Customer Reviews

Rigamarole Board Game

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have played a lot of party games. Cranium, balderdash, Taboo, etc. I loved them all and they never got old. But after I bought Rigamarole and played it, I have to say it beats all of those games. It has the same concept of Cranium (except it has a total of 6 categories...not 4) and has many more "games" for each card. The games rarely repeat and you find the craziest and funniest games to play. It even comes with a blindfold to play a category of blindfolded games (for example, a blindfolded player must listen to the ingredients of a food and guess what the food is). It also has a series called "stage fright" which require pantomiming or singing or such...."think tank" which requires you to recite stories without using 'e' in any of the words or trying to list words whose letters are in alphabetical order within the word... "double whammy" which are a series of various games that are worth twice as much and are like making a player laugh for 10 seconds on the other team or selecting a person from each team to see who can take the largest step..."Free to Be Me" which often asks to determine on your team who has some given characteristics or traits such as "an outtie" or "who was born in a year divisible by 3". Some of the challenges are tough but thats what makes it fun! The objective on the instruction reads "To have fun and be social." Thats exactly what this game does. If you want the ULTIMATE game, buy this if you like cranium...buy it if you don't.

The reason I like to play games at parties is because a good game can really liven up a crowd. In the end, everyone should be laughing so hard that no one even cares who won. The competition makes this possible, but it's the entertainment value of the experience that's memorable. You can tell that a lot of research went into Rigamarole because it incorporates several different features that are all amusing in their own ways. (Cranium tries to accomplish this same goal, but is not as stimulating or hilarious.) I've played Rigamarole many times with different combinations of friends, strangers and relatives and it's always been a howling success. If you are the kind of gamester who only cares about winning, you should stick with strategy games, but if you prefer whimsy and camaraderie, Rigamarole is terrific fun.

I can't say no to a challenge. So I was particularly intrigued about this game, which seems like it should be challenging, and I read another review here that said Rigamarole is not challenging enough. Which is it? I had to find out.

The verdict according to me and my friends after 3 different nights of playing Rigamarole is: That reviewer must take himself a little too seriously. There's plenty of challenge. Here are some expamples that come to mind. Nobody could say the alphabet backwards (a final challenge card), and it was tough, though ultimately possible, to write STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS so it could be read in the mirror. Another card says "tell a 60-second story without using the word "THE." This is HARD, and it's funny watching players try. In the game where you sing songs and guess the titles, one person actually knew the words to LOSING MY RELIGION but nobody else knew the song title. The contest where you name neighboring states until one team gets boxed in was a definate challenge for me and everyone else playing. It really gave us all a chance to think about why we have such poor geography skills.

What gives Rigamarole its charm is that there are easier, fun activities in between the more intellectual ones, like spelling letters with your body and touching each other a la Helen Keller to give clues about words. In the category FREE TO BE ME, it was a nice break to do nothing other than answer about who you are, like whether you've ever been frisked or figuring out which team has the most pets. These less-than-challenging cards are a cute part of the game and make it unique.

Who's to say challenges are only intellectual anyway? One guy could list 5 palindromes but he couldn't stand on one leg blindfolded or tell that his partner was drawing a heart on his back. That's the overwhelming point of this game. People are challenged in, and talented in, many ways.

I guess you can't please all of the people all of the time. This game sure tries, and in my humble opinion, succeeds.

You don't know what's coming next with this game. That might make some people uncomfortable but I thought it was great! Putting on the blindfold in front of your friends is hilarious, and so is trying to remember their eye color (I got my girlfriend's right). I really like the hidden talents cards at the end, especially sock wrestling.

We just played Rigamarole with 9 people last week. It was a huge success even tho some players were new to the group. There was a ton of laughter, discussion and all around good bonding because the range of activities includes everyone. Whoever made this game has a terrific sense of humor and an eye for what a group enjoys. This is a must-buy.

I played Rigamarole a few weeks ago with friends and family and can't stop thinking about the various challenges. Two things I liked about the game were 1) You're never so far behind that you feel like you're losing. By trading, negotiating, and luck you can win it all at any time. 2) You don't need to be "good at games" to enjoy yourself. Rigamarole taps so many creative and intellectual talents that no one will be good at every category, so it encourages team spirit and lots of laughter. I especially enjoyed the word games that were reminiscent of old TV game shows. The manufacturer says 16 years and up, but the 12 year olds kept winning, so I'd suggest it for 6th grade and up.

Everything about this game is a delightful surprise. Rigamarole is a smorgasbord of highly entertaining games that have gone over well no matter who we have had to dinner. We have played many, many games over the years and this is the pick of the litter.

This game had potential- but man is it annoying! There are very few clear-cut directions, making the game play kind of ambiguous and not very competitive. I see what they are trying to do by trying to get you to be creative, but I just want to play a game!

The game is also not worth $30!!! There are no game pieces. They try to make you be 'creative' again- you have to find your own piece - and *gasp* the tallest piece goes first!!! How creative and fun!!! How lame. In my opinion it is just an attempt to save money in game production costs. There are also 'tokens' you are supposed to collect for each answer you get right (but they are never really clear on how many you win)- but get this... you have to find your own! What fun! Just what I wanted to be doing instead of actually playing the game- looking for game tokens! Man is it stupid.

There are also very few cards in the deck they give you - I would say that you would go through them all in three or four playings. The board itself is also really poorly made and doesn't look like it will last long.

The game took three groups of 2 people less than 30 mins. to play in total. After it was over no one wanted to play again...

My friends and I love Cranium, Taboo, etc. - so its not like we usually hate group games - but man this one is lame!!! Do not buy - get Cranium instead!!!

What a waste of $30.

Rigamarole, by Hidden Talents Games, is a variety party game for four or more players ages 16 and up. The premise of the game is much like other party games, such as Cranium, but this one is more broadly based, testing skill, knowledge and random facts. It's the perfect game for a getting-to-know-you get-together!

Players move around the board collecting cards from six different categories: Stage Fright, Think Tank, Sensory Perception, Double Whammy, Free to Be Me and Hidden Talents. Each category has several different types of activities which show up on the cards.

In Stage Fright, players might pick a "Tall Tales" card, where they must incorporate three random words into a 60-second story, and the other players must try to guess the three words. It's more difficult than it sounds... can you incorporate Gargantuan, Serendipity and Guano into a 60-second story without making them obvious? I found myself seriously lacking in ability at this type of challenge, having a hard time not giggling each time I said one of the 3 words.

In Think Tank, a sample challenge might be a "Who Do You Know", where players must simply describe three people (or occasionally other proper nouns) and get the other players to guess the name. This one can get a little bit harder than one might think, especially if you're not familiar with the names. One slightly confused game-player in our group got the name "Warren Buffet" on his card, and gave a perfect description of Jimmy Buffet. Oops.

The majority of the challenges in Sensory Perception involve putting a blindfold on one player (yes, a blindfold is included in the game box). Many of the challenges here are easier said than done, such as trying to stand on one leg for ten seconds while wearing a blindfold. The Double Whammy category involves double dares, such as trying to make a player on the other team laugh, without touching them. Better brush up on your jokes! Free to Be Me is the most random category, where, on most of the cards, three traits are listed, and if at least one player on your team possesses each of them, your team wins the challenge. A couple of times, no one on our team had any of the traits (such as "is color blind", "is a registered Republican" and "has gotten a speeding ticket"). Finally, we got one where among the whole team, we had a nearly perfect score ("has a birthmark", "has been on TV", "parts hair in the middle").

Once you've received cards from all of the categories, you move to the middle and do a "Hidden Talents" challenge. The very first card our team drew was "Say Good Night in Five Languages other than English". For most people, this would be super-tough! Even I, as a modern languages major, managed to get four quickly, but struggled for a bit with the fifth. Portuguese popped into my head at the last minute, though, and my team took the game. Interestingly, though, I was a bit disappointed to win, because I was having so much fun that I wanted the game to last even longer!

If Rigamarole doesn't sound exciting and fun to you by now, then it's probably not your type of game, but anyone who likes fun and silly party games where a variety of topics, knowledge and skill come into play will LOVE this one. I don't think I've ever played a game where I was disappointed to win because I didn't want the game to end! The problem is solved, of course, by simply playing another round.

I played Rigamarole for the first time with my Mother and a group of women I had just met. We had a great time playing and we were all laughing and carrying on like old friends by the time we were finished. The game is played with teams of two or three (or more) players and it's a great way to get to know your team members as well as everyone's talents.

I especially liked the variety of challenges Rigamarole presented. No one player dominated all of the categories, and each team member found she excelled at something. This game is the perfect follow up to a dinner party.