Players: 3-5*
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: 2 (of 10)
* The rules (and publishers) say that you can just combine multiple decks together to play with multiples of 5 more people. I wouldn't particularly suggest it, because the game starts to accrue downtime, and it starts to get crazy trying to remember all the game rules, but maybe that's what you want in a party game ...
The Components
Wench! comes with a deck of 54 cards and a rulebook
The cards are marked in standard gaming style, from two to Ace in four suits, plus two Jokers, so theoretically you could use them for any card game you want, and I'm sure some people will. However, those numbers and suits appear only in the top left corner of each card. The rest of the cards are dedicated to the game of Wench! proper.
Each card includes an illustration, a name, and a rule. In addition, each card is marked as either a gold table card, a gold gears card, or a blue fast action card. (I would have preferred something a bit more explicit to remind you of what each card type is, but people figured it out after a few times around the table.)
The illustrations on the card are various full-color drawings of scantily clad women. There's nothing explicit here, but they run the gamut from erotic to funny and are generally sexy. Each of the pictures is unique for that card and related to the card name (and power). For example "Blindfold" shows a lady with shirt unbuttoned putting on a blindfold while "Detective" shows a lady in leather jacked and bikini with a gun. If you like pictures of sexy women, you'll like these, and if you're offended by them, you'll be offended.
The cards are slightly flimsy, and despite being a "drinking man's game" aren't waterproof, as we learned during play. (We saved the cards.)
Overall, the cards are fairly average quality, the illustrations are quite nice, and I would have liked to see a bit more usability on the cards. Mainly on the strength of Monte Moore's illustrations, the game earns an above average "4" out of "5" for Style.
The Gameplay
The object of Wench! is to empty your hand of cards. This is mainly done by sticking them to other people for doing things that they aren't allowed to.
Setup: Five cards are dealt to each player.
Play: On their turn a player either plays a gold card or else draws a card if they can't.
The gameplay is all in the cards. There are three types: gold table cards, gold gears cards, and blue fast action cards.
Gold Table Cards. These are played in front of a player. If he already has a table card in front of him, he must take that back into his hand when he plays the new one.
Most table cards institute rules which people must remember, and if they don't you get to give them a card as a penalty (though only once per turn). Examples include: "Schoolgirl" ("Players must ask, 'Do you want some candy?" before giving a player a player a card.") and "Patriot" ("Players must salute before ending their turn.").
Some change the rules of the game. For example: "Painter" ("When a player receives a card, they may have all players wearing the same color shirt draw a card. When this happens, discard a card.")
And some involve challenges, where you can discard a card if you can do something: "Surgeon" ("Take a challenge: if you don't touch anything until your next turn, discard a card.")
Gold Gear Cards. These have some instant effect and are discarded. Example: "Dealer" ("Shuffle all cards in players' hands and deal them back out, starting with the player to your left.")
Blue Fast Action Cards. These allow you to take an action out of turn if you catch another player doing something. Example: "U.F.O." ("If a player throws something without making a spaceship sound, give them this card.")
Winning: The game ends when someone plays their last card. Then everyone sees who the biggest loser is by adding up the value of their cards.
Drinking: This game is clearly intended as a drinking game, and in fact the game's subtitle is "The Drinking Man's Thinking Game". It's suggested that you take a drink whenever you violate a rule on a table card.
Relationships to Other Games
Wench! is a combination of two of the sillier categories of party games. On the one hand it's a "get people to violate rules, and make them do silly things in the process game", of which Curses (2001) is an example. On the other hand it's a "watch what other people do" game, of which Say What!? (2003) is an example. Wench! combines the mechanics fairly well, with the gold table cards falling into the first category of play, and the blue fast action cards falling into the second.
The Game Design
Wench! is a game that really defines itself by its experience rather than by its gameplay. The mechanics are a tiny bit clunky, and slightly more complicated than I'd like for a game of this sort, but after 5 minutes of play everyone will have them. Beyond that, whether the game works or not largely depends on how much people get into it.
Overall, if you're playing whole heartedly I think the experience is fun and engaging. Things shift around a lot, people do funny things, and this causes laughter. That's what this sort of game is supposed to do.
I rate it an average "3" out of "5" for Substance.
Conclusion
Wench! is a party game based upon observing other players and having to do funny things. If this is your sort of thing, this is a moderately well designed and humorous example of the genre, with pretty pictures of half-nekkid girls on the cards.
