Unboxed the Board Game Blog

Wild, wacky, hilarious fun. Lie through your teeth and end up a winner. When you play Absolute Balderdash, the better you are at telling a fib or two, the more likely you are to win. This is the world-famous hilarious bluffing game where you try to "con" your opponents into believing your made-up answers to a weird and wonderful collection of Words, People, Initials, Films and Laws. Absolute Balderdash positively encourages bluff and double-bluff as contestants pit their wits against one another, by dreaming up and writing down wild and wacky (or positively serious!) answers to the bizarrest of questions. How would you define "twangdillo"? What is it unlawful to keep in Scottsbluff, Nebraska? (Real answers: The sound made by playing a ukulele and Snowballs in the icebox!) The hilarity really starts when all these phoney answers are shuffled up with the correct one, and read aloud. Players then try to work out the right answer, and those whose made-up answers get picked score a move on the board. Just because an answer sounds right, it doesn't mean to say it is. Often, the most ridiculous ones turn out to be true. That's what makes Absolute Balderdash so different.

Pick which card deck you want to play with and shuffle! Split into two piles to form the draw piles. The first player draws a card from either pile and quickly flips it face up in front of them so everyone can see it. Play continues clockwise until a match is found! When symbols on two players’ cards match, both players compete to be the first to call out a correct example of the person, place or thing on the opponent’s card. The winner takes the opponent’s card and forms a winning pile. WATCH OUT! A new match may be revealed. Complete all possible matches before drawing new cards. When a wild card is drawn, place it in between the two draw piles. Matches can now occur between the symbols on the wild card. This wild card remains in play until a new wild card is drawn. If you draw a wild card, you take another turn, after all challenges have been settled. When there are no cards left in the draw piles, each player counts up their winning pile. The player with the most matches wins!

Simple premise and challenging gameplay with hours of fun to remember! That's Codenames – a fast paced party game that's sure to keep the whole group entertained, great for families, friends, and total strangers alike. Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames. To win the game, your team will need to contact all of your agents in the field before the other team finds their own agents. And watch out for the assassin – meet him in the field and your team is done! Codenames is simple to explain and easy to understand, with no limit to size of the teams – you can play in four people as well as in twelve!

Cross Clues is a cooperative party game about making connections between clues. Work together to fill in the grid of code words by giving single word clues that represent the crossing of two different code words in the grid. Consider your clues carefully and think as a team to fill in as much of the grid as possible! Thousands of different combinations guarantee endless fun!

Decrypto is a "scramble communication" game: you must give clues to your teammates that are precise enough, so they can understand you, but vague enough, to make sure your opponents don't get the message...

Letter Jam is a cooperative game for 2 to 6 players. In each round, every player has a letter that everyone else can see. But no one can see their own letter! Players try to find words that can be made with the letters they see. The player with the best clue spells it by marking the letters with numbered tokens. Your letter’s position in the clue helps you guess what it might be. Then you can move on to a new one! Guess them all before clues run out, and unscramble your hidden word.

Paperback - the novel deckbuilding game. Word-building meets deck-building - players start with a deck of letter cards and wild cards. Each hand they form words and purchase more powerful letters based on how well their word scored. Most letters have abilities that activate when they are used in a word, such as drawing more cards or double letter score. Players buy wilds to gain victory points.

So Clover! is a cooperative word-association game. Play as a team to get the highest score. Get Keywords and secretly write their common features on your Clover board; these are your Clues. Then work together to try to figure out each player’s Keywords. At the end of the game, add up your score according to how many Keywords you found and write it in the Record of Legends. Try to beat your high score each game!