Shout It Out! product reviews

Given the broad range of games that I own, I wasn't expecting this one to rate highly with any of us but since I got it at a bargain, there was nothing to loose. One of the kids picked this for our board game time and despite the kids reservations, it was a hit.

The basis of the game is that you split into teams. Each team has cards numbered 1 - 10, which are used to indicate which number on the list has been called out by the other team, as well as being used to indicate which number on the list you don't think that the other team will guess (by placing a token next to the number). You read the category, flip over the timer and as each correct answer is called out, flip over the corresponding number card. The rules suggest that you all agree on a number of rounds before playing, so we decided six rounds, giving each team three turns as guessers and checkers.

Scoring is easy enough, you score one point for each word guessed, the opponents gain one point for each that you didn't guess. If you guessed the word they thought you wouldn't, you gain three points and if you don't, they gain three points. The kids had a blast with this game, to the point of asking to play again and again. It was interesting to see how everyone did, depending on the topic. Some of the topics were a little harder than anticipated (and an easy way to tell this is not a NZ game, by some of the answers. There was a card we skipped, types of wine (the kids had no chance and even I would have been lucky to get one) and others that we struggled with, but then some where we did really well.

This game was a mixed bag, in terms of what the answers on the cards were but the kids enjoyed it. This is an easily modified game, it wouldn't be hard to create some of our own cards and really personalize it.

Nice and easy game where you hope your playing against linguistically challanged people - which I wasn't. It's a game of questioner versus everyone else and when its your turn to ask the questions, it is best to hear silence from the other players.
This does get a bit tricky trying to give out points when everyone's shouting out answers together. Good game for a bit of a laugh though.

This is definitely a game more suited for those nights when there's nothing on the goggle-box and the kids have loads of energy. I am sometimes at a loss to describe a word in everyday situations, add to that your team-mates and the other team - or individuals - playing and my brain felt like it was leaking out of my ears. With a sizable amount of category cards in the box already and making some of your own, the outcomes are endless.

There was also a timer, which has 60 seconds but when you are trying to think, it doesn't stretch as long as you hope it will. Considering there are ten choices on the card and you have to decide which one the other team will NOT guess, scores for guessing the words and completing the card started getting a little confusing.

As I said earlier, good game for families and groups of friends. Younger players - or those with a smaller voca... voce... word understanding may need some extra help in identifying the words as they get shouted out by others.

Talk about a brain-strainer! I swear this game forms some kind of temporal warp around the players because those 60 seconds go past in about 20! When the pressure is on, the brain goes on holiday, it seems! Even the most obvious of answers seemed to elude me as I frantically groped for 'Types of Italian Foods and Wines'... I mean, I LOVE Lasagne, but could I think of it while I stared in abject fascination at the sand falling through the timer... oh heck no! Not a jot... got Tagliatelli though, that surprised me.

For those with a broad knowledgebase, this game is a lot of fun, and still a challenge, as there are 10 'correct' answers, at least one of which would be considered 'unusually obscure' and is thus worth 3 points if guessed, instead of only 1 point. Of course, it is up to the 'Caller' to decide which of the 10 listed items they consider the 'least likely to be guessed', so there is an element of thought and knowledge of the mental capacity of the other players. This can lead to some unusual choices.

Overall, though the game became rather difficult due to one of our players having a hearing problem compounded by a faulty hearing aid that kept cutting out, we still managed to have a great game. The scoring is strange, in that ALL the 'guessers' gain equal points, no matter who yells out a correct answer, and the 'Caller' gets a score for all the unguessed items... it was simple to work out in the end, and it does work out that one person can win the game... which turned out to be irrelevant, as in the end we all agreed we all won, just on the fun factor alone!