Game: Worst-Case Scenario Survival Card Game, The - Travel Edition

Thread: A novel premise implemented poorly

wraith808 — 2007-12-12T22:09:28+00:00

I was looking for a few games to take on a camping trip, and this was one of the ones I chose. While it wasn't terrible, I don't think I'll be playing it much.

1. Components - Basically as a travel game, it works. Not too much to say here- it's pretty much a standard deck of oversized cards, though the size makes them especially easy to shuffle in inconvenient places.

2. Rules - Very lightweight. Read the question and 3 answers to the person to your right, and if they choose correctly, they get to go again. The first person to answer 5 questions in a row wins.

3. Gameplay - This is where it falls down. First of all, the questions are either very simple, and require nothing more than common sense (because of the question, the other choices, or a combination of the two) and others are either very hard, or are not what you would expect. Secondly, it does not appear that the multiple choice is randomized very well. We played 5 sessions, and in the last two, the person just continually answered 'C' and won ... no thinking required.

Final Thoughts: I came into the game thinking that it would be an interesting aside- we like trivia, and this is an unusual category. Unfortunately, the author didn't stick to the advertised theme; many of these are not worst case scenarios, and the answers are not well thought out. I'd give it a 3 out of 10.

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ejmowrer — 2006-10-01T20:37:52+00:00

A better shot of the back of the box

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ejmowrer — 2006-10-01T20:30:19+00:00

A better shot of the front of the box

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ejmowrer — 2006-10-01T20:28:16+00:00

Card examples. Note that front and back are used.

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Gialmere — 2006-02-24T16:08:55+00:00

Thread: Not all that bad...very good for play with kids in the car

jollypirate — 2006-01-16T17:05:19+00:00

Yes, as far as my favorite games this is never going to be among them, but for a car game or as a short filler (I played with Teresa and Harry while waiting for the guys to play Zombies arrive)it works fine.

The game proposes a bad situation and then gives options about the best course of action from that point on. The choices are sometimes quite complex, sometimes quite idiotic (which adds some chuckles to the game, especially when someone chooses the idiotic answer), but usually you find yourself wrestling a bit with the options to figure it out...even though that's quite often hopeless to do.

One of things that makes it a good game to play with kids (Harry is 10) is that there are only 3 choices, so there is quite a lot of luck built in for a trivia game. And given the complexity of many of the questions, that's good for adults too.

Primarily, you have to find the premise somewhat intriguing to enjoy it, but all three of us did. I mean, who really doesn't want to know the best way to win a sword fight or take a punch to the head?

Pick it up on clearance or at a garage sale for a buck or two...what's the worst that could happen?

Thread: a really wretched game

Gnomekin — 2005-09-10T18:20:49+00:00

I’m not a big fan of trivia games. I have nothing against them. They just don’t really tickle my gaming fancy. For me, a game is something that repeated play should allow you to get better at. Trivia games, on the other hand, simply reward you for knowing something that the other players don’t. Repeated play won’t necessarily improve your game, unless you memorize all the questions, and that, quite frankly is no fun. For that matter, trivia games have a finite amount of replay value, since eventually you will read all the questions.

That being said, I have still enjoyed trivia games some of the trivia games I’ve played. I mean, it is fun to pick your own brain and realize that you actually know something some crazy tidbit of knowledge. More than that, most trivia games have an element of party game to them and if everyone’s having a good time, then something’s going right.

Still, the few trivia games that are in my collection come in the form of decks of cards with the questions on them. It’s often more fun to just sit around with my friends and read through the questions. I’ve enjoyed Mindtrap more as a social activity than as a competitive game.

With all that, I picked up the travel edition of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Card Game. I’d paged through the books at bookstores and the game was on sale. Att he very least, I didn’t think it could be any worse than your average deck of trivia questions. Boy, was I wrong.

The game itself comes in a slightly oversized box with 54 card with questions on both sides of the card. The cards are yellow with a white box in the center. The question is over the box while three possible answers are in the box. The correct answer is in bold letters.

The game itself is simple, even by trivia game standards. On a player’s turn, another player draws a card and asks them a question. If they answer it correctly, they get another turn and another question. If they answer incorrectly, the next player gets their turn. Whoever answers five consecutive questions correctly wins.

First of all, I do have problems with these rules, although those are simple enough to solve. I don’t like games where players get unlimited extra turns, since that can mean some players will not get a turn. I have had it happen to me in other games. I also don’t like games where you either win or lose on one turn. Either you answer five questions in a row or you don’t. I prefer keeping cumulative score. Among other things, that means the game will eventually end. Obviously, house rules can solve all of my complaints however I don’t like having to basically rewrite most of the rules.

Second, I do not like the card design. I admit that I enjoy going through trivia cards to test my own knowledge as much as the other players. If the answers to the questions were on the other side of the card or even upside down, that would let me do that. However, since the answers are in bold, that means by reading the question, I know the answer.

Finally, these are some pretty poor questions. The trivia games I like the most are those that are puzzles that test how clever or creative you are. Failing that, games that actually test your knowledge can be fun, particularly if it’s a topic that you either know something about or are curious about.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game, on the other hand, is a mishmash of questions and answers that almost require you to read the author’s mind. Sometimes, there is a blatant right answer but too often more than one answer could be valid. More than that, the questions are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for either being obtuse or obscure. In short, they are neither informative or fun.

I recommend avoiding this game. If you want to buy a deck of trivia questions, almost any other deck would be better than this one.

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Gialmere — 2005-02-08T19:21:08+00:00