Dueling Board Game Reviews, Part I: Wits & Wagers

Here we go. The mood is set. We're ready to play an award-winning party game that has stuck in our brains since we first saw it at a small local game con last summer: Wits & Wagers. Last time we played it was amongst a group of about 10 other people who would shuffle in and out of seats between turns. This time though, we're on home turf in our own kitchen ready to play with a smaller group. How will the party game hold up? The people sitting down to play aren't the typical Aunt Harriet party game players who hoot and howl at the antics of  Scene It! or High School Musical: The Game. We're seasoned gamers who know board games and party games inside and out. So let's see just how Wits & Wagers stands up to our very snooty standards.

Disclosure: The makers of Wits & Wagers, North Star Games, contacted this blog's author about creating this review, and for the purposes of making these reviews possible, copies of the games were provided by the game manufacturer.

Play Scenario:

This review is based on three initial plays of the game, with four players for each game--two men and two women. Served with cocktails. On ice.

Game Objective:

This is a highly interactive party game in which players are asked a question, testing their trivial knowledge of all things numbers-related--from measurements and time spans to famous dates in history and popular opinion percentages. For example, "How many pounds did the heaviest ever sumo wrestling champion weigh?" or "In what year did Michael Jackson first perform his 'moonwalk' dance?" Guess the closest, without going over (Price is Right style!), and you score chips. That's the first element of the game. The second element is betting. Once everyone has submitted a guess, you have to bet on whose answer you think is most likely to be correct. Collect the most chips by game's end, through clever guesses and strategic betting, to win the game.

Turn Mechanics & Game Play: 

As with many party games, there is an "it" person who acts as emcee for the current turn. In this case, it's the "Question Reader". (Kind of a boring title, right? I mean, compared to games like Pictionary where you get to be called a "Picturist"! Much cooler. Professional sounding. Like you had to go to Picturist school and get a Picturist degree.) Anyway, the Question Reader draws a card and reads the question aloud to all of the players, who then secretly write their best guess on a mini dry erase card (dry erase markers included). Even the Question Askerist (??...I'm trying) gets to participate.

Once all the dry erase cards are submitted to the center mat, they're revealed, (note that I'm using "reveal" as a verb here. Listen to me people, it is NOT a noun. Do you hear me? "Reveal" is Not a Noun.) and then sorted numerically and placed on the green betting mat. Notice in the picture that the betting spread changes depending on how far out your answer is. It's a nice touch.

Next comes the betting. Everyone places their bets, to start with using two marker chips matching their player color that can never be lost. Bet with confidence since they'll always come back to you no matter how much you blow. Place your chips on whatever answer sounds the most reasonable (spreading your bet on up to two different guesses). There's also a space at the end of the mat for betting on "Smaller than the Smallest Guess"...just in case you think everyone overshot (it's like bidding $1 on The Price is Right). No rule says you have to bet for your own answer, and let's face it, I often didn't.

When the correct answer is revealed by the Questionologist, the person acting as banker pays out plastic poker chips, which can then be re-wagered to make your bets as ballsy as you dare, or can be made into neat and tidy stacks right in front of you. Then game play continues for a total of 7 rounds of questions. That's when the game ends and all chips are totaled.

Out of the Box:

This game has a pretty nice production value. The glossy dry-erase cards are thick and sturdy cardboard, and some care clearly went into the design of the logos and graphics used on all the pieces.

The felt betting mat is an especially nice addition, though (as you can see in photos), it does tend to crease and wrinkle due to natural folding in the box. In the future, instead of folding it tightly to fit in its designated box space, I may wrap it more loosely and set it on top of the set, even if it means the box top floats a bit. It would be worth it if the game mat holds up for that many more months or years.

The dry erase markers worked very well...even if the (unnecessary) pen clips snap easily when fiddled with. Fair warning to doodlers though, that ink really is strong stuff! Someone who, say, decided to hastily jot game notes on a Christmas napkin for the sake of a game review, might find later that the marker ink bled through the napkins and stained the wooden table underneath. I've scrubbed for two weeks, and my table's still freckled with black ink. Gaming scars. I guess I'd rather that, than having wussy markers that dry out quickly. Heavily used dry erase cards will start to develop that cloudy gray residue that never quite erases. No big whoop.

Praise:

+This game is intellectually stimulating. And unlike so many other party games that test your mental prowess, this one leaps beyond the boundaries of vocabulary. A fundamental knowledge of math, measurements, geography, history, and pop culture will aid your game.
+On the flip side, expertise and knowledge are not required. Most of your guesses will be wild stabs in the dark, so it's hard to look like a dunce (but not impossible!).
+The betting portion of the game is a natural fit and, frankly, elevates the game. Not only must you make a decent showing of guesstimating your answer, but then you have to gauge your opponents' abilities and can win or lose based on how much you trust the knowledge of the people at the table.
+The betting payout system is another elevating factor. By increasing the payout for people who take bigger risks, the game becomes more strategic and risky. It was a smart mechanic to add.
+The game plays well with four people, even though the instructions hype that the game is best with six or more. Pshaw, I say! Four works pretty darn well. (Three might be iffy though.)
+The timer with the green sand was a nice touch. It tickled me that it matched the betting mat. Hey, sometimes it's the little things...
+This is a party game that is appealing to men. In my anecdotal experience, I find women tend to gravitate toward party games much more than men. In this case, the chest-thumping men enjoyed the game the most. There were a lot of evil laughs and plenty of smack talk. Especially from Dan, who, frankly, ran away with all the games we played. 

Complaints:

-The game needs a round counter. See, each time a new round begins, the Questioneer needs to read the question number that relates to which round it is. (ie for Round #3, read Question #3.) When your group is rowdy and unfocused (as a good party game night should be!), it's so easy to lose track, and it gets annoying trying to figure out which round it is. A simple round counter would be easy enough to include (maybe printed right on the betting mat?). We ended up using a 10-sided die as a counter in later games, and I recommend the same to any rowdy gamers.
-The game only comes with 700 questions. It sounds like a lot, but that's a pretty small stack of cards. It's not surprising that the game maker advertises right on the box body that you can keep playing with their "Expansion Pack 1". Harumph. I mean, I'm glad that expansion packs are available, but I would've expected the game to come with double as many cards as it did.
-Wits & Wagers requires just enough basic knowledge that truly stupid people will be exposed as such, and will be embarrassed. At the game con where I was introduced to the game, someone guessed that the Civil War ended in 1920. Oops. Yeah, that was awkward. I shouldn't have laughed outloud. Don't play with really dim bulbs.

Overall:

This is a great party game for a wide variety of occasions. Seasoned gamers will have a blast busting this out to mix things up and have a more casual game night, but it will also work well for non-gamers. Families will bicker, laugh, and play together over this game, and it is well-suited for most parties. In fact, I'd recommend it to most guests, provided they're sans children. There's no adult content that prohibits kids from playing, but wee ones (I'd say even as old as 13) probably won't have the guesstimation skills needed to make a real go of it, and will get frustrated. Save this for grown-up time.

So, good for the masses. With all of that being said though, I'm a little leery of how quickly we'll burn through the deck of cards that come with the original game set, so that may prevent me from pulling out the game as quickly as I might otherwise. It's like Elaine and the Sponge--I have to save the cards for gamers who are really worthy.

The bottom line is that this game's a keeper. It's a very accessible, thinking person's party game, and it is likely to stand the test of time and be just as playable and fun for years and years. Unlike so many other party games, this one will challenge and push you without nervous buzzers or ticking timers. And because it's so interactive and starts a conversation so well, it will flow smoothly into an evening of socializing, instead of shutting down the party for a game break.

Now I just have to figure out how long I can hold out being cheap before getting the expansion packs...

Pimpability:

True, one doesn't normally pimp party games, but as mentioned above, a good D-10 aids the game as a round counter. I might also add a green visor and a bubblegum cigar for the dealer. Just for fun.

Game: Wits & Wagers
Designer: Dominic Crapuchettes
Published by: North Star Games, 2005
Players: 4-20
Playing Time: 30-45 min.
AIBG Age Recommendations: 16-60
Average Retail Price: $30-35

Grade: B+