I love playing board games. I really do. Especially at parties, with large groups of people. The improvisational sort of games are the best, especially when you have an eclectic group of people. Every year, my sister and I host the Annual Cook Sisters Holiday Party. The one game that we are sure to play every single year was Taboo.
Taboo is called The Game Of Unspeakable Fun. This is because of the rules of the game.
INSTRUCTIONS
There are two teams of any number of players. One person from each team goes together. The “giving” team is the point-scoring team. This person has a card with a word that they must get their team to guess. It gets a little tricky, as the person from the opposite team is the “buzzer.” They get to hold this annoying, pink and blue buzzer to indicate when the giving person breaks a rule. Underneath the word that the giving person has to make their team guess is five other words. These words are Taboo— words that the giving person cannot say. If the word that is being guessed or any of the words underneath are said, the buzzer will sound and the giving team will lose a point. (Sometimes, if you are really cutthroat, the buzzing team gets the point that they lost.) If the word is guessed, the giving team scores a point. If a word is guessed, they move on to the next card. After the timer runs out, the two people switch positions. The giving team becomes the buzzing team and vice versa.
Sound confusing? It isn’t. Honest. It’s like charades or Pictionary, only you get to speak and you’re guessing just one word. The only rules are that you can’t say the word (or any portion thereof) being guessed, nor can you say any of the words written beneath it. You must adhere to the timer. That’s it.
AGES
I recommend this for ages 14 and up, as there are a lot of words that are very difficult to guess. For example, I played on Christmas with my family, and I had “Depression” as a word to give. I don’t think that a 10 year old would be able to do that. This is definitely a game that you want to play with adults or young adults.
COST
I received Taboo as a gift. However, I know that you can purchase it at virtually any toy store and most definitely online. I have seen it selling from $10 up to $19.99. It depends on where you go to purchase it. Even if you spend closer to $20, it is well worth it. You will get hours of enjoyment from this game.
REFILLS?
I have not seen any refills or booster packs for the cards of this game. The game comes with 200 cards, so it isn’t likely that you will go through all of them in one sitting. That is, of course, unless you’re a freak like me and Dionne who played a 6 hour marathon game with some friends of ours in 1998. Good grief. Even still, people give different clues for different words. Every game, every round, is fresh and fun.
SOME MEMORABLE EXAMPLES
* During our marathon, Dionne was paired up with a flamboyant guy named Kevin. I was buzzing and Dee was giving. She said, “Um, okay, the Village People sing a song called In The…” and Kevin literally sang “NAVY!” I thought I was going to wet myself, we were laughing so hard.
* At one of the Cook Sisters Annual Holiday Parties, I was giving to my team, and my sister’s boyfriend was buzzing. I got a clue and rolled my eyes. I said, “I don’t know. Ben Hur?” Dionne blurted out “Chariot!” Yup, she was right.
* Immediately after giving my Ben Hur clue, I had another word. I was so thrown that Dee got “chariot” right, that the only clue I could mutter was, “Neil!” Dionne, not missing a beat, shouted, “Diamond!” Two in a row. Needless to say, we were accused of cheating. Truth be told, we didn’t cheat. We’re just best friends.
* The most points scored by any game of Taboo that I have ever played was 14. That is 14 correct guesses in 90 seconds. That averages to 1 word every 6.42 seconds. Of course, this was during the “Neil Diamond” game, with me and Dionne on the same team. Can you beat that?
IN CONCLUSION
I love Taboo: The Game of Unspeakable Fun. This is a must-have for any game-playing household. Bring it to parties. Play it with friends. One thing is for sure: You will never be bored!
