He's a Scottish comedian with an occasionally purple beard (Drummond Park Articulate!)

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Drummond Park Articulate!
Date:	26/07/09 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun

Disadvantages: The 'spinner' keeps breaking

Available for £24.24 from Amazon, 'Articulate' is by no means the most elaborate of board games, but due to its simplistic beauty, it has to be one of the most entertaining.

Playable with a minimum of four people, the aim is to describe a word listed on one of the playing cards to your teammate within a specified time limit. If your teammate gets the word, then it's onto the next one until the time runs out. To give an example of the gameplay, if I had to describe 'a wasp', I would probably say, 'black and yellow flying, stinging insect' - or something along those lines. I obviously wouldn't be allowed to use the word 'wasp', or use 'rhymes with' or 'sounds like' style clues - but you can do actions if you're willing to look like an idiot. Yes, the game is based on a fairly simple idea, but it's this simplicity which makes it so effective.

The words listed on the playing cards belong to six categories which include; 'Object' (light blue), 'World' (dark blue), 'People' (Yellow), 'Nature' (Green), 'Random' (Red), and 'Action' (Orange). The category which you have to either describe or guess depends on the square colour that your playing piece is sitting on.

I think that the better your general knowledge, the better you will be at Articulate, as some of words (especially in the 'Places' category) can be difficult to describe - for example, I once had 'Accra' on my card - and I struggled to remember that it was the capitol of Ghana.

The game comes with a large cardboard playing surface which allows each team to move their piece from start to finish. The board also houses a spinning device in the middle which determines the bonus moves along the way. This spinner fits loosely onto the board and can often fall out during play, which can be a little frustrating.

Playing the game frequently will result in an expansion of your vocabulary and knowledge - and although the game is recommended for adults, I can't really see which it shouldn't be played by kids.

As an after dinner game, Articulate is really good fun, and can result in hilarity. Each game doesn't last that long, so it can be done and dusted in around half an hour which means that the playing experience never gets really repetitive - recommended.

Summary: Entertaining game