13 Words
Designed by: Romain Loussert
13 Words is a short, co-operative party game where players are trying to make connections between different words.
The board is circular, with twelve Word cards placed around the outside, and one in the middle. One player starts as the captain and must (secretly, using a dial) choose which of the outside words best combines with the word in the middle. If the middle word is Travel, say, they might select Ship, Country or Shoes? At the same time, everyone else also (secretly) chooses the word they think the captain will choose.
Then everyone reveals their choices! The captain will score a point for every player who selected the same as them, and everyone else will score a point if they chose the same word as the captain. Then the captain’s word card gets flipped over to a new word and placed in the middle, meaning there are now just eleven words on the outside. The next player clockwise becomes captain, and we go again.
After the eleventh round – where there are only two words left to choose from – the game ends and players add up their points to make a combined total, which the rulebook provides a rating for. Players win (or lose) together.
Sam says
13 Words is fine, it’s kind of a my-first-word-game title I think in that there are ones more challenging (off the top of my head, the co-operative Letter Jam) more funny (Just One, Cross Clues, Word Slam) or games that bring both qualities together more convincingly (So Clover). Not to say I don’t enjoy 13 Words, but it feels a bit vanilla compared to the storied titles it shares the word-space with. But it’s a good one for families with young children – players can share their logic of why they made the connections they did, and with this type of game that’s actually more interesting than whatever score you manage together.
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Take That!
None
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Fidget Factor!
Pretty much none!
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Brain Burn!
It's about spotting links - not sounds-like, anagrams or spellings, but something that connects the words in their meanings.
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Again Again!
There's a big deck of cards and the game plays breezily quickly.
