STORM2K

OK...

So you are inviting some of your friends over to the house/apartment for a little socializing.

What's the typical game to be played at your place after dinner?

Card games (hearts, 500, silly rummy, UNO,??), board games (Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit?), or is there something more active in the cards like swimming after dark, sitting in the hot tub, or the worst of all curses, drinking a brewski and watching sports on TV?

Before Kathy and I make our plans to stop by some Saturday night, we need to know these things!

At our house, you should be prepared for our rehash of Tripoli, the "horserace" game, 500, or, on a summer night, some twilight time in the pool with some friendly competition of water volleyball until our aging bones say "you just overdid it.!" (Usually after the first point is scored!)

Kathy's the gaming whiz. I prefer more conversation time and less competetive time.

Music would be on....but not the TV. Both Saddam and we get a time out when friends show up!

So...what's in the cards at your place?

I would prefer to play Scrabble, Yahtzee and/or UNO if I were to ever go to someone's house to play games after dinner. My mother play with our neighbor across the street, normally on Wednesday afternoons; we alternate houses.

I am about to go play Scrabble and maybe Yahtzee with my mother, like we do every evening.

Make sure you spell the word EXHUME with an H. A couple weeks ago my son tried to beat us with EXUME!

Good luck!

Thank you Steve. I will see what I can do.

I lose often, but play better than I did growing up. Getting multiple words using the X, J or Z can really rack up you points. 8)

Gotta ask about Scrabble, Tom... Do you play that you can make more than one word on each turn if possible?

I'd play Monopoly ... I love that game!

Joshua, I like Monopoly, too... no one in my family ever wants to play.

Steve, in Scrabble, you can make more than one word when you place your letter against other letters, usually making two letter words with your "main word."

No tv on in my house when there are guests! EVER. Unless there are children with there parents, then we will put something on for them. We normally hang outside with a good ol fashioned BBQ and good food.and of course cold beer and wine.. Games, well that is not a very South African thing at all. So I guess I am not used to that being part of a social visit. Every now and again a group of us will play Bolderdash.. that is my fav game (i normally win!)

Bronwyn,

We played Bolderdash one New Year's Eve a few years ago for about 5 hours until 2 am. Now that doesn't sound like a big deal to you young'ens, but for people who usually have no pulse after 10 pm...that was a BIG deal. We had two young people playing with the 6 other baby boomers. It is a fun game!

LOL Steve..

Well I laugh so much playing that game. Some of the things people come up with are hysterical. I played with my neice who is 11 and she came up with some of the funniest ones!

I've never played Bolderdash. What is it?

Debbie

I enjoy playing card or board games, but Marty doesn't. Anyway, I guess I would have them available and then see how the evening progresses. Perhaps you may get involved in a good conversation and not even need the games. I'm sure it would be great fun either way!

Here you go Deb, I hope this explains

A More Funny and Relaxed Board Game
Pros
Relaxed, funny, one of my favorite board games to play
Cons
Can be easily messed up, not for kids


Full Review
Balderdash is a great board game. It is much more fun than most board games because it actually takes some skill and thinking. Most board games revolve around rolling a dice to win, or some type of luck thing like that, but Balderdash is more of an intellectual game. It involves smarts, but not necessarily book or fact smarts like trivia games. It involves a common sense and common knowledge type of smarts.

Balderdash is a very simple game to learn. The basic idea is that you must convince the other players that your answer is the right one. There are several different categories, like words, initials, people, dates, and movie titles. All the questions in these categories are very obscure so that no one really knows what the correct answer is, but on some occasions someone does know what the answer is, just discount their answer while reading them aloud, but they will get rewarded with extra points. To play the player rolls the dice, don't worry the roll of the dice only signifies which category you will choose from, and reads the category, be it a word, date etc. They write down the real answer while the other players write down their phony answers. The player shuffles all the answers and reads all of them out loud, then the people vote for which ones they think is the real answer. It is always most fun when there are a lot of good answers so the decisions is tough, and a lot of players. Certain amounts of points are awarded for different things, guessing the right answer, having people vote for your answer etc. Just look at the rule book and most people will catch on quite quickly.

The best part of Balderdash is the environment there always is while you are playing the game. Although this is a board game and you try to win, no one ever gets too serious. There is a pretty laid back feel while you are playing the game. Most people just play the game for fun and not to win, of course there are always those really competitive people who actually play to win, like me. While you are playing the game you are mostly just laughing instead of concentrating on who is winning. This is the really fun part of the game.

While you are playing the game there are always a couple of obstacles. Some people cannot read each others handwriting, so they actually ask the person that the answer belongs to what the answer says. This can be very frustrating because it will completely ruin your chances of having people vote for your answer. Some people, when it is their turn to read the answers aloud, will read the answer that is correct out loud as well. In other words, if someone actually gets the correct answer, the person will read both answers so that everyone knows what the real answer is. These can be very frustrating thing to happen while you are playing the game. I know that it is a laid back game, but it is still necessary to play by the rules and give everyone a fair shot. As I said before, this is a game of common knowledge, so use common knowledge when you are reading out the answers. Read them before hand so you can make sure you understand the handwriting, if necessary pull them aside and ask what it was they were trying to say, and don't read both correct answers. It is quite simple to avoid these simple, yet annoying, obstacles while you are playing this fun game.

Unfortunately this game is not for all ages. I played Balderdash with a child around the age of ten, and they sort of ruined the game. If you know the child well enough you should be able to determine if they are mature enough to play the game. If they are whining just let the play as a team with another adult. But I think that everyone who is mature enough to play Balderdash, will enjoy it.



Recommended
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 20
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 years or older

Comments on this Review

Thanks Bronwyn. Sounds like great fun!!! I'll have to give it a try.

Debbie