I purchased the game Wits & Wagers based on the video review by Scott Nicholson at Board Games with Scott. When the video review was over I knew I had found a new lunch time favorite for the guys to play at work. I ordered the game after the holidays from Time Well Spent, and we got a chance to play for the first time yesterday…did it live up to my expectations?
Let me jump to a very quick overview of this game. Basically, what you have here is a game of trivia combined with a bit of betting. Unlike most trivia games where you are hoping to get the answer 100% right, in this game you are hoping to get pretty close to the right answer (or at least be able to pick out the player who was pretty close). The questions all have numeric answers, and are not all easily obtained knowledge. Questions like How tall in feet was the tallest building in the world in 1900? Once everyone has made a guess, you line up those guesses on a betting grid. Players then bet chips on the answer they thing is closest without going over. The answer is then revealed and those who bet correctly get paid…everyone else loses their money.
Back to the games ability to live up to expectations. I would say that it did. Here was why this game intrigued me.
- This game only requires about 3 minutes of rules explanation and you are playing. The concepts and the mechanics are just so easy.
- This game uses a timer to keep things going, and plays very quickly (each round technically lasts 1 minute). It is a great game for lunch in this regard. We played three games yesterday. The game is played in 7 rounds, and each round plays in about 2 minutes including paying out bets and resetting the board for the next round.
- I don’t have many party games. This seemed like a party game I would really enjoy. I love Cranium Hoopla, and this is a game to go along with that.
The fact that we were able to play three games at lunch is unheard of. The fact that everyone had a good time is not so uncommon, but is certainly important. The fact that I taught the game without forgetting a single rule is amazing. Fact is, if you like trivia games, like some very light fun, this is a good game to pick up. I suggest you watch Scott’s video and see the game for yourself. The video is an excellent introduction to the game, and the game is so easy to pickup you will know if it is a game for you by the time the video is over.
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