Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I love this kind of board game - it's basically a variation on Balderdash, except instead of providing your own definitions to words, you come up with your own punchline/quip for a cartoon. One person per round has to not only pick their personal favorite among the players' captions, but also has to match up each caption to who they believe wrote it. Don't let the New Yorker name scare you off, thinking this would be too highbrow for many people - the cartoons are broad enough (and family-friendly) for players of all ages.
It's not easy, which of course is what makes it worthwhile. It's tough coming up with something funny to say about random cartoons - especially the ones that aren't particularly funny looking on the surface. The timer runs only 45 seconds, which I humbly suggest you either A) ignore the the first few times you play the game, or B) maybe turn over twice to give everyone 90 seconds. I understand the importance of having a time limit - each player has exactly the same length of time. If you have to scribble down a one-word caption because you're out of time, so be it. But 45 seconds goes by really quick - unless you're the wittiest person at the table, you'll probably spend most of that time staring blankly at the picture on the card.
Also your mileage will vary depending on the personal gameplay style of yourself, your family, and/or your friends. This is quite honestly the type of game that could possibly result in a lot of hurt feelings if any players get too analytical about other players' work. We had some of that when my family played over the holidays - too much nitpicking of what is or is not funny to people can really wear on the nerves. Best, in my opinion, to kick back and enjoy it - don't overthink the cartoons. I just think this kind of game is more fun when people aren't taking it too seriously.
The other weird thing about the gameplay is the way board-movement is structured. There is a single six-sided die that each player is supposed to cast prior to their turn. It's hard to explain without seeing the board, but we ended up discarding the die altogether and having each player advance (or not) based entirely upon the results of their matches. (The player who has their caption chosen as favorite is allowed to advance two spaces, the player who is matching each caption moves one space for each correct match.) Rolling the die each time - in addition to moving spaces based on correct matching - will result in a VERY quick game.
It should be noted that the game simply won't be as much fun with less than at least 4 players. I'd say 5 or 6 players is ideal, more variety and harder to match up all the captions. Definitely a recommended family board game.
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The New Yorker Cartoon Caption GameThe New Yorker Cartoon Caption Board Game is based on The New Yorker's popular Cartoon Caption Contest. This New Yorker board game is one of immeasurable creativity, unmatched wit and uproarious humor... and you are responsible for, well, most of it! If a picture speaks a thousand words, surely you can come up with a few of your own in this hilarious caption board game. The object is to guess which player wrote which caption for a given cartoon. And don't worry about not being funny -- in a board game like this, even the 'bad' captions are part of the fun!
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