Faux-Cabulary review

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pic887767_md[1]By Paco Garcia Jaen

Fwaposaurus. Hypobushy. Bangoism… What would appear to be a keyboard gone mad or a writer gone drunk, it’s nothing else than the new nouns for new things you never thought needed a name. And what fun is to make them!

Faux-Cabulary is a party game for three to seven players by Out of the Box Games, orientated to the whole family and that can be learned in less than 5 minutes, and played by pretty much anyone.

The box contains a deck of cards with definitions or questions, 21 cubes with letters on each side and 7 covers to host the cubes once the players decide to use them. Also a rules manual, though I should call it a rules-sheet, it is an extremely rules-light game.

The premise of the game is extremely simple. Every round, a player acts as the “judge” for that round. The judge reads the definition in one of the cards the box comes with and the players have to come up with a word, in secret, out of three randomly chosen cubes. Once the players have decided what they want to give the judge, they put their words forward. The judge has to look away at this point, though. The reason being that he or she should remain impartial. Then the words are revealed and the one that the judge considers to be the most appropriate gets the point.

The component are as good as they need to be. The cubes are hollow and light, but solid enough to endure good play times. the cars are well laminated and rather thick, so they won’t get bent any time soon (unless you make an effort!). The plastic covers are a bit flimsy, but then, they don’t need to be the bees-knees of the gaming world either. They do the job, though they’re the most delicate part of the whole set.

After-play conclusion

We played a few times and we did get quite a few hilarious words that helped us keep going with it. The game is nothing profound or strategic and I doubt anyone will ever get hooked on it. However, as party games go, this is a pretty nifty on to have around.

One word of warning, though. Although the game is rated for the whole family, some of the words that can be formed with the cubes can sound offensive to some people. They are not, I hasten to add. All the words you can create are totally ridiculous and unrecognised by anyone else and there are no F words or C words to be found anywhere. Personally I rather hear children voicing words coming out from Faux-Cabulary than from most parent’s mouths! However if you’re sensitive about this subject, you might want to have a few goes at the game first before playing with your children.

Did I like this game? I sure did and so did my friends. I will be only so pleased and happy to get it out when I have family around. Quite honestly, I rather play this game than Charades any time of the day or night and I think this game will be absolutely perfect at Christmas when we’ve finished our meals and the TV is airing something none of us is interested in.

Oh, I’ll also get this game out after 2 or 3 beers. And if you’ve had three beers, please stop drinking… you won’t benefit from this game (or from life) if you’re drunk.

A success for a silly game that makes you sound even sillier! 3 Stars!

 

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