Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

This is a fast, fun card game that is pretty new to us. I actually got it for Sam as a stocking stuffer a year or two ago, but for whatever reason we never played it. Then Finn got another set as a birthday gift this year. He and his friends played it at his party, so that was our introduction to it, and we played it for the first time tonight. 

Each card has a cute, simple picture on it: either a taco, a cat, a goat, a wedge of cheese, a slice of pizza . . . or a gorilla, a groundhog, or a narwhal. The deck is dealt out to all the players, then everyone takes turns laying cards in the middle. As you lay a card down, you say the next name in the title sequence, and if what you say matches the picture on the card, you slap the pile as fast as you can. If someone lays down one of the three "special" cards, you have to do a particular action or motion first, then slap the pile. Last one to slap the pile takes the pile, and the object is to get rid of all your cards, so you don't want to be the last one to slap the pile. 

We laughed a lot as we played this, and we all enjoyed it, so we'll definitely be keeping it. (Although I think we don't need two decks. Unless . . . should we combine them?? I don't know, that would make for a really long game.)

Also, I'm not sure how often I'll want to play this game. My hands hurt. 

In a Pickle

Here's another word game with cards, but this one doesn't have a guessing element. It's more of an association game, specifically in terms of size. You have to link two nouns with one being able to "fit into" another. And you can go as literal or figurative, or as silly or serious, as you like. You could, of course, put a Pickle in a Jar. Or you could put a Brain in a Bucket. (ew!) And maybe Art is bigger than Asia. Or you could draw a Circle around . . . just about anything, so don't waste that Circle card. It's a winner.

I think the possibilities are a little too endless, and that may be this game's downfall. You can challenge the more tenuous links, but this puts you in greater danger of having your own links challenged later on. Or you can let your opponents' more tenuous links slide, and then get annoyed because you reach a point where you can claim to put almost anything into almost anything else, and that's just too silly. 

I actually voted to get rid of this game; not because I hated it, but because I didn't love it, and our Game Cabinet is so full that there's no way we could cram another game in there; if we don't get rid of any games, we'll never be able to get any new ones. But . . . Finn loved it! And we have decided that as long as anyone votes to keep it, we keep it. 

Articulate!

We seem to have a plethora of describe-the-word guessing games. (Which is not surprising, since we all really enjoy them.) Next up, Articulate! In a way it's easier than Taboo (because there is only one word that is taboo, rather than a list of them) and easier than Funglish (because you're not selecting from a limited number of descriptors that you have to hunt for) but at times it's still surprisingly hard to get someone to guess one word. Hard, but fun! And part of the reason it was so much fun was because it's easier than Funglish or Taboo. Especially when playing with a youngster. He did a better job with this one rather than constantly getting stuck.

Verdict: it might seem silly to have so many similar games. But it also seems silly to get rid of a game that we had so much fun playing. 

Clue

Here’s a game that needs no introduction. Surely everyone is familiar with this murder mystery guessing game. I mean, how many board games have spawned their own feature-length movie? (Actually, now that I've asked the question, I'm curious about the answer . . . but that's probably another blog post for another day.)

So everyone knows about Clue. But what would this blog be without useless, extraneous information? I've got to describe gameplay for you. Clue is a game that takes place in a sumptuous mansion peopled by an eclectic cast of characters. But their host, Mr Boddy, has been found murdered. And it’s up to you to figure out whodunnit, and in which grand room, and with what commonplace but dangerous household object. Everyone starts with a series of clues and has to make deductions with the help of their opponents, with the object of narrowing it down to the person, place and thing that are hidden in the Confidential File. 

Verdict: Finn summed it up quite well when he said, “It's obvious we are definitely going to keep this one. Everyone loves it!”