There's so many game shows on the television these days, some good, some bad, some even so terrible that I try not to think about them at all.
But many of these games shows have one thing in common, they have several board games relying on the television shows popularity to sell more copies.
One of those game shows is in fact the ITV show called Golden Balls, which is hosted by the ex-detective, (sort of) and shall I say ex-comedian Jasper Carrot.

As with many of these television game shows and there spin off board games they are played in more or less the same way, with this game being one of them.

Firstly, the game is simple to play, both the television show and the board game, and is based more on trust rather than skill

How to play it..?

In a word or two... (although if you know how to play the game then you can skip this bit).

There are three rounds, with the first two rounds being about 'getting' rid of two of the opponents and as many killer balls as possible
Round one... each player is handed four balls, placing two balls on the front row of their playing ball holder, with the other two balls on the back. The front balls are then shown to the other players whilst the back balls are seen only by the player themselves. Once all front balls are shown the player then have to convince the other that they have a good cash value and, more importantly, no 'killers'.
At the end of the first round the four players eliminate one player who they believe has the least money or the most 'killer' balls.
The person who is eliminated is out of the game and takes their balls with them, money or 'killers'.
The second round is very similar, only with three players this time, taking their four balls each with them, money values and 'killers', with an extra two money value balls and an extra 'killer' ball thrown into the mix. Each remaining player is then given five balls each, two on the front and three on the back, revealing the two front balls like in the first round.
This second round is played in the same way as the first round, eliminating one more player at the end, balls and all.

The third round, 'called 'Bin or Win' takes the remaining two players, their ten balls and an extra killer ball which is added, and place all eleven balls onto a playing board.
Then the two remaining players then take it in turn to choose one ball at a time, choosing to bin one, which means the contents of the ball are out of the game, or to win, which means that the value of the ball is place on the winning rack.
This continues until there are no balls left on the board so that at the end of this round the players are left with five balls on a ball rack. These balls could be cash value or even killer, with the killers devaluing the money balls by a tenth.
For example if the players end up choosing three cash balls on the rack valuing £50,000, if the next ball is a killer then the 50,000 value is divided by ten leaving £5000, and if the next chosen 'win' ball is another killer then that £5000 is once again divided by ten leaving £500... Simple.
(Are you bored yet? Honestly, the game a lot easier to play than this description states).

The final round, which is the one that may or may not make you a new friend, is where you either split or steal what ever money you collected in the previous rounds, be it the £50,000 or the £500, (after my double killer example).
This final round then consist of the two remaining player being given two 'special' balls, one saying 'split', the other saying 'steal'.
The player then has 30 seconds to decide whether to 'split' or 'steal' the money on offer.
If a player decides to steal and the other decided to split then the player that 'steals' win the entire amount, but if both players decide to split then they each take home half the money the accumulated. However if both players decide to steal then the money is lost and both player go home empty handed.

That's the game in general and both the television show and the board game are played in the same manner.
But this review is not about the television show it is indeed about the board game in which my family and I have played several times since owning it, which has ked to one or two arguments when one of us decides to be greedy enough to take the entire lot.

Firstly, make sure that there's everything in the box so you can play the game
There should be...

* Little plastic 'golden' balls
* Four holders for the players golden balls to rest in
* Cardboard pieces all with cash values printed on them
* Five killer card board pieces
* Two steal and two split card board sections
* Four contestant card board sections which have the letter A,B,C,D, on them.
* A ball container which spins
* A ball container stand
* The boards

All the cash value balls range from £10 to £750,000, and several in between, with each value being printed on both sides of a small round piece of card board

So once set up, which can take a while, especially putting the cash values into the balls, you're ready to play. So, if you've seen the television game show, or read my brief (ish) description, then you're ready to go...


MY OPINION...

The board game looks the part, with the electronic ball spinner adding a bit of vocabulary to the game, which isn't totally necessary so if you haven't got the three AA batteries required to operate the spinning machine don't worry about it.
That's all the batteries are for, you don't need them for spinning the machine, as this can be done by hand, and you certainly don't need them for anything else, so for me they're not that important.
Anyway, it says that it is a game for two to four players, aged 8 years and above, which is indeed correct, especially the age suggestion being a very good one as the balls could easily be swallowed by a small child and this would defiantly lead to choking.

The game in general is quite fun to play, with my family having had many laughs whilst playing it, but it can also go the other way, which my family have experience too, especially my youngest who accused me of lying about the amount of money that I didn't really have in my back row, (they were killers), but she now knows that it's not lying, it's called 'bluffing'.

As for the actual game itself, which I mean the construction of it, this is its downside which spoils it somewhat.
Firstly the balls are very tricky to handle, being difficult to open, or even splitting apart in some cases, and the little cardboard circles that fit inside have a tendency to fall out when the ball is eventually opened.
Then there's the board itself which is quite a solid piece of cardboard, a bit too solid as the creases are pretty stiff so that the board doesn't sit flat on the table, even when the 'mixer' and ball holders are placed on it.

But on the upside the ball holders are made of quite a sturdy bit of plastic and are able to sit the balls without too much trouble at all, so it's a thumbs up for them then.
And there's the ball mixer, which mixes the balls as it should do, and it spits them out one at a time, most of the time anyway, although some do get stuck and you may have to pick up the mixer, give it a good shake and manoeuvre the last balls out.
But as I said earlier, save your money on the batteries as they aren't really needed, unless you want to have a dodgy sounding voice spout out irrelevant things every so often.

In all, for me it's not the worst made game from a television idea and it is better made that several other games of this genre. It is a fine game to play but it can cause a few bickers if the final round doesn't quite go as one hoped, especially if there's a bit of dishonesty involved.

As for the price of this game, it can be bought for around the £25.00 region and, in some ways is good value for money as it is a good way to spend some family time together. But on the other hand charging 25 quid just because the word 'electronic' is printed on the board, even though it doesn't really need any electronics to actually play the game, is a bit naughty.