With their party game Say When, Winning Moves, came so close to being right. But a breakdown in quality control undermines what is otherwise a fine game paradigm.
We’re effectively dealing with another trivia game here. Each team (up to four) gets a slick little memo board and a smartly-designed dry-erase marker with a sponge eraser on the other end. Question cards of the blue-ink-on-red-background variety slip into a plastic holder with the requisite red window. Extra credit to Winning Moves for superlative components.
One team reads a question aloud, and then each team confers about their response. If the reading team is in the lead, everyone writes their answers on their tablets and reveals them simultaneously. Otherwise, teams answer sequentially around the table with the reading team getting last licks. This is important because of the nature of the answers and scoring.
The answer to each question is a number, and the team closest to the correct number scores points depending on how close they got (4 for an exact match, 2 for coming close, 1 for being closest but not within the 2-pt range). If teams answer sequentially, you’ve got something resembling the contestant bidding on The Price is Right- each team can opt to answer just one above or below a preceding team’s answer, thereby cutting off the opposition’s zone of success. You can also duplicate another team’s answer, with a bonus point going to the earlier team if that answer winds up scoring. Simultaneous answering removes this advantage.
The first team to score ten points claims the win.
Most questions are of the variety that nobody really knows the answer to (how long is the Trans-Siberian Pipeline), and these are the most entertaining. Knowing the answer isn’t fun-- guessing the answer is where it’s at. Debating with your teammates and narrowing the possibilities is a delightful process of logical analysis and estimation, leaving room for widely varying responses.
Less successful are questions which have a much narrower window of possible values (such as years). Worst of all are the questions which obviously have a very small number as the answer or to which someone might reasonably know the exact answer (how many feet from the hoop is a free-throw line?). With all the statistical data floating around these days, it would have been a simple matter to fill the game with more interesting questions. Of course you’re free to reject any question you don’t like, but the need to do so spoils some of the fun. The scoring system is also a bit lopsided, as someone can win the game with just two correct answers.
As party games go, Say When! could have been a home run. Instead it’s a solid hit and worth a look.