The story of the game company All Things Equal, based in Miami Beach, is one of hard work and sheer passion. Eric Poses, president of the company, went on a 16-week cross-country drive selling his game Loaded Questions out of the trunk of his car. This article reviews four games from All Things Equal.
The flagship title Loaded Questions is all about answering interesting questions and matching the answers with the right players. The game is for four to six players and lasts about 30 minutes. A board with colored spaces progressing from start to finish is placed on the table.
On a turn, a player rolls a die and advances on the board. The four different-colored spaces on the board determine which questions can be asked to the other players. There are tons of questions and some are quite thought-provoking.
For example, a player is ready to go, rolls the die and lands on a yellow space. He or she draws a card and reads the yellow question on either side. "What is something that should never be brought to show and tell?" the card reads.
All the players who did not move that turn must answer the question. They submit their answers and the player to the left of the active player reads them. The active player then tries to match the answers to the players at the table. Correct matches earn one movement point. The first one to advance to the last "win" space on the board wins the game.
Loaded Questions is one of the better party games out there on the market. The game mechanism that allows for matching players with answers is quite fun. Even if a player makes up crazy answers, a person can usually figure out who wrote what. But there are always surprises. Creative people and those who like to laugh will love this game.
The Awkward Family Photos Movie Line Caption Game is quite a mouthful for a game title but this clever game is all about the funny photos in the box. From four to eight players compete against each other to match the most creative movie captions with the craziest pictures.
One player is the movie critic who selects a double-sided photo and decides which side will be in play. He or she places the photo face up on the table and all the other players get a good look. Each player has a hand of eight movie line cards and, based on the photo, each selects a movie line card that best describes the photo and places it in an anonymous pile.
When the pile has a card from each player (except the critic), the critic shuffles them and then takes a look. The critic decides which movie line card best describes the funny photo. For example, the photo for the round is a baby with an unhappy face sitting in a tiny red wagon with only a diaper on. All players submit a movie line card and the best card is selected. It reads, "Go ahead, make my day!"
The person who submitted the selected movie line card is the winner that round and gets to keep the photo and winning card. When a single player has collected five photos, the game is over and that player wins.
This game is almost guaranteed for laughter. Most of the photos are a bit weird but this only adds to the game. Players will be stretched to be creative when matching cards with photos. And every player gets a turn being the critic. It's fun and funny wrapped in a yellow box.
Similar in some respects to other games in this review, Mr. Hu said What? is a game about following rules, being creative and matching phrases with the people who wrote them. The game plays in about 30 minutes and accommodates four to six players.
To begin, players take an answer sheet, pencil and ancient Chinese secret card. They also get a menu with several Chinese dishes listed. A spinner sits on the table indicating which Chinese dish will be selected for that turn. The dish determines the rules that are in play.
One player is the judge for the round and reads either side of his or her ancient Chinese secret card. The secret is a phrase with a portion removed. Players will fill this blank portion by writing funny answers.
For example, it's Jenny's turn. The spinner is pointing to sweet and sour shrimp (which means an adjective must be used in the answer that players write) and she reads one of her ancient Chinese secret cards. It says, "Life is a game best played with --------------?" Players then go to work coming up with an answer while obeying the rule in play. John writes, "a flying duck." Mary writes, "bouncing balls." And Ryan writes, "a wad of money, a lime-green Ferrari and a quick-draw pistol."
The person on the right of the judge gathers up the answers and reads them aloud. The active player chooses his or her favorite and then tries to match all the answers with the person who wrote them. A fortune cookie is awarded to the judge who identifies each person's answer and the person who wrote the response the judge liked the best scores three fortune cookies. Fortune cookies are kept track of on the score sheets.
The game can end when all three ancient Chinese secrets are used on a card or when a player fills in all fortune cookies on his or her play sheet. The person with the most fortune cookies wins.
What Mr. Hu Said What? lacks in originality, it makes up for in simplicity and fun. It's cool that each player has a menu of Chinese dishes that describes the rules for that round, and this holds interest by changing all the time. Creativity is a huge advantage in this game and being the judge changes things up even when losing. It's an interesting take on similar games in this genre.
In the game Meet Your Match the goal is to solve a puzzle consisting of nine pieces. Sound easy? Nope. On each puzzle piece there are four edges and on each edge is half of one of the difficult brothers Don, Dick, Dale and Duke.
Players try to match a bottom half and top half of a single brother while forming a three-by-three grid. The clothes and body must match. However, once one edge matches, another edge changes. Still not a fit? Keep working and swapping pieces.
Sometimes the pieces will flow together easily in about 10 minutes but other times frustration sets in and the pieces go flying across the room. It's a simply designed puzzle that can be played again and again.
For almost 20 years All Things Equal has manufactured its games entirely within the United States. That's rare in this industry. A person can find these titles at various big-box retailers such as Target, Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and others. If these games sound interesting, take a look at them in more detail on the company's website.