A great game for artists and non-artists alike (Pictionary)

Member Name: SophieRainbow

Product:	Pictionary
Date:	28/07/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, exciting, easy to play

Disadvantages: Requires 4+ players

As a child who enjoyed drawing this was one of my favourite childhood boardgames and still is.

The game is played by at least 2 teams of 2 or more players. The teams move around the board by rolling a dice, and on each go take it in turns to draw a picture of something (e.g. an eskimo, Japan, or Tim Henman) written on one of the cards for their partner to guess. There are 5 categories of things to draw: objects, person place or animal, action, difficult or allplay in which both teams compete. The winning team gets to the end of the board first by guessing the most drawings correctly.

This game is enjoyable for adults and older children, and the bigger the teams the better. Much hilarity is created as non-drawers attempt to sketch bizarre objects and people (especially in the difficult category), or try to create images for composite words (for example, the country Brazil may become a picture of a "bra" *sounds like* and "chill"). People who are less good at drawing may enjoy the guessing side of the game more, but I find both roles enjoyable.

One disadvantage is that often younger players (including myself) have not heard of some of the people or other things, which can be irritating as they pore through all the cards trying to find an easier one! Generally though the references are known, but often just tricky to draw. Also, the timer is perhaps a bit short at 1 minute, as sometimes the longer a drawing takes to guess, the more funny it can be! Another downside could be that if played enough, people may become familiar with the cards and be able to guess drawings more easily, but this is unlikely to happen.

Overall the pictionary concept is a great alternative to the traditional moving round a board, picking up cards type of boardgame.

Summary: A brilliant game for family Christmas' that will appeal to many ages