Tag: word games

5 Great Word Board Games

5 Great Word Board Games

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re going to do something a little different with this board game list. It’s not a list of starter board games of a specific type. If you want us to continue the starter board game series, let us know. It’s not a top 5 or top 10. Nope. This is a list of 5 great board games with a specific style. Today’s list is 5 Great Word Board Games.

Seeing as this isn’t a top 5 list, the games won’t be in any order. We’re also going to try and stick to different kinds of games within the same style, so this list of great word board games won’t be five different versions of Scrabble…hopefully. Without any further ado, here are the games.

Paperback

Paperback combines the idea of a traditional word board game (like Scrabble) with a deck-building game. Players must make words with the letter cards they draw (or a combination of letters on a card like “Th” or “Qu”) and they earn money with which to purchase victory point cards or more letter cards to add to their deck for future turns. Paperback balances its two elements well. A player who can slay at word games can dominate that section, but a player who has more experience and can shift their strategy to the cards present in the deck-building array (you’ll have different cards most turns) can use that to their advantage.

Paperback allows multiple paths to victory and that sets it apart from a lot of other board games centered around words.

Sixes Tabletop Game

SiXeS

We recently reviewed SiXeS. (If you want to see that review, follow this link.) So, there’s a high probability that SiXeS would make this list. If you don’t want to read the review, that’s okay. We’ll break down the gameplay. SiXeS plays a lot like Scattergories with a twist. Players alternate turns where they want to match the answers to specific questions with their opponents with turns where they want to give unique answers. Unlike other games like Scattergories, SiXeS keeps the gameplay fresh by varying its gameplay each round.

Letter Go!

Like Paperback, Letter Go! combines a word game with another game type. But Letter Go! goes in a completely different direction. It combines a word game with a pseudo-dexterity game. While Paperback’s turns can be slow and methodical, Letter Go! is a real-time race to see who can spell a word using the cards at their disposal while following a rule on their dry-erase board. Some of these rules dictate that you must use your non-dominant hand. Others may say the word’s letters need to be wavy or look like flowers. Even more say that you must repeat all consonants you use but not the vowels.

Letter Go! shakes up the common word game. Just because you can think of a word quickly doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to also obey whatever rule card you draw. Talk about leveling the playing field.

Codenames

I know. I know. Codenames was everywhere for a few years. It’s the gamer’s word game, but there’s a good reason for that. Codenames melds several elements in a fun way. It combines the lateral thinking of TriBond. As the clue-giver, a series of cards with words printed on them stand before you. You can only give a single-word clue accompanied by a number (the number of the cards that match the clue you gave). Your teammates must guess which cards they believe match the clue you gave. But beware, there’s an assassin card. If your teammates choose that card, your team automatically loses.

Codenames has a nice push-your-luck element. As the clue-giver, do you add an extra word or two and make your clue broader? As the guessers, do you continue picking words you think fit the clue or stop after getting one correct? The other team is racing against yours to guess their words. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Choose wisely.

Say Anything

Say Anything is for those who like games like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity. I don’t care for Cards Against Humanity that much, and I got as much out of Apples to Apples without needing to play it any longer. Both Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity use pre-printed question and answer cards. There are only so many word combinations you can come up with, but what if you could fill in the blank and provide your own answers? That’s exactly what Say Anything does. You no longer need to find the perfect joke answer for a question. You can write your own joke.

When you’re tired of the same old answers or you don’t want to buy expansion decks for Cards Against Humanity, try buying one copy of Say Anything. The only downside is that you may need to be sober—or at least coherent—to answer the questions.

Say Anything wraps up our collection of great word board games. I’m sure that there are plenty of your favorites that didn’t make the list. Be sure to let us know about them in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Sixes Review

Tabletop Game Review: SiXeS

Published on by Kyra2 Comments

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We haven’t done too many tabletop game reviews over the past several years—before our Marvel United review last month (here’s the link for that review if you missed it). Today’s review is a much shorter game, but one that packs a punch: SiXeS.

Played over six rounds, SiXeS is a party game where players predict what their opponents will write that will match—or not match—depending on whether you’re in a “match” round or a “unique” round. The player with the most points after six rounds, wins.

Before we proceed, we’ll prep the party and discuss SiXeS’s details.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Steven Poelzing and Rick Soued
Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games and Hobby World
Date Released: 2016
Number of Players: 3-8
Age Range: 12 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 15-20 minutes

Game Mechanisms

Party Game
Card Game
Word Game

Sixes Tabletop Game

Game Setup

SiXeS consists of three decks of cards: “Match,” “Unique,” and “Lightning” decks and a scoring pad. Each player gets a sheet from the scoring pad and a writing utensil. Shuffle all three decks. Each card is double-sided with one side easier than the other. SiXeS’s rulebook shows which side to use for each round.

You’ll also need a means to keep time; you can use a minute-long sand timer (SiXeS doesn’t include one) or set your phone’s timer for a minute. Some of the rest of “Game Setup” can fall under “Game Flow,” so let’s continue with the next section.

Game Flow

On the scorecard, you’ll find rounds 1-6 marked. Each round has spaces for six answers. Play begins with a “Match” card. After the timer starts, players will think of things that fit the category’s criteria (this will be the word or words printed on the card). For instance, a category like “Sandwiches” can yield answers like “Peanut Butter and Jelly,” “Hero,” or even “Knuckle.” You’re going to have to match at least one other person’s answer at the table, so you may not want to get fancy with which words you use during a “Match” round.

Players find out if they matched anyone else at the table by sharing their answers. You receive a point for each answer that matches another player. If all six of your answers have at least one match, you receive a “Crooked Six.” That’s a seven. You get seven points if you match all six answers. I guess the designers wanted to maintain SiXeS’s theme by calling a seven a “Crooked Six.”

The objective changes with “Unique” rounds. “Unique” rounds play a lot like Scattergories, but you aren’t forced to begin each of your answers with the same letter. In “Unique” rounds, you receive points for each answer that matches no one at the table. You can also earn a “Crooked Six” if no one else puts down your valid answer.

The final card type, “Lightning” has six different categories. You will answer each category in the order in which they appear on the card, and players will try to match answers with at least one other player at the table.

The player with the most points at the end of six rounds wins.

Review

SiXeS resembles Scattegories but with a twist. I like how the rounds vary. As a result, I find it easier to continue playing multiple rounds of SiXeS over Scattegories.

I have yet to play a game of SiXeS that doesn’t include someone getting miffed that no one else chose their cromulent answer or at least one round ending with multiple people unable to fill in all six spots on their scorecard. SiXeS can be frustrating at times but also engages a group of gamers. It’s a great ice-breaker game. It fits into the party game category and a “getting-to-know-you” game. I can see companies using SiXeS as a morale-building tool.

SiXeS’s box says you can play 3-8 players. I wouldn’t recommend three players. Four and five players can be a lot of fun, but SiXeS’s works the best at higher player counts. There’s nothing preventing someone from playing SiXeS with more than eight players. No one’s stopping you from handing out extra scorecards and writing utensils.

That said, beyond the eight-player mark is where SiXeS either becomes super easy and super hard, depending on the round. Matching one out of ten or eleven players would be easy—too easy—but coming up with a unique answer among ten or eleven players can be nearly impossible. I’d stick to as close to eight players as I can. You could convince me into a nine or ten-player game of SiXeS, but the game begins to crumble under the weight of eleven or more players.

Verdict

Easy to learn and fast to play with great replayability, SiXeS gives Scattegories a much-needed twist. It’s also highly portable. I won’t mind taking SiXeS with me on future trips.