like about the game. You can choose as many or as little cards as you want to play with (within reason). This means if you feel like a longer game, just choose a few more cards each. Yet, there is still a set amount of rounds, so there is a finite end to the game.

This game also allows for a large group of people to play. It does come a little loud and hard to comprehend if you have too many people, but it can sure get the energy of the room up in a hurry, which is nice.

If you haven’t played before the first round you can’t skip cards, so when Whitney someone throws in a very obscure card, you are forced to use your brain and really work to get your team to guess. Though they do suck to do, they are what keeps the game interesting. I find that we roll through some cards WAAAY too easily. Eg. Bugs Bunny à we would say “What’s up Doc?” and get it right away.

That is actually one of the downfalls of this game. As with any party game where the answers are on cards, eventually you will know most/all of them and the game become stale. We are nearing that point, so we have taken a break from it for a bit. This will especially ruin the game if you play with someone who is fresh. It can still work, but the experienced players just get them too fast. That, or we might reference something that happened in a previous game and the newbie will be totally lost (like someone missing out on an inside joke).

In the second round, when you only have a one word clue and one guess is when you really have to think. It changes from a game of spitting out answers as fast as you can to trying to hone it down to one word or finding a reference from the first round. Eg. Bugs Bunny à “Doc”.

We have played this game a tonne, so our referencing skills have gotten pretty good. I can’t remember the exact name, but it went something like this:

Clue: (Some actor who never did a role as a football player, let’s say Danny Devito)
Clue given to team: He played football in the Friday Night Lights movie. The quarterback.
Answer: Oh, is it Danny Devito???
Even after we explain he wasn’t in the movie, the next round they give the clue: Football
Answer: Danny Devito
Last round: Pretend to throw a football. (...come on now ladies, he is a short little fat man!!)

We had to sit back and laugh at how ridiculous it was for them to carry the clue through the whole game.

The last round of acting is hilarious. Some of them are pretty easy and obvious, but some are so hard. We are a fairly intense group when it comes to board game night, so when you have to act out a many things as you can in as short of a time as possible, things get crazy. We have definitely had some great laughs during this round.

On the flip side, some of the clues are almost impossible to act out, and it comes down to who has the best memory, or who has already tried to act out the card. The game loses a bit here, but it’s just part of the game and we don’t think much of it.

You’ll want to make sure teams are evenly matched when you play, since an experienced team can simply dominate. When that happens, pretty much all fun is gone, yet you have to try and get through 2 more rounds. It can cause people to give up and not have fun, the opposite of this games intention, so be aware of that.

We used to bring this game out to start or finish a night all the time, and almost always have a good time. We normally play guys vs gals (with the guys winning most nights other than that one drunken fail night), and it works out great. It is a game I feel I could bring out with most groups with success. The price you pay vs the fun you have is easily justified. I would recommend this one to friends with the caveat that it works great provided you have a good group of people!