Party Game Reviews

1) Don't buy batteries (not included w/ the game). Really, there isn't much use for the buzzer, & it can be extremely annoying. There's enough excitement with the gameplay itself. The opposing team can just yell out "buzz," if they so desire.

2) Relatedly, the only things that you really need are the cards. The rest is just fluff. If you are familiar with the concept & rules, save yourself some $ and buy a booster pack. The booster is simply another stack of the cards with new words.

3) As in a lot of newer games, there are the inevitable current event (or not so current) related topics. If you don't know who Kenneth Starr or John Glenn are, you will be stymied on a few.

4) The better you know your partner(s), the better you will do. A lot of points come from saying stuff like: "Remember when we..." Try mixing up the teams for a fairer game.

Don't let these stop you from trying out this game, however. It's a ton of fun & has long-lasting appeal.

Basically, you throw the pigs (much like rolling dice) and the way the pigs land (dot side up, touching each other, on top of each other (my oh my!), etc) corresponds to a score (each with cute little piggy names like pig-out, leaning jowler, trotter, making bacon (very bad!), etc.. Where strategy comes in is the roller of the pigs has to decide whether to keep the score and pass or to keep rolling in an effort to add to the score. The object of the game is to reach the winning score first (usually something like 100). The roller of the pigs can keep rolling until pigging out (which is fairly easy to accomplish) or pass. If you pig out, your score is reset to zero. It's fun stuff!

It's a great game to take on trips, or to pull out when entertaining children of various ages; everyone can enjoy it. I've played with children as young as 4 and had a fine time.

Although the rules of the game rely on the player taking a turn until he or she determines that luck is about to run out (at the risk of losing all accumulated points), this can easily be modified (esp. for younger children) so that each player throws the dice in turn and records points.

The educational value is in using mathematical skills, and pattern recognition skills, for younger players.

This game is very durable, but it would be a sad day indeed if the little pigs were ever lost. Luckily, all the parts (pigs, score pad, pencil) fit into a neat little case.

Our family has been playing this game with dry erase boards for a while now. Not only does it save on paper, it is so much more fun. There are new strategies in eraseing pictures and using multiple colors. It really changed our game nights with these boards. My husband just purchased whiteboards at, eraseboards.com(?), I think. Pretty affordable. Every Pictionary owner should try using dry erase.

1. Each player has his/her own imagination. So no matter how often you play the game, each player might draw or guess differently the same card!

2. It's fun for parents to enjoy it with their teens.

3. It's fun for friends to play it together.

4. It's fun when men play against their wives (oh I love this one)!

Do you know it's very difficult to draw simple objects? Just try drawing anything and see what others guess it. Oh sometime they go very far that even if you wanted them to guess that word they'd have not :-)

One of the best games that are as good as this one (if not better) is Taboo! Have fun...

There are six different playable characters. No character can do something others can't the only differnce in them is there starting locations and there actual names. Your goal is to navigate the mansion finding out clues as to who committed the murder. You have to guess who did it, where the murder was done, and what was is done with. You go by trial and error throughout the house until you gather enough clues to guess it right.

The game itself is pretty durable. You have six token pieces, a six sided die, cards, a standard board, and paper sheets for you clue book. Unless something gets wet you should be set.

The game is educational because it makes you think. You have to keep track of your clues that you collect. You can also pick up other clues by paying attention to other peoples clues and who is proving them wrong. You can be quite savvy in the game and this part is quite educational and fun.

Clue is a classic game. People have been playing it for over 50 years. It's the classic game of who did it and it's a fun mystery. No game is ever the same and that makes it even more fun. No kid or adult should ever go there life without playing this game. So go get Clue and find out who did it.

Where else can you find such a great source of entertainment that provides real fun as well as an education in deductive reasoning?

CLUE offers a solid alternative to a boring night watching TV. And it certainly encourages family discussions as you play it. Now, that's something television doesn't offer!

Our kids are all grown up now, but we still get together frequently over the dining room table to have another CLUE evening.

The only criticism I have of the game is that the pads of detective notes are very hard to replace. I recently went into one local games store and was told they had been trying for two years to get a supply of the CLUE detective notes. Many customers had been apparently asking for them.

My solution was to simply create my own detective notes form on our home computer, using a graphics program.

Seems like we could have a supply-and-demand opportunity here.

Anyone listening out there in Parker Brothers land?

This is a board game that parents and children can play together...and both have fun.

What's in the game? The game board is filled with different rooms (kitchen, library, billard room etc) and spaces that lead you to the rooms..there are also two seceret passages. You have game pieces (all different colours) which represent the people ...who are all suspected of killing Mr. Boddy...was it Colonel Musterd? Mrs. Scarlett? or perhaps Mr. Green. To add, you have different weapons that could have led to Mr. Boddy's demise...the rope, revolver, candlestic etc.

All game players are given equil amounts of cards...each card has a person, weapon or a room on it. 3 cards (one room one weapon one person) are hidden in an envelope that cannot be opened until a player has decided he/she knows the answer. The player then looks at their cards and crosses off that person, room or weapon on his recording sheet...the player then can wonder about the other rooms etc

The players start rolling the dice, going into rooms and making accusations....

If you like detective work, try to find Mr. Boddy's killer!

You'll have fun!

Anyway, to play Scattegories, first you choose a letter and a list. Say the letter was "G" and the list included "boy names". Well, if I put Gregory, and so did one of my sisters, neither of us would get the point. If someone repeats your answer, you don't get any points. However, say I put "Gavin", Jordan put "Gregory" and Taryn put "Guy", then we'd all get the point. You have to make sure to think outside of the box (don't put the most popular band as an answer, or the city you live in!).