YORKTON - If we were to characterize The Meeple Guild it would not label itself ‘a party crew’.
And since our game sessions are not about brews and pretzels with game sort of a pasted on activity – we gather to board game only – you will not find ‘party games’ among those on the crowded shelves – not even an old copy of Pictionary.
So when Funny Lines arrived and hit the game table recently it was a game which was most definitely outside the norm for us.
From designer Carlo Emanuele Lanzavecchia, artist Lea Wojcik and publisher MJ Games Funny Lines is very much a party game which plays two to four. With four you can play as individuals – our chosen mode – or in two-player teams.
The idea with this one is one player is tasked with drawing a picture of a hidden item – say an airplane or paintbrush – adding circles, squares, lines and such to their drawing based on what the other players ‘pay’ to guess are part of the picture.
On the front of the cards there are images to guess. On the back of the cards are the costs of the clues.
Once the elements are drawn players may guess. Get it right you share the pot with the artist, and a new round begins with a new card. The game ends after six cards. The individual/team with the most money wins.
We learned rather quickly that there were no Michelangelo’s in the group, our best work at best reminding vaguely of Salvador Dali.
Secondly we found Funny Lines to be a lot of fun.
Would it climb into the realm of favoured games? Short answer no.
However for a night of casual gaming Funny Lines can fit the bill.
Now the stack of cards is thick, but once that card is used it probably won’t work for several months as players will twig to what is having seen it before – so Funny Lines has two or three game sessions a year in it, then to a shelf long enough for memories to fade.
So a weekend at the summer cabin, or a family gathering in December, this one is golden. Check it out at MJgames.ca
