The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Imagine the worst fast-food joint you've ever been in. Now imagine that you and your friends all work there. Now, imagine it's the end of the day, and you really want to finish up your tasks and go home. There are just a few little complications.

First, you're dead. So are all your friends. Sort of the "Fast Food Store of the Living Dead."

Second, there's only one brain for the whole lot of you to use. Yes, you do occasionally need a brain to work at a fast-food place. Your objective is to get the Brain for as long as you need it to finish all your tasks.

The tasks are represented by a variety of cards, some of which require the Brain and some of which don't. (Most of them do...at least the ones with any positive effect.) When you complete a task, you simply follow the directions on the card (e.g. "Draw a card", "Whoever has the Brain gives it to the person on their left"). Each task also has a number of hands it requires to use. Naturally, a player can only play 2 one-handed tasks or one two-handed task each turn.

Whenever you play a card that requires the Brain, there's a good chance you'll drop the Brain after the task is done, ending your turn immediately.

Just reading through the cards is good for some amusement. Some of them are pretty entertaining. Some favorites are "I'd like that with NO BUN," "Are You Still Serving Breakfast?" ("Uh, you mean, like, today, or in general?"), "Fly! Be FREE!", and, my favorite, "I Found This in the Back," whch reads "From now on, you have three hands."

Unfortunately, the game itself isn't as entertaining. The game just doesn't have the reach-out-and-grab quality that others do. Players tend to lose interest after a while and hope that the game will end soon, which I've never seen in any other game from the same company. It's not really something that can be played over and over and be just as fun every time (see: Falling).

Sure, it's cheap ($5), but you'll probably just look through the cards once, have a lot of laughs reading them, play the game a couple of times, and then resign it to the shelf in favor of more engrossing fare. If you're looking for a humorous card game to play with some friends, try Falling or The Great Dalmuti instead.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Give Me The Brain
Author: James Ernest Category: Card game Company/Publisher: Cheapass Games Line: n/a Cost: $5.00 Page count: n/a ISBN: n/a Playtest Review by Sam Lindsay-Levine on 06/03/99. Genre tags: none	Imagine the worst fast-food joint you've ever been in. Now imagine that you and your friends all work there. Now, imagine it's the end of the day, and you really want to finish up your tasks and go home. There are just a few little complications. First, you're dead. So are all your friends. Sort of the "Fast Food Store of the Living Dead." Second, there's only one brain for the whole lot of you to use. Yes, you do occasionally need a brain to work at a fast-food place. Your objective is to get the Brain for as long as you need it to finish all your tasks. The tasks are represented by a variety of cards, some of which require the Brain and some of which don't. (Most of them do...at least the ones with any positive effect.) When you complete a task, you simply follow the directions on the card (e.g. "Draw a card", "Whoever has the Brain gives it to the person on their left"). Each task also has a number of hands it requires to use. Naturally, a player can only play 2 one-handed tasks or one two-handed task each turn. Whenever you play a card that requires the Brain, there's a good chance you'll drop the Brain after the task is done, ending your turn immediately. Just reading through the cards is good for some amusement. Some of them are pretty entertaining. Some favorites are "I'd like that with NO BUN," "Are You Still Serving Breakfast?" ("Uh, you mean, like, today, or in general?"), "Fly! Be FREE!", and, my favorite, "I Found This in the Back," whch reads "From now on, you have three hands." Unfortunately, the game itself isn't as entertaining. The game just doesn't have the reach-out-and-grab quality that others do. Players tend to lose interest after a while and hope that the game will end soon, which I've never seen in any other game from the same company. It's not really something that can be played over and over and be just as fun every time (see: Falling). Sure, it's cheap ($5), but you'll probably just look through the cards once, have a lot of laughs reading them, play the game a couple of times, and then resign it to the shelf in favor of more engrossing fare. If you're looking for a humorous card game to play with some friends, try Falling or The Great Dalmuti instead. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Give Me The Brain