Wise and Otherwise
by WISE AND OTHERWISE
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Our Price: $37.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $29.28 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Wise and Otherwise
Customer Review: Better than Balderdash and Malarky.
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is similar in style and play to other board games like Malarky and Balderdash. However, I would recommend Wise and Otherwise over either of those games. In Balderdash, players come up with meanings to words 99% of the population has never heard of, and try to convince other players that their definition is correct. In Malarky, players answer questions that 99% of the population would never ask. In Malarky, I found that many people came up with very similar answers which took some fun out of the game. In Wise and Otherwise, players have to finish foreign sayings that rarely make sense. One example: If you take a squirrel out of water.... The real answer is, "he will devise a plot against you". Every player would have written down an ending to the statement and handed it to the reader, who would then read everyone's aloud as well as the correct answer. Players vote for what they think is the correct answer and hope that others will vote for theirs. As you receive points you move your pawn up the board and the first to the end wins. Creative people will really enjoy this game because many times the correct ending to the statement is extremely goofy. The whole spirit of the game is light-hearted and the losers have just as much fun as the winner. (By the way, I won today!!) For fun I gave the game five stars, because everyone really gets into the game and enjoys themselves even if they're in last place the whole time. For education I also gave it five stars because listening to these odd sayings gives people an idea of what foreign cultures are like. This game is also very durable due to the sheer number of sayings and the fact that nobody could memorize all of them.Customer Review: To know one thing is to know ten thousand things
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is an absolute blast. I've played other great games (Cranium, Balderdash, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit etc...) and this is easily a match for any of them.... .
A quick overview, the game is exactly like Balderdash except with old sayings instead of difficult word definitions. If you've never played Balderdash, here's an explanation of "Wise and Otherwise": There are 500 cards in a box with 5 old sayings on each card. The reader reads the first part of an old saying and everyone makes up the ending. You score points for guessing the correct saying or if anyone selects the one that you made up.
You would be amazed at how good the made up sayings are in the end. Your friends will be really good at it in just a few rounds.
I was also amazed at how well I remember the sayings after we've finished a game. This isn't the case with Balderdash where I'll never remember the definition of a word. This makes the re-playability a little lower, but the educational value much higher. As another reviewer pointed out, you have all kinds of new sayings to use around the office... how true. :-)
It is easily one of the best party games ever. My thanks to the folks at Wise and Otherwise for their act of creation in making this game.
Some of my favorite sayings: Cameroonian - "Why did you go into the clearing in the bush without first..." 1)making a lot of noise? 2)collecting leaves from the wambush tree? 3)first making friends with the monkeys?
Irish: "A cow dung is ..." 1) never far from the cow. 2) wider when trodden upon. 3) the surest thing from here to there.
If you like party games at all, this is an excellent addition to your other games. Have fun!
Customer Review: Get ready to laugh...
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I play this with her family (7 people total) whenever we get the chance. By the end of the game, my throat and stomach hurt from laughing so hard. People we tell about the game say, "Isn't that like Balderdash?" Yes and no. The concept is the same, in that you have to come up with bogus answers good enough to fool the other players. However, Wise and Otherwise is much easier, because you don't have to make your answer sound like a dictionary. Answers can be one word or entire phrases (although shorter seems to be better. It certainly helps to have creative people who can write both intriguing answers and hilarious ones. We usually submit 2-3 answers for each phrase, with only one being a serious response. The others are "fun" answers, which usually have us rolling on the floor each round. For example, in our last game, one of the sayings was, "There is an old Scottish saying: 'He is like a bagpipe, he...'" How can you resist making a fun ending to that saying? We couldn't.There are only a couple of small drawbacks to this game. It is not fast-paced, so if that's what you're looking for, try Taboo or Catch Phrase. Things can slow down in Wise and Otherwise while players think of what to write. Also, we're almost out of response slips, and I haven't found replacement pads (you can use cut up pieces of scratch paper, but they have to be uniform so everyone's answer slip looks the same).
Bottom line: If you've got a creative group of more than 4 people, you should definitely give this game a try.
Customer Review: A Wise Purchase
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is our favorite. The object is simple, but one you never grow tired of... each player simply completes the second half of an ancient saying/proverb from around the world (all of which you've probably never heard of before). Each of the "made up" proverbs is then read by the reader (along with the "real" proverb) - THE READER MUST TRY TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE WHILE READING THEM!!! - and then each player votes for which proverb he/she thinks is the real one. Points are awarded in several different ways: 1) to players who guess the "real" proverb, 2) to the reader who chooses a proverb that nobody votes for and 3) to players who get other players to vote for their "made up" proverbs. Each player takes turns being the reader and each card has 5 proverbs that the reader can choose from.This game is enjoyed by my entire family - from my 70 year old dad to my 8 year old nephew (although he usually needs a bit of help from an adult). The game is only supposed to be played by up to 6 players, but we sometimes add extra game pieces (a penny or quarter) and play with up to 8. Sometimes the game can be too short, but it is easy enough to just start another one.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS GAME. It is a ton of fun, fairly educational (it gets you thinking in the frame of mind of people from cultures around the world), well made, easy to follow, unique, and sure to get you laughing. Wise and Otherwise is a very Wise purchase!
Customer Review: Fun Party Game
Summary: 4 Stars
This game is quite a lot of fun to play and is easy to learn. The first time we played none of us had tried it before and it only took about 10 minutes to get started. Gameplay consists of enough rounds of play for someone to win a little race. We found that you can ignore the little race if you just want a game that you can stop or start playing at any time. This makes it very flexible. The point of each round is to write a pithy saying that might fool someone into thinking that it is an actual proverb. Only one such saying is actually real, the rest are made up by you and your fellow players. One person each round acts as judge and picks the real saying that goes into the mix.
It has the distinct advantage of not requiring hours and hours to play. A round typically lasts only a few minutes. A full game takes only a few rounds.
One of the possible annoyances of the game is everyone has to wait if you have a slow player who insists on trying to win a Pulitzer Prize every round. If someone like this is at your party, quietly get out a different game.
The only other bothersome thing is the sayings are often badly translated which means it tends to be a "bad translation" competition rather than a "pithy saying" competition. Of course, if beer is present at your party the bad translation aspect is probably more of a bonus.