This review will be a bit unusual. Instead of reviewing the game normally I'm going to tell you the story of how our first game of Wits & Wagers went.

If you simply want to read the summary of what I think about Wits & Wagers, here it is: It's one of the best party games your money can buy. It's got all the hallmarks of a great party game: Fun & Exciting, light, family friendly, easy to learn, and short gametime to allow for multiple playings.

So that's it. But if you want to know how our first game of Wits & Wagers went, read on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I had not been into the gaming scene for a long time, and in my small collection I had zero party games. This led me to do some searching around for the ONE party game that will make it to my tiny collection.



I had come across Wits & Wagers in my searches and found the premise of the game to be very interesting. However, being a value (read: cheap) gamer that I am, I wanted to wait to place my order as a bulk to save on shipping cost. When North Star Games graciously offered a 2nd edition copy to be reviewed, I immediately jumped on the opportunity. After a few days the game arrived.

I then waited and waited, and waited for the right opportunity to introduce the game to our group. Having read the rules and learning about the overall sense of the gameplay I have a feeling that the game will do better with more people than it would with less. Our group consisted of some casual gamers and many who are non-gamers. When we finally had our Christmas gathering, I did a headcount and there were twenty-three people left after dinner. There were 4 simultaneous games going on and one group just finished a game. perfect.





I walked to my game shelf and pulled Wits & Wagers out. As I began to lay the game board on the table people saw the poker chips and began to wonder: "What kind of game is this? Gambling?" One guy commented on the nice glossy feel of the board. Some other dude started to get excited and exclaimed "Wooo, I'm going to whoop everyone's butt if this is a gambling game!!" I just smiled and carried on.



There were 7 people so we had enough for 7 teams. I handed out the starting betting chips to everyone. I handed out the answer sheets and the markers. At this point some people starting to wonder about what kind of game it really is.

Then I started my introduction with my best Drew Carrey impersonation (as best as an Asian Drew Carrey could do): "Welcomeeeeeeeee to Wits & Wagers!!! Where teams will compete, some will rise and some will fall, to answer corrrrrectly. Wits & Wagers is a game of trivia, and a hint for all of you, the answers will always be a positive number. After I read the question, you may write your answer in the pad I gave you, and put your pad on the board face down!!."



At this point someone wondered: "But we only have 1 pad.. how many questions do we have to answer? Ohh.. wait... you can easily erase the answer! Cool!!"

"Alrighttttt... everyone ready??? Here's yourrrrr first question." I started reading some question about the fastest speed of a fish ever recorded. Everyone immediately groaned because they never heard of such trivia. The same dude who said he's going to whoop everyone's butt already mumbled "Oh man, I'm going to lose so bad.."

And that's exactly the point of Wits & Wagers, some of the trivias are so out-of-this-world that you WONT know the answer... but knowing the answer is NOT the ONLY way to win this game.. which these guys will soon find out.



"Alllrightttt... time's up! [gasp in the crowd] Put down your answers, and lets reveal them together on the count of one... two... three!!" Everyone flipped their answers and immediately they made fun of each other's answer. Much Laughter ensued when one MATH teacher put down "415 mph" as her answer.

I sorted out the answer, and I told them. "OKKKK.... now you may put down your bets! Bet on which answer is the closest without going over! The payouts are shown at the bottom of the column!" At this point everyone understood how the game works. I didn't even explain the rule beforehand. This is one of the hallmark of a great party game: Anyone can just start playing the game and immediately have fun.



"Annnd... the answer to the fastest speed of a fish ever recorded iiiiiiissss....." (dramatic pause) I blurted out the answer which was on the 60s.. and everyone's expression was priceless. More laughter. More teasing. There's one person who reaped the prize in the form of more betting chips.

Then someone asked me: "Hey, how many questions did the game come with? At this pace we're going to run out of questions really soon." I showed them the stack of cards with 7 questions each (700 total), and how NorthStar Games give additional question to be used from time to time. He nodded.. "Ahh yeah, this way we wont get to the same question until many, many games in the future."

Then something happened. On question 3 one person exclaimed: "Oh, I know this!! I read it somewhere before!" and started writing down her answer confidently. When the betting time came, 3 or 4 teams put their bets on her answer. Her answer was wrong. More hilarity ensued.



By question 4 the other 2 games that were going on was also finished and they all gathered around our table. After our first game which only took 20 minutes or so everyone else wanted to play too, so we ended up having 7 teams of 2 people each, many of them couples. It was hilarious seeing couples argued on the answers, and many "I told you so!!" comments after the answers were revealed.

By the third game, EVERYONE gathered around our table. The laughter got louder. The bets got more furious. The questions didn't get any less ridiculous.

As we said our goodbyes that night, one girl asked me "hey, what was the answer of the fastest fish question again?"

And that's how our first game of Wits & Wagers went.