A One Trick Pony (20Q Game)

Member Name: wigglylittleworm

Product:	20Q Game
Date:	01/12/08 (224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun the first few times

Disadvantages: soon gets boring

20Q is taking the world by storm. The small handheld game around the size of a tennis ball which claims to be able to read your mind is flying off the sheves, it is currently Amazons number 3 seller in toys and games where it is selling for £7.87.

The premise of 20Q is simple, you think of an object and it asks you 20 yes/no questions and then amazes you with its brilliance as it guesses what you have been thinking. It works using a model of artificial intelligence based on the human brain known as a neural network. The handheld version contains 250 000 of these connections which tells it what to guess and what questions to ask.

The first question it always asks is "animal, vegetable or mineral, " which if I was splitting hairs would point out was three questions and then depending on your answer asks more questions before guessing the answer. As well as answering yes or no, you have the option of using the "sometimes" or "unknown" buttons.

The questions scroll along the small LCD screen in the middle of the unit and you can control the speed at which the text moves. You have the option of turning a backlight on or adding sound. The sound itself is really irritating, a number of beeps which will get on your nerves really quickly. It's not fancy and I'm afraid the plain screen and text are not very appealing.

The questions themselves can get a bit bizarre "is it heavier than a duck?" is one; how heavy is the average duck? The ones I see in the supermarket are generally about 4 pounds but if you add some feathers and a head then I'm sure it is heavier. It asks questions about how it is used, is it used in the garden for example and for an animal it just asked if it could be eaten in a restaraunt.

It gets simple objects correct a lot of the time but is easy to stump with tougher or abstract objects. In my testing it correctly identified a cat, a spade and a remote control; failed to guess moisturiser and dentures and guessed carrot instead of a parsnip. If it does not guess the correct answer after 20Q- which is actually 22 questions when you take the "animal, vegetable or mineral?" into account- then it asks five more before guessing again. It attempts to make some jokes along the way, accusing you of cheating or pretending you have got it stumped but for me these jokes just slowed the game down and got on my nerves.

The game is fun the first time you play it but quickly becomes boring. My daughter got 20Q for her birthday in October and it was soon put to the back of the cupboard and forgotten about. When I took it out to review my nephew had a play and he got bored of it after one set of question. Us adults had about 10 minutes fun thinking of naughty objects and sniggering as it asked "is it Big?" and other double entendres. Yes, you will think it is clever when it guesses your object and it is fun to beat it but it lacks enough replay value to make it good value for money.

You can play 20Q for free at www.20q.net. The online version is a lot more fun than the handheld device, it has different versions like UK people (which I stumped the first time I played) or Coronation Street. Playing on the big screen is much better than watching the screen scroll, it has a bigger brain controlling it and best of all is free.

Summary: play online instead