Guess What? It's Guess Who! (Guess Who?)

Member Name: xalala

Product:	Guess Who?
Date:	08/02/05 (293 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to play, Simple rules, Cheap and available in most toy shops

Disadvantages: Only two players, Limited appeal for adults

Guess Who? is from MB Games and for 2 players, from age around 6 and upwards (although I'm fairly sure I played and understood it from age 5). It's very simple and quick to pick up, but children (and adults) seem to find it quite addictive.

Basically, there are two boards, one per person. The boards are identical except one is coloured red and the other is blue.

Each board features 24 plastic "frames" which hold head and shoulders pictures (not quite cartoons but close) of people, who have been given names. The pictures don't appear in the same place on both boards, they have been mixed around to prevent sneaky cheating!

The frames are standing up at the start of the game, and the aim is to be the first player to only have one frame left standing. There's also a pack of 24 cards, which have the same pictures on, and to start the game each player has to pick a card (without showing their opponent) - this is the frame that your opponent needs to have left standing to win.

Once the game is set up, the players take it in turns to ask simple yes/no questions that will help them narrow down the person on your card. For example, questions like "are you male?", "do you have brown eyes?", "are you wearing a hat?" and so on. There's a huge advantage if you find out your opponent is female though - there are only four of them on the entire board, compared to 20 men, which is probably a symptom of when this game was first designed (this may have changed in the more modern, possibly more PC version, but I only have the old game).

You can either wait until you only have one frame left standing to guess who your opponent is, or you can chance your luck (if, for example, THEY only have one frame left standing and look set to win on their next question) and guess anyway - but if you get it wrong, they win automatically.

At the end of the round, the winner gets a small peg to put in the front of their board to keep score, the winner is either first to 5 wins, or the person with the most pegs after 5 rounds (or make your own version up!).

The boards are very simple construction, and fairly robust - the game I have must be well over 10 years old, and works fine, albeit with a few bent cards in the pack. The pictures are very simple, with exaggerated expressions and features that make it easier for young children to identify what to ask about. Although the hairstyles (of both head and facial hair) are somewhat disturbing looking at them as an adult! But it means that the game can be played by anyone old enough to have basic recognition of items of clothing (hats, earrings, glasses), colours (blonde, grey, red, brown, black, blue), beards and moustaches and facial expressions (smile, frown, neutral).

There's little preparation that needs doing before the game can be played - a big plus if you have impatient children in the house - other than (depending on your version and whether you bought it new) inserting the pictures into the frames before its first use.

I'd recommend this game to any family with young children - it's good fun on a rainy afternoon, and doesn't need much supervision from a parent for two kids to play it. There's no complicated rules to learn, no small parts that might be in danger of being eaten, and it's cheap and easy to get hold of. It has some educational value for very young children, but is still absorbing enough to interest older children, at a guess up to age 10 or so.

Oh, and if you want an adult version (that you can make more risque...), you can change the pictures in the frames for those of your own design (or just use digital photos of friends and family). Just don't let the kids get hold of it!

Other information:

Cost about £10 new, but I picked it up in a charity shop for £1 (bargain!). There should be plenty around at car boot sales etc.

There are themed versions available - I've seen a Disney version for sale on the web.

MB Games is part of Hasbro, so for more information see the Hasbro website: http://www.hasbro.com/

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