Your chance to find out who your real friends are. (Golden Balls)

Member Name: Rockmaiden

Product:	Golden Balls
Date:	13/01/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to play, just like the t.v show

Disadvantages: Number of players is very restricted

My whole family is a huge fan of board games and I have litterally grown up playing them. Even now at the age of 23 I would much rather play a good old fashioned board game with friends then sit in front of the t.v.
This is another board game that got added to my huge collection.

Golden Balls is a television program in which players recieve balls containing cash amounts. The aim of the game is to be voted through to the next round based on the amount you have in your balls. You can lie or tell the truth the choice is yours. Once two players are remaining you then work together to get a cash prize as big as you can. Once the total has been reached will you split or steal?? Take home all the money or leave with nothing??
Only the balls can tell.

The board game is based on the hit t.v show and as I love the t.v show I was looking forward to the game a lot.

Included in the box is:
A game board
Machine for mixing balls
Several cash balls
Holders for the balls
Split and steal balls
Killer balls

The game begins by loading the balls into the machine to be mixed. Each player is then given 4 balls each, the first two are opened and displayed to all players and the second two are secretly looked at and closed again. You then have to convince the other players to advance you to the next round by claiming that your balls are better then the other players. This is where the bluffing comes in. Each player then votes to evict someone and once the vote is done that players balls are disposed off and all players reveal if they were telling the truth.

Round two continues in the same way with the remaining balls being mixed up again and distributed 5 each to 3 players, this time you have 3 hidden balls but the game goes the same. One player is evicted and there balls disposed of. The balls from the remaining two players are placed back into the machine for the last round.

This is where it gets interesting and you really find out who your friends are. The balls are spread out closed inbetween the two players and you take it in turns to pick one ball to throw and one ball to keep. The throw ball is opened and disposed off the keep ball is opened and added to the jackpot. You work together here to try and get the highest possible jackpot and dispose of any killer balls as these will knock a 0 off your jackpot totel for each one you find. Eventaully you end up with 5 balls that make your jackpot totel.

The two remaining players then have to decide wether to split or steal the jackpot total. If both players choose split then you get half each, If one player chooses split and the other steal then the one who steals goes home with the full jackpot and if you both choose steal then you both go home with nothing. Think long and hard about your choice. You then reveal either your split or steal ball to the other player and the winner is decided.

This is a good game and is exactly like the gameshow so it's like being a contestant on the show. I found it really fun to play and it certainly causes some silly squabbles when another player steals the jackpot total!

The thing I found dissapointing was that it needs to be played with exactly 4 players. The game says you can play with 3 or 4 and that for 3 players you just miss the first round out but it's not the same when you do so it's quite restricted in terms of numbers.

Also the balls are a little tempremental and sometimes open randomly whilst in the mixing machine.

Other then these few niggles it's a great game and definately worth a play.

Summary: A good fun game to played with friends just be carefull who your stealing from