Guess Who Extra
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Toys and Games Reviews of Guess Who Extra
Customer Review: Lots of fun, careful with the questions
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the original Guess Who for my boys (ages 9 & 6, purchased mostly at my younger one's persistent request) a couple months ago, and within a few weeks, they were both asking for Guess Who Extra. So it was a Christmas gift.
The Good:
1) Durability: the original Guess Who had two cheap little plastic frames to house the "card-holders" for the cards (one red and one blue), and for whatever reason, the red frame absolutely will NOT keep the card-holders in place. They fall out constantly, especially when flipping the frame to get all the card holders to stand up again. Or they get stuck and don't want to move at all. It takes minutes of adjustment to get it all back in working order, and it got so bad it actually affected our enjoyment of the game because set-up became such a pain. Glad to say this is NOT a problem with the new form factor that Guess Who Extra uses. There is just one main, closeable piece that opens easily to an inverted V (one player sits on one side and one on the other), and all the moveable parts move just like they should, simply and painlessly.
2) With six different sheets of categories to choose from, the options are much greater now than with just the "Usual Suspects" faces that the original had. This will likely prolong enjoyment of the game significantly.
3) Now there are four game options also. We haven't even tried them all yet, but again, this will likely just prolong enjoyment of the game. And if we don't like a particular option, we just won't play it. Nothing wrong with the original game dynamics anyway.
The Bad:
1) Okay, there's only one, and it's really not bad so much as it is a significant consideration. But... some of the categories make for some quite "difficult to phrase" questions. Asking questions can be a little tricky. For instance, the Household category has things like a television, a telephone, and a spoon. One of the sample questions the instructions provide for this category is "Does this item live in the [insert room here]?" But some of the items might or might not live in multiple rooms depending on the viewpoint of the person asking/answering. The answers can be extremely subjective, unlike the mostly objective answers the original game requires. There are quite a few examples of this, and the first game my kids played against each other resulted in my playing referee to decide how questions should be answered (or whether it was even appropriate to ask them). My family's workaround for this has been, for the first few games we played, to say "Ok, when this particular question is asked from now on, these are the cards we're going to say are affected by it" and then reiterate that every time that question is asked until we get used to it.
On the plus side of this consderation, though, it gets you to think and to talk with the kids about why questions are answered how they are, and it gives the younger ones an opportunity to learn (for instance, the Animals card has given my six-year-old the chance to more concretely learn what constitutes the difference between a reptile and an amphibian, a mammal and a bird, etc). You just have to be careful with the questions, and make sure everyone is on the same page as to how they're answered.
The Indifferent:
Guess Who Extra uses batteries. Kids love things with the batteries and the resultant lights and sounds, but they're really not necessary here. The batteries do three things: provide a Yes button (to push when the answer's Yes), provide a No button, and provide a timer. Ok, the timer might be cool for some of the game variants (but I almost certainly won't enforce any of the timer rules with my kids), but the Yes and No buttons, really? Was there something wrong with SAYING yes and no? The batteries/electronic side of this game are a cheap way to jack up the price in my opinion. I know, I'm nitpicking, but I mostly didn't see the point.
Overall, though, this is a pretty cool game with lots of potential and FAR sturdier/easier to use than the original. And it all comes in a nice, neat, fully encloseable package.
Customer Review: Great for lovers of Guess Who?
Summary: 5 Stars
We've had several Guess Who games over the years and have always enjoyed it. The reason for multiple games is that over time, the pieces do tend to break, it was never a very well-made game, but always lots of fun (and I suppose the breakage is a testament to how often the games was played). This game kicks the fun up a notch by having many different types of characters to choose from, including monsters and appliances, which can make the game a little more silly and the questions more creative. The sound isn't really necessary, but they make it part of the game by suggesting different versions you can play with it outside of the standard Guess Who rules. This includes a game where you cannot speak and you have to use the yes and no buttons. Either way, my daughter loves pressing the buttons (and she's 7!) . . . it just makes it a little more fun. If you love the original Guess Who, I think you'll love this game, too. We do! Oh, and it does seem more well-made than the original, much more sturdy and heavy, which is a plus. Hopefully I won't have to buy 3 more in the future like I did the others!Customer Review: A Game Cabinet Must Have
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an EXCELLENT and long overdue revision of this great game, since now you can change the subjects to have a variety and a new set of characteristics to "learn". Why only 4 stars when I rated each category for this game with 5 stars? One silly reason that I hope is read by the manufacturer: We liked the original Guess Who's "individual portability." We could lounge across the living room from each other and play since we each had our own board. I realize the electronic portion for "timer" variations of play had you "connect" the two boards, but it really isn't necessary. You could have this electronic capability on one of the boards or both. We saw no real solid reason to have them connected and it forces us to sit in the same place or on the same couch/chair, etc. The electronic sound feature to indicate a yes or no is kind of unecessary since we kept forgetting to do it, even if we lost a point. We are so use to saying yes or no out loud and only a very young child wouldn't find that feature annoying. Neither of these two criticisms should prohibit you from purchasing this great game.Customer Review: Love this version!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't say enough good about this version of Guess Who. It's a classic favorite of mine and my sisters, and now my 6 year old niece loves it. We play this game every chance we get, and the Extra version is so much better than the older versions. The biggest plus for me? The fact that it uses character set cards instead of individual character cards!!! No more losing character cards. No more cards slipping out of their brackets! It's awesome and I like the fact that the entire game is all one piece. Some may not like the fact that you can't sit apart from each other, but with the game angled the way it should be, there's no chance for cheating. It's a very durable set. I also have a 2-year old niece, who can be rather destructive when she's inclined, and this game has held up well under her 'care'.
I also LOVE the different character sets...the "Kids" and "Funny Faces" sets are some of our favorites. Other sets are "Animals", "Household", and of course the "Classic" version. (There's a 6th set, but I'm blanking on it right now.)
Customer Review: Great Game!
Summary: 5 Stars
I never had the original, so this is my first exposure to the game. I think it is great fun. My daughter received this for her 6th birthday and it is a hit with kids and adults alike. She has quickly grasped the concept of the process of elimination, so I gave this toy five stars for Educational Value. The game is well-built, and folds up for compact storage.
I believe the only improvements that could be made are: some of the characters are so strange that the gender is discernible only by reading the name under the picture of the person, which can lead to eliminating the wrong characters when working too quickly; and the game is a bit difficult to open and close, it seems to get stuck closed and has to be wrestled a bit to get it open.
Other than that, it's a great game and I can see that we will get years of entertainment out of it.