The Big Idea is primarily a party game, which will inevitably be compared to Apples to Apples, Things..., or even Attribute. It does have a bit of strategy that most party games lack - but this may be more a negative than a positive, even for those who prefer more strategic games.

In The Big Idea, players manage venture capital, investing in various inventions. (Having worked in startups and VC-backed companies, some parts of this game ring a little too true!) Players start the game with 5 tokens, representing the venture capital funds they manage, and $10, representing their own money. The amount of venture capital will never change - the player's objective is to increase their own money. Players are also dealt a hand of 3 noun cards (such as "Beer", "Monkey", or "Vacation") and 3 adjective cards (such as "Flying", "Love", or "Natural").

The game consists of a number of rounds equal to the number of players (each player is the first player in one round), and each round has 4 phases:

In the first phase, each player assembles an invention out of their hand of cards ("Natural Beer"? "Flying Love Monkey"?), and pitches it to the other players, to convince them to invest in the idea.

In the second phase, all players simultaneously choose one of the new inventions, other than their own, to invest in, at no cost. The player who receives the most outside investment receives a $1 bonus.

In the third phase, players may pay to invest in one invention, new or old. In order to place a chip on an invention, the player must pay each other player who is already invested $1 per chip they have on the investment.

In the fourth phase, each investment is checked for payoff: A die is rolled for each investment, and, if the roll is less than or equal to the number of chips on the card, than each player with a chip on the invention earns a payoff equal to the die roll (in dollars), for each chip they have on the invention. Players recover their chips from an invention that has paid off, so that these venture capital dollars can be re-invested in other inventions. If an invention does not pay off, then "foreign investors" invest in the invention: A "neutral" chip is added to it, increasing the odds of payoff in subsequent turns.

After the fourth phase, players may discard cards from their hand, then all players draw so they have 3 adjectives and 3 nouns for the next round.

The strategic part of the game comes in the third phase, when you select which investment you want to invest in: Do you spread your chips around, or group them together, going for the big payoff? Which invention gets the best chance of a big payoff for your cost? Or, do you hold on to your remaining chip for the free investments next turn? The strategy is much lighter than a true "strategy game", but more than a typical party game.

This is, however, primarily a party game: It's about playing the game, laughing at each other's inventions, and being social, not about developing and executing the best strategy.

The game lends itself well to variants (e.g. a simple vote on the best invention, rules about how the invention can be pitched).

What I Like:
The game contributes to a fun, social atmosphere, as it encourages players to be creative and funny. (This is what a party game should do.)

There is a little more thinking involved than some party games, which I like.

What I Don't Like:
I'm really more a strategy person than a party game person, so this game really doesn't scratch the right gaming itch.

The fact that the game is a bit of a party/strategy hybrid works against it with the "party game" crowd, too.

The game doesn't scale well to a larger number of players, like Apples to Apples or Things... do. Six is about the most that can play this game successfully.