Game: What Were You Thinking?

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herman_the_german — 2007-12-06T17:04:32+00:00

Box and contents.

Thread: Re: April Fool Idea

Sky Knight X — 2006-01-17T20:24:34+00:00

I am going to do this. I chuckled just reading it. I imagine it working with other games too.

Thread: April Fool Idea

Mike Mayer — 2006-01-17T19:59:23+00:00

April Fool Idea

This is a great game to pull a trick on someone. All you need is a bunch of friends who are in on the joke, and one friend who isn't.

Here's what you do. Play the "public domain" version of the game, where everyone is supposed to make up his/her own list when it's their turn to be leader. Thing is, everyone in on the joke knows what the lists will be, as well as the answers.

First person in on the joke requests: List five types of dogs.

The "dupe" will write down things like: greyhound, boxer, poodle.

Everyone else should write things like: Hot Dog; Corn Dog; Dogwood Tree, Doggy Door

The dupe scores nothing, and is confused.

Next up, a player in on the joke should ask: List five superstitions.

The dupe is off and running.

Everyone else writes down things like: Spider-man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hulk.

When lists are read and the dupe complains, everyone confirms it was Superheroes that was asked for, and not superstitions.

The dupe is miffed.

Next list: Five things that happen at night.

The dupe grumbles and writes down his answers.

The first list read has things like: Joust; becomes King, gets Excalibur, slays a dragon.

(Five things that happen to knights)

If the dupe hasn't caught on by now, you should probably tell him.

Thread: What Were You Thinking?

Jonathan Degann — 2005-09-30T06:49:29+00:00

Jonathan, John, Mark, Sepideh, Martin, Dave, Lincoln, Winton

Some casually Americentric questions, and general unfamiliarity with
the game, put Sepideh at a distinct disadvantage, and she had fallen
far behind. The tides turned when Lincoln offered up as a category:
"People named Martin". For this one, EVERYONE EXCEPT Martin put
"Martin Hagvall". It was downhill from there for Martin, as he
continued to fall behind, skidding into dead last, one point behind
his wife.

Thread: Excellent Light Party Game

fizzix — 2005-06-16T14:33:17+00:00

You’ve created the first and most successful CCG in Magic: The Gathering and you want to design another game so what do you do? Well in this case the answer is a party game: What Were You Thinking by Richard “I am not just a one-trick-pony” Garfield. Actually I don’t know if this game directly followed MTG or not but it was released afterwards. What Were You Thinking broke new ground for party games in that this game rewards your similarities to other players in terms of how you answer simple questions and not your differences. Another unusual charcteristic of the game is that there will be only one loser and everyone else wins.

Inside the Box

There isn’t a whole lot to this game: 6 plastic pawns, 250 cards (double sided, 4 questions per side = 2000 questions), some crappy pencils, a pad of paper, and a combo board/spinner. You can play with more than six people, but you have to improvise with pawns, paper, and pencils. The spinner doesn’t spin too well and the board is really just a six space scoring track. The board has a glossy finish in bright colors making it look like a Hasbro game but this game actually predates the acquisition of WOTC by Hasbro.

Playing the game

A start player is chosen who spins the spinner. It will stop on a question category. There are 5 categories: list 5 things, true/false, name 5 things that come to mind, single answer, and make your own. The odds of each question type being selected are different because the spaces on the spinner are not all the same size. The player draws a card and reads that question.

Everyone then proceeds to write down whatever is asked for in the question. When all players have finished, the start player begins reading his answer(s). Every person that shared that answer raises his/her hand and the total number of hands (including the reader) is the point total for that response. For example, say in a six-player game the question was to name five famous physicists. The reader begins to read his list, starting with Isaac Newton. Let’s say that all six players wrote this (well in MY house they would) so everyone raises their hand for a total of six points. Each person who wrote Isaac Newton puts a 6 next to that entry on their paper. Now the next name he reads from his list is Hideki Yukawa. No one else said this so he scores 1 point for this entry (he only scores himself). He continues to read his final three answers, counting hands each time, and tallies up his score for all five entries. Then the next player reads his/her entries, but not any that have already been mentioned. He /she also totals-up their score. This goes on until all players have read their entries and tallied their score. Scores are compared and the person with the lowest score moves up one space. If there is a tie for lowest, all players who are tied will advance. The next player then spins and new question is read, answered, and scored.

The game ends when one player reaches the last space on the track (What Were You Thinking). He/She is declared the loser and everyone else wins.

Impressions
Yes it’s a party game and a fairly simple one so that might turn off those looking for some strategy. However, the whole point of a party game is to promote interaction and laughter and What Were You Thinking does that. It’s fun to laugh at the bizarre answers some people come up with or to hi-five people who write what you write. It’s also funny when you try to think what other people will write and then they write something completely different.

Some questions are factual but that doesn’t mean anything in this game. If a true/false question is “The World is Flat” and more people pick flat then everyone who didn’t choose that will move up even though they are “right”. This also leads to amusement as a frustrated know-it-all has to move up even though they had the right answer.

The down side of this game is that in a large group, it can take a while to go through all of the answers which can lead to periods of boredom. Paying attention to what other people say can help alleviate that. Another downside is that, depending on the character of the loser, having only one loser can be a little traumatizing. I say “get a grip, it’s a game”, but that’s me.

This is not an intellectually demanding game and so it won’t intimate anyone playing it. It won’t reward the person with a textbook memory or the person who is most creative or the best thinker. It just brings people together, promoting discussion and laughter without getting all touchy-feely like a lot of party games (e.g. Scruples, True Colors, Loaded Questions, Etc…). In action, I have seen it bring quiet people out of their shell. Again if a party game can do this, then it's a good party game.

In a party setting this is one of my top two games the other being Time’s Up but What Were You Thinking works with a wider audience.

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m_hamburg — 2005-03-18T21:45:39+00:00

Scan of some of the question cards

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2005-01-24T17:23:43+00:00

Played By: Lincoln John M. Ken H. Karin Winton L. Jonathan D.

Always an easy choice to get six people around the table together. Categories included "types of whales", "guys named Al", and "types of skin blemishes". We played two rounds, but I don't remember who won the second. Winner(s): Winton L.

Thread: Re:House Rules for Similar Answers

cardshark28800 — 2005-01-11T08:57:20+00:00

In my gaming group, we always played by the rules from the old TV show "Match Game," general and specific answers don't match. Chocolate cake is a specific form of chocolate, and thus doesn't match. Ditto chocolate bar. This usually means that players write down more general answers and not many specific ones.

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

JeffGoldsmith — 2004-06-04T15:43:34+00:00

Perhaps we are too nice, but one point for an unmatched answer is the rule in the published game.

Also, the reason why you can't have varying size lists is that you seem to add scores from list to list; the original scoring does not do that. Only the loser gets a point, so each list is normalized.

Thread: House Rules for Similar Answers

ced1106 — 2004-05-16T21:38:57+00:00

So if one person answers "chocolate" and the other answers "chocolate cake", did they match? The easy answer is "No", but if you play nice (and you should for a social game!) they should. Except what if another person writes down "chocolate" and "chocolate bar" as their answers?

Here's a house rule to resolve similar answers:

1. If a player writes down both of these answers down, they're treated as two different answers. So if I write "chocolate" and "chocolate cake", these answers are different, and don't match.

2. If two or more players have the same answer, no other answers match them. So if I write "chocolate", but others write "chocolate cake", my answer doesn't match.

3. Otherwise, the two or more answers match.

It's an odd rule because of its circumstantial nature, but works quite well in the different groups I've played with.

Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

Randy Cox — 2004-04-28T20:29:17+00:00

Oh, your group is too nice, if you allow a point for solo answers. That assures everyone scores 5 points.

As to allowing the player on-turn to decide how many items should be on the 30-second list, we no longer allow that. One game we were playing was going along fine with someone out front by a comfortable margin. Every player had called for 5 items. But on the final turn, the player who was "it" chose a category he knew the leader had no hope of answering ("Famous directors of kung-fu movies, Asian born") and said to list 9 such entries (or some other obscenely high number). Of course, the kick-flick fans dominated and the player who suggested the category came from behind to win. That's why we stick to a strict 5 item limit.

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

JeffGoldsmith — 2004-04-28T11:48:10+00:00

Our generic word is "artichoke." (We also often use it in Pass the Bomb. For some reason, players seem to get away with it.) We are a little harsher, though; we don't allow "artichokes" to match unless they are at least vaguely appropriate to the question. Then again, there once was the list, "five green vegetables." The one person who listed artichoke was pretty surprised to get a solo. Which, by the way, scores one, not zero. While lists of five are very common, it's best to allow the person making up the category to judge how many items ought to be on the list. Sometimes more or fewer answers produces a better game.

Thread: Re:Really want this game!!

Mike Mayer — 2004-03-17T01:13:08+00:00

mes9193 (#30672),

Just in case you missed it, take a look at this link:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/17887

It goes into detail on how you can play the game without having to buy the game, so that you can still have lots of fun even if you can't track down an actual copy.

Mike

Thread: Really want this game!!

mes9193 — 2004-03-17T00:31:00+00:00

Okay, So I recently played this game with a group of friends and almost died laughing because of the responses people gave and I would love to buy this game. Please contact me if you have a game to sell or know of where I can buy it that would be great! Thanks!

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2004-03-14T14:28:26+00:00

Played By: Dave A. John M. Jonathan D. Mike M. Patrick H. Winton L.

Categories included:
Things Bill Clinton said (mine)
Reasons to hate somebody
Characters on the Simpsons who aren't Simpsons
Mountains in California
States beginning with a vowel
Foreign airlines

The game was pretty much between Winton and myself. We went into the last round with Winton leading me by 3, and he pretty much threw the last round.
Winner(s): Jonathan D.
Ratings: Jonathan D. (7.5)

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2004-01-27T17:47:04+00:00

Played By: Dave A. Jonathan D. Mike M. Patrick H. Winton L. Aaron C.

In two sessions our categories included:
State names screamed by Howard Dean (including "Hyahhhh!")
Famous names with colors in them (eg. Barry White)
Fatal diseases
Appetizers
Reasons to be fired
Silly religions
Magazines with lots of pictures
Winner(s): Jonathan D.
2nd session: Aaron C.

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

Randy Cox — 2003-08-18T12:26:57+00:00

You know, we had that problem with soda/Coke here in the South, too. As a kid, working in our junior high school's canteen, we were instructed to ask "what flavor?" when someone ordered a Coke. Valid answers were Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, and Mountain Dew.

Back to the game, we play as stated in the traditional parlor rules noted earlier, except that we allow only 30 seconds to come up with 5 answers. We allow slightly-off mismatches as the situation dictates. E.g. if one person said "Soda" and most everyone else said "Coke," "Pepsi," and "Dr. Pepper," then we allow Soda to be a match with the most popular brand-specific answer. It's much friendlier.

Interestingly, "Soap" and "Uraguay" are very common answers for all categories when we play. If someone can't think of that 5th item during the 30 seconds, they write "Soap" if the category wants a "thing" and "Uraguay" if we're looking for a place. Amazingly, those answers often match with lots of other players at the table. One of those odd traditions.

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

qzhdad — 2003-08-07T15:22:32+00:00

Mike Mayer (#17935),
But in Indiana (at least when I was growing up), Coke meant soda. A typical hostess question, "Would you like a coke?" After receiving an affirmative answer, the next question was, "What kind Sprite, root beer or pepsi?"

But I take your point and agree.

Happy Gaming,
Scott

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

Mike Mayer — 2003-08-07T12:14:15+00:00

MarkEJohnson wrote:

* You need to be prepared to handle ambiguities, such as does "puffed rice" = "Rice Krispies"?

For the above, I'd say it's no match (unless the person is losing and it's a friendly game ). The WWYT rules say that a 'general' answer doesn't match a 'specific' answer. So if someone wrote 'Soda' and you wrote 'Coke,' you're out of luck.

However, things that are the same thing but phrased differently count, like: "Harrison Ford," vs. "That actor that played Indiana Jones."

In the offical game, every turn you see who has the worst score and give that person a point. When someone gets 8 points, they lose and everyone else is a winner. But many people simply play for a predetermined number of rounds, and then the single person with the highest total score is the winner.

Mike Mayer

Thread: Re:Rules, please!

MarkEJohnson — 2003-08-07T06:09:13+00:00

The homemade version we play couldn't be easier:

* Everyone needs paper & pencil to write down their lists

* Someone (we take turns) names a category (e.g. "Types of Breakfast Cereal", "What People Do With Lottery Winnings", "Holidays Nobody Celebrates", and everyone has 60 seconds to make a list of up to five answers.

* In turn, everyone reads off their answers. You score points equal to the number of players that listed that answer--but zero if only you listed it. (Example: if 3 people say "Cheerios", then those people each score 3 points for that answer.)

* You need to be prepared to handle ambiguities, such as does "puffed rice" = "Rice Krispies"?

Thread: Rules, please!

MeYesMe — 2003-08-06T14:57:44+00:00

I've been looking for this game without luck for a while. I've read the comments of several people who say they've played this game with just paper & pencil. Could someone type out a general idea of the rules so that we can do the same? Having never played this party game, I don't know where to begin. I will, of course, continue to look for the game -- but until I find it, I'd like to be playing the generic parlor version, if possible.

Thanks!

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Geese — 2002-07-18T23:14:08+00:00

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Geese — 2002-07-18T23:14:08+00:00