Hit or Miss (Gamewright Games, 2007 – Brian S. Spence and Garrett J. Donner) is a game that immediately reminded me of another popular game, What Were You Thinking?, but adds to that with a bit of reversal thinking. When I read the rules to the game, I wasn’t really expecting much out of it, as I felt that the concept was a bit too simple and perhaps derivative from other games. However, when I introduced it to folks in a party type setting, they demanded that we play it again immediately after the first game ended, as they enjoyed it that much. Hit or Miss suffers from a “gaming” factor, in which one person can deliberately ruin the game while staying within the letter of the law; but if you avoid those folks, you’ll find a fun little party game here – with some pretty good components!

Each player in the game (up to eight total) takes a pad of paper, a pencil, and one HIT/MISS card. A box of 252 category cards is placed on the table, near a die and a 45 second timer. One player is chosen to be the first “Leader” for the first round, and then a number of rounds are played equal to the number of players.

In each round, the “Leader” draws a card and reads the category on the card out loud (“Ice Cream Flavors”, etc.) The timer is started, and players all write down on their sheets as many items as they can think of from that category. When time runs out, everyone stops writing, and the Leader takes the die. Starting with this person, each player rolls the die.
- If they roll a hit, they must circle an item on their list and read it out loud. Each other player places their card on the “hit” side if they have also written that item and on the “miss” side if they haven’t. The player scores one point for each “hit” card; and players with the “hit” cards also score one point. The item is crossed off of everyone’s lists.
- If they roll a miss, they must do the same thing, except that they score one point for each “miss” card; and players with the “hit” cards score three points.
- If they roll a jester, they have the option of trying for a “hit” or a “miss.”
The game continues until everyone has been leader once, and then players total their scores – with the highest score being the winner!
Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: It’s very likely that Hit or Miss could have easily been packaged in a much smaller box than the medium-sized one it comes in, but then they wouldn’t have been able to package in the pads and full-sized pencils, etc. I prefer to have a complete game in which I don’t have to hunt down this sort of thing, so I was very pleased with the game. The cards are non-descript, and I think they could have put more than one category on a card, but the whole thing works together fairly well component-wise. The timer is fine, but the chunky, huge die is excellent quality and will likely never be lost (though it may dent the table.)

2.) Rules: The rules are merely a single sheet of paper printed on both sides and explain quickly how the game works, with a few notes on how to write lists. The game takes about one minute to explain, and I have yet to meet anyone who couldn’t figure it out.

3.) Lists: However, even though the rules take only a minute to explain, I then kindly but firmly tell players that Hit or Miss is not to be “gamed”. For example, for ice cream flavors, I could put down “broccoli and cheese” as a flavor (perhaps having tasted a horrible concoction once upon my world travels), but that’s a flavor that likely no one else will ever put down, giving me an advantage if I happen to roll a “miss”. The game says that in such cases the majority can vote, and I strongly enforce this rule. Most folks will play the game “straight”; but there are occasionally people who simply must win at all costs, and this can ruin the game. Just something to watch out for.

4.) Hit or Miss: I think the Miss category may be a little easier to do, but you would be surprised at how many people might think of the same obscure thing as you. More often than that, however, is the amount of times you think that EVERYONE will write down the same thing, and yet no one does. In one category New York _______________; I wrote down New York Yankees and was flabbergasted when I seemed to be solo on that one, while another player couldn’t believe that they were the only one to pen “New York, New York”. This kind of thing makes the game very fun, as people will laugh and yell at each other for writing/not writing down different things.

5.) Categories: The categories are nice and diverse, and most of them are easy to think of dozens and dozens of things. I do think they could have included more, but there is enough for at least a score games before repeating.

6.) Fun Factor: This is a party game, pure and simple; and it works well. There is a short time of writing, a lot of time of scoring (and laughing), and the concept works very well. In fact, even though the game certainly feels like a derivative of What Were You Thinking, I think that this may be a better and cleaner version and one that will appeal to groups of wide ages and other factors.

I enjoyed Hit or Miss, although on a personal level I found the game merely “good”, not great. However, all those I played it with had a terrific time, and it was voted “best game of the night”, even when put up against other, more strategic games. So I think that if you are looking for a fun party game that can handle up to eight people, you won’t go wrong with this one. The concept is simple; and as long as you keep the “win-at-all-costs” people out, you’ll have a tremendous time.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com