Hear Me Out

Today's game is one of my favorite family games. It's called Hear Me Out. The instructions say it's appropriate for ages 18, 21, 29-35 and 38-65. Haha! I love it when game instructions have a sense of humor. I do think this can be played with younger kids, but they may not know what some of the topics are. You can easily come up with your own topics for certain categories.

The Point:
You want to be the one to score the most points.

Gameplay:

First of all, everyone grabs a pad and pencil. Choose a playing piece and its matching scoring meter. All players will begin the game with 10 points, so rotate your scoring meter so that the number 10 shows through the hole. Don't forget, your score can never be less than zero!

Start by rolling the dice and moving that amount of spaces. The person whose turn it is will be called "The Voice". All other players are referred to as "The Ears".

This space is the water cooler space. Everybody is going to start here. When you pass the water cooler, add five points to your scoring meter and take a drink. Yes, an actual drink. If you don't have a drink, go get one. If you land directly on the water cooler, collect 10 points.

When you land on The White House, "The Voice" takes two points from every other player. (You are taxing "The Ears".

When you land on Party Change, you must change identities and places with another player of your choice. That means your colors are switched, you exchange seats, scoring meters, cards, and all points!

When you've completed the switch, the player now seated on the left of The Voice will go.

If you land on The Out House, your turn is over. You're busy.

At the beginning of your next turn, you can try to get out by forfeiting 10 points or rolling a 7, 11 or doubles. Beware, if you roll anything else you actually lose a point.

If you land on Skid Row you lose all your points. Set your scoring meter back to zero and you may now beg other players to donate some of their points to you! There is no obligation but they can donate points if they feel persuaded.

If you land on Stock Market, you must roll again. If you roll a 7, 11 or doubles, you lose half your points. If you roll any other number, add that many points to your score. You can actually stay in the Stock Market as many turns in a row as you want, rolling the dice once per turn.

 If you land on a Brainstorm card, draw one of the "Hear Me Out" cards. You're going to read the topic out loud and all players write down as many things as they can that go with that topic. When the timer runs out, The Voice reads his list out loud. When The Voice and The Ears have a matching response, they each get one point. 

When you land on Survey Says, draw a card. Read the topic to the group. All players have 45 seconds (the timer) to write down 3 responses. The Voice is trying to predict what The Ears will come up with. When time is up, The Voice reads his responses to The Ears. Again, one point is received to both The Voice and The Ears when they match.

 When you land on Sound bite, draw a card. Read the topic to the group. The Voice now has to speak for 45 seconds on the top and is scored by other players on sheets from the voting pad.

Scoring should be based on the quality of the argument, the style of presentation, and persuasiveness. 1 point would be weak, 2 would be average, and 3 is outstanding.

To vote, you write the COLOR of The Voice on a piece of paper, write down the score, and place the secret ballot into the ballot box. Secret ballots are tallied at the very end of the game.

 If you land on a DRAW space, draw a DRAW card and read it to yourself first. Some are secret, but some say not to show this card to anyone. Follow the instructions on the card.

How to win:
At the beginning of any turn, you may choose to call for a vote to see who the winner of the game is. You must have at least 30 points on your meter for a 2-player game, 40 points for a 3-4 player game, and 50 points for a 5-6 player game.

Tally all the points from the ballot box and award them to the person with that color playing piece. The person with the highest points wins.

Just because you have enough points on your meter to call for a vote doesn't mean you have enough points on the secret ballots to win!

Verdict:
This is such a funny game. The Sound Bite cards are hilarious!

Great for Learning:
Quick thinking, brainstorming skills, public speaking, persuasion, debate

Bezzerwizzer

The game today is called Bezzerwizzer. This is another adult/older teen game. It's a trivia game, so a lot of younger kids won't know the answers.

The Point:
Be the first to completely make it around the board by correctly answering trivia cards.

Gameplay:
Each team gets a playing piece, two Bezzerwizzer tiles, one Zwap tile and one tile board of the same color as their playing piece.

Place all game pieces on the Start square.

Put the 20 black category tiles into the bag. Here are the categories:

All teams draw four random category tiles from the bag.

Once you've chosen four random tiles, place your tiles on your tile board in the order you want to answer them. Categories with more dots earn more points when you answer them correctly.

Beginning with the lowest-value category tile, teams take turns answering one question each. Correct answers allow you to move your game piece clockwise around the board according to the point value (dots) for that question.

When it's your turn, the team to your left draws a question card and reads a question for your current category. Here are some examples for the questions:

After the question has been answered (whether it's right or wrong), return the question card to the back of the box and turn that category tile facedown. Play then continues to the next team. After all teams have answered the first question, they move on to question number two, and so forth.

But wait! You can sabotage and earn extra points!

If you think you know a lot about your opponent's next category, play a Bezzerwizzer tile before the question is read to them and you can try to steal the question. After the question is read, the other team gives their answer first then you give yours. If they don't answer correctly but you do, you score 3 points!

If you play a Zwap tile at the beginning of your turn, you can swap one of your face-up category tiles with one of your opponent's. You must play a Zwap before the question is read. This is a great way to get rid of a category you don't want.

Once you've played a Bezzerwizzer or Zwap tile, turn it face down and set it aside until the end of the round.

Once all teams have answered their questions, the round is over. Return all the category tiles to the bag and take back your Bezzerwizzer and Zwap tiles. A new round begins, moving clockwise.

How to win:
Be the first to return to the Start square.

Verdict:
We love this game, and if you like trivia games, you'll like it too. There are so many specific categories! I also like the chance to steal from the other teams.

Great for Learning:
Trivia facts you'll never need to know again, thinking on your feet!

Bad People

Today's game is called Bad People. This is an adult-only game which I highly recommend is played only with people who are not easily offended! 

The Point:
Be the first person to score 7 points.

Gameplay:

Each person chooses a Player Identity Card like the ones pictured below. As you can see they are personalities such as cat lady, person who spits in food, etc. Lovely!

Next, each player collects a Picture Voting Card for every person playing the game, even yourself.

Next, each player collects a Double Down card.

The first person to go is the "Dictator". The Dictator draws a question card and reads it out loud. Here are some examples of the question cards:

Once the card is read aloud, the Dictator silently chooses a player that he believes best fits the card, then places the corresponding Voting Card face down in front of them. You cannot choose yourself.

After the Dictator has voted, all the other players also cast a silent vote by guessing who the Dictator voted for. Place the corresponding Voting Card face down in front of you. Remember, you can vote for yourself, but not the Dictator. Also remember you are voting for who you think the Dictator chose, not who you think best fits the card!

Once every player has voted, each player reveals their vote one at a time. The Dictator reveals their card last.

1 point is given to each player who voted the same as the Dictator. If the Dictator chose a player that no one else voted for, then everyone who voted for the most popular answer gets a point.

Dictators don't earn points.

At any time during the round, a player can play their Double Down Card on their Voting Card. If you win that round (by voting the same as the Dictator) you get two points! But if you guess incorrectly, you lose your Double Down card for the rest of the game!

How to Win:
Just earn 7 points! It goes pretty quickly!

Verdict:
Okay, we thought this game was really funny, but you definitely have to play with people who have thick skin. Not everyone can admit they are the most likely to check themselves out in a mirror or flee from the police!

Great for Learning:
Absolutely nothing... this game has no educational value which is why it's for adults only.