Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
-
Introduction: So you already have Wits and Wagers, but you liked the reviews of Wits and Wagers Family, you find Wits and Wagers Family at a good price, and you're thinking of buying it. Or someone in your gaming group doesn't like betting. Or you want a good family game that will work as a party game. Or you already have Say Anything and Wits and Wagers and are wondering if the Wits and Wagers Family bits are compatible because Uncle Bob and his family of four didn't tell you they were in town. Several good reviews have been written about Wits and Wagers Family as a family game. This review will contrast it with Wits and Wagers to see how Wits and Wagers Family plays as a party game. Additionally, this review will comment how well you can use the Wits and Wagers Family bits in your Wits and Wagers and Say Anything games.
Overview of Play:
1. Draw a question card and read one of the two questions.
2. Each player secretly writes down their answer (which will be a number) on their own dry-erase board.
3. Answers are laid out from highest to lowest.
4. Each player has two meeples, one large and one small. Each player places their meeples on the answer or answers they think might be correct.
5. The answer that's closest to the correct answer without going higher wins. The player who gave that answer scores a point. Every player who placed their big meeple on the answer scores two points. Every player who played their small meeple on the answer scores one point.
6. The winner is the first player to score 15 points.
Components:
Photo by TheBoardGameFamily
* Five wipe-off Answer Boards in five player colors
* Five small meeples in matching player colors
* Five large meeples in matching player colors
* Five dry-erase pens
* 150 question cards, two questions each
* A "1" answer board (see "Sort the Guesse" below)
Each player will have a wipe-off board and matching small and large meeple.
 Component Compatibility with Wits and Wagers and Say Anything: The wipe-off boards are the size of the Say Anything boards, so you can, theoretically, add up to five more players to your Say Anything game. (You would use the matching meeples instead of player tokens.) You can also use the Wits and Wagers Family components in Wits and Wagers, though will need more plastic betting chips.
Ask a Question:
Read the top question of the two questions from the question card. All players write a guess on their Answer Board and place it face-down on the table.
Questions Compatibility with Wits and Wagers: You can use the Wits and Wagers Family questions in Wits and Wagers. The Wits and Wagers Family questions focus less on American history, so you can use the Wits and Wagers Family questions if you have foreign visitors or relatives playing the game.
 Some Wits and Wagers Family questions are children-only, such as questions about a brand of children's toy. Larger cards with larger font would have been useful for older players who forgot to bring their reading glasses.
Sort the Guesses:
Photo by berly24
Players have sorted the guesses and are placing the meeples.
Sort the answers on the Answer Boards from lowest to highest, with the smallest guess next to the "1" Answer Board. If more than one Answer Board has the same guess, place them next to each other. Note that, in the photo, the middle guesses are the same number, so are placed next to each other.
Without the felt board, Wits and Wagers Family takes up much less space than Wits and Wagers.
Sorting the guesses in Wits and Wagers Family is noticably faster than in Wits and Wagers. None of this "median answer" sorting.
Place Meeples and Determine Winning Guess:
All players place their meeples on the Answer Board(s) they think will win. The small meeple is worth one point if it is placed on the winning answer. The large meeple is worth two if it is placed on the winning answer. Note that winning guess is the the closest to the correct answer without going over.
No betting, since this is a family game. Without betting the game speeds up considerably, giving the game a brisk pace and short playing time. It's also fun to slide off the Answer Boards that are above the correct answer as the meeples on them accompany their Answer Boards into oblivion.
No betting, since this is a family game. With betting, Wits and Wagers lets players both think which answer is correct, and weigh how much they think the answer is correct. The game (at least the ones I play) becomes more methodical and serious. The last round is amusing, as players "go for broke" and calculate how many chips they will need to win the game.
Conclusion: Even without kids present, I've found Wits and Wagers Family to use as a party game. Just because it was designed with children in mind doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by adults as well.
-
Ken Spontelli
United States
Mansfield
Texas
http://www.meetup.com/dfwgames/
Okay, let's start the meeting. My name is Ken, and I'm a Tichu addict.
-
When playing with younger players, we tweaked the rules a little bit. We don't allow the adults to place both of their meeples on the same selection, they have to split their 'wagers'.
-
|
|
Posted Fri Jan 6, 2012 5:27 am
