Oh hey, look, it's me! V!
I review board games. Today, I'll be reviewing Trophies, by Facade Games.
Trophies is probably the lightest game I'll ever review, but for a first post, that's fitting. Essentially, it's an attempt to repackage the spirit of common word-based folkgames into a more organized and stylish form. If you're lucky, you grew up with some of these, like "Ghost", or "Countries". It's a long standing human tradition to play games with words, which makes sense - you already have all the pieces in your head. Adding physical components, then, could easily take these to the next level. Let's see if it does.
The presentation is lovely. When I ordered this game, I thought it would be in a mint tin, but it's more of a small biscuit tin, with lots of space inside for all the big cards. Upon reflection, I like this choice, since it catches the eye, and provides accessibility. Small cards probably wouldn't be able to keep the print size large enough for older players, and this is a family game. Why is it a tin at all, instead of a normal box? No idea. Looks nice, though.
When you open it up, you'll find cards, a rulebook, and a tiny metal trophy. That's it. They clearly went for quality over quantity, as the cards look great and the trophy weighs far more than you'd expect. If I had to guess, it's probably pewter.
Gameplay is simple. Each card has a letter on one side, and five categories on the other. Categories can be all sorts of fun things, from "Dog breed" to "Something sticky." When held in front of you with the letter facing outward, this allows the card you're looking at to provide the category, and an entirely random different card to represent the letter. Congratulations - you're already all set up to be The Judge. Just say a category. Your players must scramble to think of something within that category that starts with the letter you're showing them, and the first person to succeed wins the card. Rinse and repeat your way through the deck, and the person with the most cards at the end is encouraged to hold the tiny trophy in the air and gloat.
There are a lot of beautiful little mechanics to love about this game. I love how using the front of one card and the back of another provides endless combinations, so you never truly "solve" the game via memorization, no matter how much you play. I love how you can play it standing up. I love how The Judge is given supreme power to decide what words "count", which speeds the game past any petty Wikipedia battles, and makes the judge player feel special. Most of all, I love how the base game handles 3-30 players, but there's also a no-judge two player variant in the rulebook that's just as fun to play! That's a wide range of satisfied players. I haven't tested it with 30, mind you, and I doubt the game would still be coherent at that point, but it's perfectly possible.
Does this game succeed at its goal of making folkgame concepts even better by adding a few fancy components? Absolutely, no questions asked. It's the best example of something like this that I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few.
Does this game have a space in a hobbyist board gamer's collection? My overall answer is yes, absolutely! It's got pretty universal appeal. I'll personally be keeping it and playing it a lot, since my whole group loved it, myself included. That said, no game is for everyone.
Only like sinking your teeth into complex games, and see no value in something this basic? You should definitely pass on it. Maybe try Anomia instead, as that's very similar, but slightly more complicated. Likewise, if you get easily overwhelmed or otherwise dislike time pressure, this game has a lot of that, so maybe look for a simple word game with no time elements, like SHH. Finally, I should mention that if all players aren't at similar levels of English comprehension, you won't get the full enjoyment this game can provide.
All that aside, holy heck, this game is perfect for non-gamers and families. It's cheap, it's beautiful, it requires no table or official gathering, the rules take ten seconds, and it makes you laugh the whole game straight. I will put this in every stocking I possibly can, come Christmas. It should just barely fit.
- V