Dueling Board Game Reviews, Part II: Say Anything

After several rowdy games of Wits & Wagers, we took a peanut butter cookie break, regrouped, and began eying the next game on our list: Say Anything. Another party game. How would it hold up, though? Wits & Wagers had already been a fairly solid success that evening, but we knew it probably would be. We had more familiarity with Wits, and frankly, knew almost nothing about Say Anything.

Well the good news is that, as is the case with most party games, a 10-minute perusal of the rules is all it took before we were off and running with out first game. Here's how it went.

Disclosure: The makers of Wits & Wagers and Say Anything, 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. But no ice. It had melted.

Game Objective:

Say Anything has one prime objective: Guess what your game mates think and feel about different questions. On your turn, you become the "Selector" (which, when pronounced just right, has a very cyborg, Schwarzenegger sound to it.), draw a card from the (smallish) deck, and choose one of the questions to read to the group. "What's the best movie sequel of all-time?" or "What's the most useless thing students learn in school?". Most of the questions are based on entertainment and leisure topics, but a handful can be politically charged or more pointed. All the players then use dry erase pens and mini dry erase cards to write down what they think the person asking the question would give as an answer. Very Apples to Apples-ish. Except that instead of the "Selector" simply choosing the answer that's best suited to his/her tastes, the group also votes on which is most likely the best match.

I hope you know the people at your game table! Or this could be an awkward night...

Turn Mechanics & Game Play: 

The game starts once everybody has picked a color (which, by the way, comes with an associated icon that can be very disappointing to people who, say, like purple, but don't want to be the "shoe person" all night) and received a dry erase marker and writing board. After the "Selector" chooses their favorite question and reads it aloud, everyone scribbles an answer that best kisses the Selector's ass best matches the Selector's personality, and passes their writing boards into the center, where they are all read aloud.

Next the Selector uses the SELECT-O-MATIC 5000 (read: the little cardboard spinner) to secretly vote for his/her favorite answer. Then everybody uses two player tokens to rate which answer most likely pleased the Selector. Once the judgment is revealed to the whole table, points are distributed and recorded on a dry erase scoreboard. This continues for 12 rounds, when the game ends and the person with the highest point totals wins!

Dan's Question: "What organization would we be better off without?"

Out of the Box:

It's very evident that a similar level of care was put into the game design for Say Anything as there was for Wits & Wagers. The dry erase boards are thick and sturdy, including the score card, which is a refreshing and eco-friendly alternative to traditional scorepads of paper. Hooray! No more worrying about replacement score sheets either. Hooray!

The markers are perfectly nice, just as they were for Wits & Wagers. For details on their quality and their likelihood to cause freckling on your kitchen table, read our Wits & Wagers review HERE.

There were two major design issues with the game, though. First, was the lack of cards. I griped about this with Wits & Wagers, too. For such card-reliant gaming, it seems like players get about half the number of cards they really should. The deck will suffice as-is for a while, but if I want this game in my closet for years, or even decades, I'm going to run into problems. Meaning this game already has a shelf life....unless I can purchase expansions down the road.

The other major design flaw was the SELECT-O-MATIC 5000. Gods bless the name. It's a great name for a silly cardboard spinner. It really is. Someone had to have a strange sense of humor to come up with it. But really, it's just a cardboard circle with a flimsy plastic arrow that falls off easily. If future editions can secure the arrow to the cardboard better (a simple piece of plastic on the reverse side could anchor it nicely), then the issue would be resolved. Otherwise I have no other quibbles with the orange slice cardboard dial. Okay, maybe just one: What if we made it a little more scary sci-fi looking? You know, to match the name. Killer robots? Mind control helmets? No? Well, think about it. Get back to me.

Praise:

+The questions are delightfully specific--asking for the best beer, the most overrated song of all-time, or what you dreamed about last night. This is where similar party games have failed in the past. Vagueness leaves the door open for a wide range of answers, but more often the humor is in the details. The writers did a nice job.
+Since the beginning of time, party games have served one primal function: Break the ice at parties. Get people talking and introduce each other. Well this game is good at doing just that. If you ever want to get to know family and friends better, you'll learn all sorts of quirky nuances after playing a few rounds. And I have to say, it's less disturbing that I feared!

+Did I mention the silly cardboard spinner is called the SELECT-O-MATIC 5000? Yeah, that's pretty fantastic.
+I'll repeat that the use of a dry erase scoreboard is both healthy for our planet, and kind of fun. Just pick someone with legible handwriting to keep score, m'kay?
+The women had a ton of fun with this game. Call this a sexist observation, but the women seemed to have a keener insight (or maybe just more imagination?) into the minds of the other players. Well, we were certainly the loudest and the rowdiest. (The men were still debating the Wits & Wagers answers.)
+Things got a little....shall we say, blue? Yes, a tad inappropriate at times, but that was half the charm. When you're all adults, you can bend the questions in naughty ways. On its own though, the game is very PG, and can work for mature kids.
+On that same token, blue or not, the game can be downright FUNNY. If players are into this game, expect a lot of laughs. Example: One of the men (Dan) asked "What is the most annoying thing about being a man?" All the answers were submitted, and damnitall, we all answered "Being right all the time". Though it was noted that possible back-up answers included "ball itch" and "women getting the vote". (Hey, the latter was meant to be ironic considering these are two of the most forward-thinking men I know. I swear.)

Jen's Question: "What doesn't taste better with ketchup?"

Complaints:

-I'll start with the obvious and beat the dead horse just one more time: The SELECT-O-MATIC 5000 falls apart pretty easily. And despite it's humorous name, it's kind of a puzzling choice for the mechanic of selecting a favorite answer. I'm not sure if I love it or hate it...even if it didn't fall apart. Maybe if we had more killer robots...
-Once again, I think we get a bit short-changed with the deck of cards. There it is.
-Players who have a spouse or best friend seated at the game table hold a distinct advantage. Because our game table was comprised of two married couples, our betting rounds became pretty routine: Vote for the spouse's answer. That betting had a 90% success rate for the most part. This really blunts the tension and impact of the voting round, and could've been easily eliminated from our game if we wanted to go more casual. Outsiders and third wheels will find this awkward and possibly annoying.
-Yeah, it has a pretty bland title and theme. I have to keep glancing at the box to remember what it's called. I think with a creative and energetic theme, they really could've tapped into something quirky, weird, and funny. I think it was even on the tips of their tongues with the whole SELECT-O-MATIC thing. They just needed to run with it and let their freak flags fly a little more instead of being so generic.
-It's not a terribly unique party game. We've seen its ilk a few times before. I like some of the new twists, but this isn't revolutionary.

Overall:

Compared to Wits & Wagers, there was a LOT more laughing with this game. It was more casual and conversational, and really filled the role a party game is meant to fill. We had a blast. So with that noted, it's really hard to harp on some of the things I didn't like when I started to pick apart the experience the next day. Yes, it's not terrifically unique. Yes, the damn spinner falls apart. Yes, there are some flaws based on relationships and intimate knowledge of a partner.

But we had a good time!

And at the end of the day, for a party game, sometimes that's all that really matters. So yes, I'll be keeping this (wait, what's it called again?) Say Anything game in the Board Game Closet of Doom for quite some time. It'll be a lot of fun at holidays with the family, and sometimes if I need to lighten the mood with gamer friends. And I'd definitely serve this with cocktails every time. Just be prepared that if you do so, gamers are likely to draw some very rude pictures on their dry erase boards in between rounds. Which kind of makes the game even better....

Pimpability:

Oh, truly there is just one thing that is ripe for pimpin' in this game: SELECT-O-MATIC 5000!!! Let's attach this to a snarling robot head, or some funky piece of artwork. Ooh, or better yet, steam punk it! Yes! Throw away the plastic spinner and use copper wire and old dials. Lots of possibilities.

Game: Say Anything
Designer: Dominic Crapuchettes and Satish Pillalamarri
Published by: North Star Games, 2008
Players: 3-8
Playing Time: 30-45 min.
AIBG Age Recommendations: 13 and up
Average Retail Price: $25

Grade: B-