Wits And Wagers
by North Star Games
|
List Price: Our Price: $18.66 You Save: $11.33 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $17.99 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
|---|
Toys and Games Reviews of Wits And Wagers
Customer Review: A Wits & Wagers Story
Summary: 5 Stars
This review will be a bit unusual. Instead of reviewing the game normally I'm going to tell you the story of how our first game of Wits & Wagers went.
If you simply want to read the summary of what I think about Wits & Wagers, here it is: It's one of the best party games your money can buy. It's got all the hallmarks of a great party game: Fun & Exciting, light, family friendly, easy to learn, and short gametime to allow for multiple playings.
So that's it. But if you want to know how our first game of Wits & Wagers went, read on.
I had not been into the gaming scene for a long time, and in my small collection I had zero party games. This led me to do some searching around for the ONE party game that will make it to my tiny collection.
I had come across Wits & Wagers in my searches and found the premise of the game to be very interesting. However, being a value (read: cheap) gamer that I am, I wanted to wait to place my order as a bulk to save on shipping cost. When North Star Games graciously offered a 2nd edition copy to be reviewed, I immediately jumped on the opportunity. After a few days the game arrived.
I then waited and waited, and waited for the right opportunity to introduce the game to our group. Having read the rules and learning about the overall sense of the gameplay I have a feeling that the game will do better with more people than it would with less. Our group consisted of some casual gamers and many who are non-gamers. When we finally had our Christmas gathering, I did a headcount and there were twenty-three people left after dinner. There were 4 simultaneous games going on and one group just finished a game. perfect.
I walked to my game shelf and pulled Wits & Wagers out. As I began to lay the game board on the table people saw the poker chips and began to wonder: "What kind of game is this? Gambling?" One guy commented on the nice glossy feel of the board. Some other dude started to get excited and exclaimed "Wooo, I'm going to whoop everyone's butt if this is a gambling game!!" I just smiled and carried on.
There were 7 people so we had enough for 7 teams. I handed out the starting betting chips to everyone. I handed out the answer sheets and the markers. At this point some people starting to wonder about what kind of game it really is.
Then I started my introduction with my best Drew Carrey impersonation (as best as an Asian Drew Carrey could do): "Welcomeeeeeeeee to Wits & Wagers!!! Where teams will compete, some will rise and some will fall, to answer corrrrrectly. Wits & Wagers is a game of trivia, and a hint for all of you, the answers will always be a positive number. After I read the question, you may write your answer in the pad I gave you, and put your pad on the board face down!!."
At this point someone wondered: "But we only have 1 pad.. how many questions do we have to answer? Ohh.. wait... you can easily erase the answer! Cool!!"
"Alrighttttt... everyone ready??? Here's yourrrrr first question." I started reading some question about the fastest speed of a fish ever recorded. Everyone immediately groaned because they never heard of such trivia. The same dude who said he's going to whoop everyone's butt already mumbled "Oh man, I'm going to lose so bad.."
And that's exactly the point of Wits & Wagers, some of the trivias are so out-of-this-world that you WONT know the answer... but knowing the answer is NOT the ONLY way to win this game.. which these guys will soon find out.
"Alllrightttt... time's up! [gasp in the crowd] Put down your answers, and lets reveal them together on the count of one... two... three!!" Everyone flipped their answers and immediately they made fun of each other's answer. Much Laughter ensued when one MATH teacher put down "415 mph" as her answer.
I sorted out the answer, and I told them. "OKKKK.... now you may put down your bets! Bet on which answer is the closest without going over! The payouts are shown at the bottom of the column!" At this point everyone understood how the game works. I didn't even explain the rule beforehand. This is one of the hallmark of a great party game: Anyone can just start playing the game and immediately have fun.
"Annnd... the answer to the fastest speed of a fish ever recorded iiiiiiissss....." (dramatic pause) I blurted out the answer which was on the 60s.. and everyone's expression was priceless. More laughter. More teasing. There's one person who reaped the prize in the form of more betting chips.
Then someone asked me: "Hey, how many questions did the game come with? At this pace we're going to run out of questions really soon." I showed them the stack of cards with 7 questions each (700 total), and how NorthStar Games give additional question to be used from time to time. He nodded.. "Ahh yeah, this way we wont get to the same question until many, many games in the future."
Then something happened. On question 3 one person exclaimed: "Oh, I know this!! I read it somewhere before!" and started writing down her answer confidently. When the betting time came, 3 or 4 teams put their bets on her answer. Her answer was wrong. More hilarity ensued.
By question 4 the other 2 games that were going on was also finished and they all gathered around our table. After our first game which only took 20 minutes or so everyone else wanted to play too, so we ended up having 7 teams of 2 people each, many of them couples. It was hilarious seeing couples argued on the answers, and many "I told you so!!" comments after the answers were revealed.
By the third game, EVERYONE gathered around our table. The laughter got louder. The bets got more furious. The questions didn't get any less ridiculous.
As we said our goodbyes that night, one girl asked me "hey, what was the answer of the fastest fish question again?"
And that's how our first game of Wits & Wagers went.
Customer Review: A trivia-game-hater's trivia game
Summary: 4 Stars
Wits & Wagers is the trivia game that levels the playing field for those who can't abide trivia games. Even a child can play this and win. The skill comes more from making smart bets than answering correctly.
COMPONENTS
The game comes with a set of question cards that ask questions that even Jeopardy! players would find hard to know. (Such as "How many elevators operate within the Empire State Building?") The cards are nicely designed and sturdy. The answers come printed on the backs and include extra details to flesh out the interesting nature of the questions.
The players bet on a betting table board (fabric over a rubberized back in the first edition, felt in the second). The betting board contains a series of odds that run from the middle at 1:1 to the ends at 4:1. Each players selects one of seven colors and receives two wooden bet markers painted in their color. Players then receive a dry-erase marker and a small dry-erase board framed in their color. They also receive ten red chips (worth 5 pts each) and three blue (10 pts). A 30-second sand timer limits stalling on answering questions or betting.
PLAY
A game consists of seven questions. A question with a numerical answer is read from the card and the timer set. Each player writes his answer on his dry-erase board. When time is called, the player's answers are placed on the betting board according to their spread; the response in the middle of all answers is placed at the center of the betting board at 1:1 with the rest spread in numerical order across the betting positions (with increasing odds against) on each side.
Players are then given 30 more seconds to bet once the answers are in place. They can bet on two answers up to 10 point chips total, tracking their bets with the bet markers. The answer is then read. The response on the betting board closest without going over is declared the winner. Chips are then doled out according to the odds to the players who won on that bet. All other bets are cleared form the table and go into the bank. The player who provided the winning response gets one additional blue chip.
The final question allows players to go all-in. After that final solution is read and chips doled out, the person with the most points in chips wins.
PROS:
* A unique approach to trivia games. The dual nature of the play (answering, betting) mixes things up.
* Anyone can win, even if he doesn't know all the answers. Good betting can compensate for bad responses.
* The questions are intriguing.
* Though the instruction booklet is daunting, the game play is simple.
* Up to seven people can play.
* A complete game can be played in only twenty minutes, allowing for multiple rounds.
* The game components are well-made.
* Plenty of question cards help maintain question freshness.
* Because the answers are all numerical, it makes it harder to remember answers in later game play should a familiar question arise (especially since many of the answers are minutia).
* Because of the betting aspect of the game, even responding with the correct answer from time to time may not guarantee a final win.
* When played at large parties, even non-players can get involved in the fun.
* Easy to learn and explain.
CONS:
* Can be slow the first time it's played (though familiarity brings the speed up considerably).
* The rules for spreading the answers across the board, especially if a couple players give the same response, can be tricky at first.
* The game does involve a Las Vegas style of wagering, and not every crowd may feel comfortable with the "gambling" aspect.
* The all-in final question has the tendency to negate good play on previous questions. (You may wish to alter this rule to set a limit on how much players can bet on the last question.)
People who have played this game with us enjoy it a great deal. Many people like trivia questions and some of these are just outlandishly hard. But that's the point. Most people aren't going to know these answers, and that's where the betting aspect heightens the fun.
While Wits & Wagers may not be the ultimate party game, it's got a lot going for it. Because of its two-pronged play, the game enables a wide variety of people to enjoy it. What more could one desire in a game?
Customer Review: Finally a game for all to enjoy
Summary: 5 Stars
We have all been there, playing a trivia game and having a good time, except for that one person in the group that knows everything and kind of ruins the game for the rest of us. Or maybe you really enjoy playing poker but seem to be the only one and forced to play something else. Perhaps you are just sick of playing Apples to Apples. Meet Wits & Wagers.
The name of the game sums it up. Wits being the trivia aspect while the betting aspect forms the Wagers part. This game beautifully blends together the mechanics of Trivial Pursuit and Poker, but at the same time maintains a fair and balanced playing field.
The game is really easy to learn and can be taught with one quick "practice" round to get everybody on the same page. The answers to the questions are always a number. The questions are well thought out, and that most people have a general idea about, but wouldn't be 100% certain on.
The kit contains 1 betting board. This is a piece of fabric that has betting squares that pay out different odds, a deck of cards containing the questions (each card has 7 questions-the length of 1 game), small dry erase boards with markers, a small sand timer, multiple color coded chips that match up with the respective dry erase boards, and 2 different colored betting chips.
At the start of play, the leader of the game will read off the first question. Each player then has 30 seconds to write their answer on their dry erase board. When everybody has their answer written down they are all placed onto the betting board then organized smallest to largest. The betting squares follow a simple bell curve pattern, where the answers that are in the middle pay out 2:1 whereas the answers that contain the lowest or highest value might pay out 5:1 or higher. Once they are all laid out, the timer is flipped again and everybody places their color coded chip on what they believe the best answer(s) is/are. (You can bet on up to two different answers) When all the bets are in, the answer is reviled (along with an interesting fact about the question) and the banker pays out. This process is then repeated 6 more times with the only difference being that if you won more chips, you can now use those chips to bet even more. At the end of the 7th and final round whoever has the most chips is declared winner.
The beauty of the game is the balancing act between knowledge and lucky betting. You can be in 1st place at the 6th round, then lose it all on the 7th. Bluffing can also be used. Lets say you know the answer, you can simply act clueless. On the other hand you may swear you know the answer, but once you start to see the other answers you might start questioning yourself. This is a perfect game that appeals to the masses. From young to old, wise to not-so-wise, everybody can participate and maybe win by accident.
PROS:
* Easy and fast to learn
* Fair and balanced game mechanic
* Unique and fun questions
* Easy to play with large groups of people
* You can make up your own questions
* Very easy to alter the rules to the groups play style (for example during one game we eliminated the timer and forced everybody to bet all their chips on every question)
* Excellent value
* Fast and easy to set up
CONS:
* The written instructions were a little hard to follow, a quick viewing of a review on YouTube helped.
* If a lot of people win one round, the paying out of tokens can slow the flow of the game a little
MY TAKE:
Everybody that I have played with so far really enjoyed this game. With its broad appeal and easy adaptability, it's time to play Wits & Wagers and let Apples to Apples collect a little dust. Enjoy and Good Luck!
Customer Review: rules adjustment necessary
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great original game but there is a flaw in the rules. If you are playing casual games with family you may not have noticed. Here's the deal:
Since there is no incentive for your answer to be correct or for you to bet on your own answer it is to your advantage to guess high. Let me illustrate in an example:
You are playing with three other people. The question is How many wins does Ali have. You know for sure that the answer is somewhere in the mid to high 50's so you put 58. With everyone elses guesses your betting options are: 40, 58, 70, 100. In this situation you would need to split your bet 50/50 between 40 and 58 because one of those two answers will be the closest without going over and therefore payout. However, if you would have given the answer of 80 which you knew was incorrect you would have the following betting options 40, 70, 80, 100. Now you can bet all your money on 40. So it's to your advantage to not submit what you think is the right answer.
This problem is magnified when you think the others in the group will guess high: The question is how much did tyson weigh for his first heavyweight title shot. You know that the exact weight was 218 pounds but you know the other three people don't know anything about boxing and will probably think that a heavyweight professional athlete would be closer to 300 pounds. If you put 218 as your answer you can wager all your money on that answer and you will get either a 2, 3, 4, or 5:1 payout. However, if you guess 280 and your betting choices are 260, 280, 295, 320 you can wager all your money on the "all bets too high" which pays out 6:1. Worst case scenario someone put something like 210 in which case you just wager everything on that and you end up no worse off than if you guessed the exact answer yourself.
There are other examples of this incentive problem but I'll assume you got the point.
There are a number of ways to fix the problem. We chose to simply implement a rule that at least half the money you bet on each round has to be on your own guess.
In any event, this is a great original game that's lots of fun.
BONUS: It's easy to make a customizable game. Let's say you are playing with a total of 5 attorneys. Just tell each one of them to come prepared with a few legal questions that have numeric answers. Then you take turns asking the question while that questioner sits out that one round. The questions are extremely easy to come up with. How many cases on average does the supreme court hear, what's the fewest number of supreme court justices ever, what's the most, how old was the youngest/oldest jutsice, what's the largest dollar amount awarded by a jury, what's the average cost of law school, average starting salary... You can do this with any group of people who share the same interest. If your family doesn't have anything in common have each persons questions be about themselves: what was my highschool gpa, how many different states have I visited, how many years have I worked at my current job, how many cars have I owned...
Loads of fun.
Customer Review: Is this the best party game of all time?
Summary: 5 Stars
I am somewhat a fan of trivia, but not to the point that I would like to play a trivia game more than once a year. I bought The Perfect 10, which is a great trivia game, but it doesn't get much play. I feel that trivia games are more about showing off knowledge than actually making decisions, which is what I prefer to do when I'm playing games.
So why do I love this game? Because it makes trivia fun and gives you an opportunity to make decisions, even if they are fairly simple decisions. Let me share some pros and cons of this game.
Pros:
1. It scales for any amount of players from 5+. My friend used my copy to play with around 20 to 30 people. Even though he said it was a little chaotic, he said that it worked really well and that he received a lot of praise for the game. There's very few games that can play well with that many players and still be good with 5 to 7.
2. You do not need to know anything most of the time about the actual question. Since every answer is either a date or a number, it is easy to come up with a guess. Once you get to bidding, you still may not need to know the answer; sometimes you can play percentages or biggest differences and win big.
3. This game is easy to teach and to learn. Usually one sample turn is plenty for people to learn this game and that takes 2 minutes.
4. There is very few games that can played with almost anyone. This one is one of them. In my opinion, Wits and Wagers can be played with more types of people than any other game I've played. You may have to convince people that they don't need to know trivia to enjoy this game, but after the sample turn, they should see it for themselves.
5. The game is quick. Most of the time it should be 30 minutes or less.
6. You learn things without being bored in school. There could be a law against that!
Cons:
1. Just like its sister game, Say Anything, the dry erase markers can die rather easily. Since you need these to play the game, it can be a little discouraging.
2. The bid tokens are a little flimsy. The lamination has peeled off a few of my tokens. Maybe I've played it a little much, but again I think it could be an issue for someone else.
3. I would have liked to seen chips with easier numbers on them (I'm not even sure if they have numbers on them), so you can tell them apart. I've played it enough that I know which are which, but newer players have a tough time figuring that out.
4. Fans of deeper games probably may like this as a filler game, but this game doesn't require a lot of thought.
In Conclusion, is this the best party game of all time? For the moment, I have to say that yes, this is the best party game of all time, because it does everything a party game should and it can be played with more variety of people than any other game I've ever seen.
After multiple plays, I can say, for me, this has become my party game of choice and will probably play this more than all of my other party games combined this year.