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Review of Say Whaaat?!
Blurb from the publisher: 'Say Whaat?! is a party game for 3-10 players. Guess what is more important for your friends and be surprised in what your friends think your priorities are! You can even play Say Whaaat in teams of 2. Say Whaaat provides great laughs but can also become a great conversation starter.'
What you get: Your EUR 20 or equivalent will buy you Say Whaaat?!, a light party game for 2 to 10 players that plays in around half an hour. The game is a reimplementation of What's It to Ya?, a game published in 2003 already.
In addition to the English rulebook the game also contains the following: 108 cards with 216 words, 50 Ranking cards, one Scoring board, and 10 wooden meeples.
In the interest of full disclosure, I had never played the earlier version of the game. Thus, I cannot readily compare the two.
Gameplay: The objective of the game is to earn the most points after all players have played once as a judge. Each player has five Ranking cards at his disposal, numbered from 1 to 5. In each round a player acts as a judge. Five cards are picked at random from the deck, and are placed face up on the table. Cards depict items, concepts or activities. Examples include soda, breakfast, dentist and shoes. The judge considers and secretly ranks the cards according to his personal beliefs and opinion. Then the other players follow suit, ranking the cards secretly themselves not however by their personal preference, but trying to guess how the judge ranked them himself. The judge reveals his ranking (the game recommends a one-by-one revelation for suspense), and the players reveal theirs in a similar way. Some explanation of why that choice is made adds to the experience. Points are scored for each rank card that matches the judge's. The player with the most correct guesses receives a bonus point.
The 6-round team game sees people divide themselves in teams of two. The players alternate roles between judge and guesser. The game works in the same way as the normal game, yet the guesser only tries to guess the order of his team's judge. Every correct answer is rewarded similarly to the basic game.
The strong points: Light games which come out more as social experiences are all the rage. Just like That's A Question!, Say Whaaat?! is about you guessing the honest replies of your coplayers. This is definitely not a bluffing game. Lying to any question ruins it, even though there are questions about what something might mean. Is happiness more important than breakfast? What fares better, personal hygiene or peace? The game asks impossible questions in order to provoke laughter based on the capacity (or incapacity) of the player to categorize such different concepts. I strongly believe that a spoon is ultimately more useful than a birthday, seeing how I use a spoon multiple times a day, not everybody however will agree with me on that. He doesn't have to; he only has to figure out what I believe to score points.
Like in That's A Question!, one of the most interesting and rewarding aspects of the game are the explanations that take place once the ranking is revealed. They bear no meaning on scoring, they do however create the context in which a particular answer was given and enhance the game's conversational, laid-back aspect. You might learn something new and interesting about your friends there.
I don't even mean to mention how ridiculously easy it is to understand and teach the game to others. You can go and play the game straight from reading this review. There really is nothing more to it.
The components of the game are of a high quality and will stand the test of time. The meeples are a nice touch, even though the game tilts more towards an experience. The publisher was thoughtful enough to leave space in the box so that the cards fit even if you decide to sleeve them. Good job.
The weak points: Say Whaaat?!'s premise is so similar to That's A Question! that they actually share the same main weak point: there is practically no game if you play this with people you don't know. It's just a meaningless, random affair that might or might not turn out to be fun or flirtatious depending on circumstances. It will not be the game's fault if you use it to make advances on someone at the wrong environment, nor if somebody takes offence by your choices.
Is this a game, or is it an activity? I don't care for labels. The point-related mechanism and winning overall does not mean much except from the laughs and bragging rights in the I-know-my-partner-better-than-you-know-yours context. I can't imagine gamers meeting for the explicit purpose of playing this game only.This is a filler, a party exercise, not a dedicated experience.
Explaining your choices creates a vicious circle. It is admittedly one of the funniest aspects of the game. 'What do you mean breakfast is 3rd? You never leave home without eating breakfast!' Yet, this is what makes the game stall. Thirty minutes for such a game, especially for larger groups, is too much. On the other hand, when played dry the game is utterly pointless. So politics rates lower than happiness, yet what is that supposed to mean if you don't bother to explain it?
Like all social games, Say Whaaat?! thrives when players bring their own fun into it. If you don't the experience will come out as substandard.
There is zero art in the game which comes out as visually neutral. The cards might be of a good quality, yet apart from a word on a yellow background there is nothing else on them.
Conclusion: Say Whaaat?! is for those occasions where you want to take a piss with your family, friends, or flirt with the person (or persons) of your choice. It is not a big deal, and even though the laughs are welcome, you don't play it to win. Choose carefully whom you play it with. You might learn more than you bargained for.
For more info on Say Whaaat?! and Drawlab Entertainment visit its website at http://www.drawlab.com.
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