Friday 5: Games People Play

How good are you at word games, and what’s a word game you really enjoy?

I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at these, but I haven't played any except Scrabble, and every time I've played Scrabble I've come somewhere in the middle because someone aggressively outmaneuvered me to get to, or to block, the bonus tiles.

How good are you at trivia games, and what’s your strongest category?

It depends on the game. Like, a copy of Trivial Pursuit from thirty years ago (and I suspect that might be how old my parents' copy of Trivial Pursuit is!) is not going to be my strong suit. Of course, there is something of a horseshoe effect with these things: there was a burger joint/diner near my college that included a handful of Trivial Pursuit: Boomer Edition cards at each table and out of my peers, I tended to clean up when it came to the arts and entertainment category, at least, just because of my movie and music taste.

But Best Chemist Friend and I were a two-woman trivia team for a while and consistently did well enough to win prizes, if not actual first place, until we got other people to join us, so I think that says it all. I don't know what my best category would be, but without a doubt my weakest category is sports.

How good are you at spot-the-difference or what’s-wrong-with-this-picture games?

Considering that the only ones I've played are the super obvious ones in Highlights for Children, I don't think I can really judge my ability based on my past experience.

How good are you at memory games, and have you ever played Simon?

Of course I've played Simon! But what does it mean to be good at Simon? I don't have enough data to really say.

Otherwise I play a lot of memory with my students. Confession: in the interest of making the activity maximally educational, I deliberately throw the game whenever we play.

What’s your favorite party game of all time?

I have a couple!

Since I have an astonishing memory for song lyrics, I always really liked playing Encore!. (My copy is still at my parents' house, now that I stop to think about it. The things that slip your memory when you're packing to move out!) I'm also preternaturally good at Tri-Bond, though I guess it's up in the air whether that counts as a party game? The same could be said for the aggressive and competitive Munchkin series.

Thanks to Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series, I've found and fallen in love with Dixit. Apples to Apples is always a good time and I confess to getting a kick out of Cards Against Humanity, though when I've played with others there has always been the house rule that you're allowed to discard anything you feel is beyond the realm of good taste, no questions asked.

A new favorite I've encountered in Sweden is Orangino, which is maybe the most Swedish party game ever developed. The whole point of the game is to determine how well others know you, and how well you can gauge other people's perception of you. The game consists of cards with different personality traits and descriptions; you rate yourself (from 1 to 4) in secret, while everyone else does too, and people get points for matching your rating. There's no English version as far as I can tell, which is a shame because as dorky and feel-goody as it sounds, it's also a lot of fun! (Maybe a future translation project?)