At a recent family gathering, I played my first game of "Wise and Otherwise."  I was told that it was similar to Balderdash, an accurate assessment.  Rather than making up creative definitions for unknown words as in Balderdash, Wise and Otherwise requires players to complete unfamiliar expressions from many different cultures around the world.  The first part of the expression is given on the card, and each player writes down their best guess as to how it might end.  Then, like Balderdash, players listen to all of the possible endings (including the correct one from the back of the card) and try to pick the right one.  Points are awarded for guessing correctly and also for each made-up answer that is selected by another player as the right one.

I prefer this game over Balderdash because it didn't seem as tiresome.  After just a few rounds of Balderdash, I'm tired of making up fake definitions.  But finishing expressions was actually a lot of fun, and because each expression lends itself to different possibilities, my creative juices didn't run dry so quickly.  I was also impressed that everyone (including a few elementary-aged kids) seemed to be able to offer reasonable responses, and the final score was quite competitive between all players.

Having acknowledged some strengths of the game, I just wasn't very engaged in the game, for reasons still somewhat unclear to me.  One thing that was disappointing to me was that some of the expressions made absolutely no sense.  I kept wondering about the origin and context of the expressions, but such information is not provided.  I really like to learn interesting information when I play games, and I felt like the lack of explanation left me unsatisfied.

I enjoyed the game and won't protest if an opportunity arises to play again sometime.  But the next time we're trying to decide what game to play, I'll probably suggest something else.
At a recent family gathering, I played my first game of "Wise and Otherwise. "  I was told that it was similar to Balderdash, an accurate assessment. Rather than making up creative definitions for unknown words as in Balderdash, Wise and Otherwise requires players to complete unfamiliar expressions from many different cultures around the world. The first part of the expression is given on the card, and each player writes down their best guess as to how it might end. Then, like Balderdash, players listen to all of the possible endings (including the correct one from the back of the card) and try to pick the right one. Points are awarded for guessing correctly and also for each made-up answer that is selected by another player as the right one. I prefer this game over Balderdash because it didn't seem as tiresome. After just a few rounds of Balderdash, I'm tired of making up fake definitions. But finishing expressions was actually a lot of fun, and because each expression lends itself to different possibilities, my creative juices didn't run dry so quickly. I was also impressed that everyone (including a few elementary-aged kids) seemed to be able to offer reasonable responses, and the final score was quite competitive between all players. Having acknowledged some strengths of the game, I just wasn't very engaged in the game, for reasons still somewhat unclear to me. One thing that was disappointing to me was that some of the expressions made absolutely no sense. I kept wondering about the origin and context of the expressions, but such information is not provided. I really like to learn interesting information when I play games, and I felt like the lack of explanation left me unsatisfied. I enjoyed the game and won't protest if an opportunity arises to play again sometime. But the next time we're trying to decide what game to play, I'll probably suggest something else.