Customer Reviews

Balderdash Game

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Balderdash is a great game that combines wordsmithing and bluffing. To begin, each player rolls the dice to determine who will be the dasher first. The dasher then draws a card, reads the balderdash word to the players, and spells the word. None of these words are ones used in everyday language. (Examples include fleer, runnel, pontage, etc.) Each player jots down a phony definition that sounds credible (or, if you happen to know the real definition, write it down instead), and gives the slip of paper to the dasher. And then the hilarity begins. The dasher must attempt to read each definition and the real one without showing any emotion ... which is much more difficult than it sounds! Some of the phony definitions are hilarious, and often the real definition is too. After all definitions have been read, the dasher asks each player which definition is the correct one, noting that player's choice on the slip of paper. At the conclusion of the round, the players who chose the correct definition move two spaces on the board. The players who received votes for their phony definitions move one space for every vote. And, if no player guesses the correct definition, the dasher moves forward three spaces on the board. For subsequent rounds, each player takes a turn as the dasher. This game is fun, educational, and incredibly hilarious. Someone will crack up with laughter in every round!

Balderdash might be the funniest game my friends and I have ever played. It is basically a bluffing game gone wild. My friends and I have never laughed so hard playing any other game. And we have tried them all.
The Object of the game is: To make up answers that will bluff other players. Earn points for fooling other players into believing your bluff as well as for choosing the real answer.

The fun part is: Each player, on their turn, will read a word and every other player will write on a piece of paper, not letting others see, the "definition" of that word. Now the "dasher" will read out loud all the fake definitions including the real one. After the laughter ends every one except the dasher votes on which definition they believe is the right one. You get one point for every vote on your fake definition, three points if you vote for the real definition and three points if you happen to write something similar to the real definition (we make it five points). It has happened four times in the many years I have had this game.

THIS GAME GOT BETTER: There used to be only one category in this game - words. But now it has five different categories as Beyond Balderdash does. The difference between Balderdash and Beyond Balderdash is only one category. These are:

Words - As explained above.
People - Who is or what did this person do.
Movies - Write about the plot of the movie.
Initials - What do the initials stand for?
LAWS (instead of dates as in Beyond B) - You are given part of the law and the players must finish it. This is probably the best category in the game.

More categories add to the element of fun. Not to mention the "accidents". And since diapers are not included I will advice having a bathroom nearby. We sometimes use both games to play with six categories.

If you have only played the original version you have missed on a lot. Is it educational? YES!! Since every real answer is really real my friends and I have learned many things about people, history and ... well you know, stuff. So my final verdict is BUY THIS GAME! And Beyond Balderdash. And the Clasic Balderdash. You WILL enjoy them weather you like board games or not.

There is nothing better then playing Balderdash with a crowd of innovative people. A player reads a card with the title of a movie, acronym, a date, word so forth and the other players must write down the meaning of it. For example the date may be may 4, 1978 and the players write down what they believed was memorable about this date. Then after everyone has written down an answer they are all read aloud along with the right answer and everyone guesses which one they think is right. The outcome-- some creative and utterly hilarious answers . This game is a must have for family get togethers. Its hysterical and imaginative plus there is the extra bonus of learning random facts. Most of the time you'll be laughing throughout so you wont know who wins. We have get togethers and there is never a dull moment once the game comes out.

Balderwhat? You may be thinking. Well, a good definition, (or...atleast A definition) for it is the game that's fun, entertaining, educational, and the game where your creativity can flow and go wild! It's very simple, someone picks up a card and it'll have a strange word on it. Then below is a definition of the word,and you tell everyone the WORD[not definition] and they have to think up of some zany (sorry, I don't know how to spell that word...it sounds like "Zaynee"...) definition of it.
Everyone gives their slip of paper to the person who has called out the word and they read all the definitions. You vote for the one you think is correct. If you vote for, lets say a friend, and that wasn't the real one, your friend would move, not you. If you picked the correct definition you'd move up. It's wonderful, and involves a good sized group to play. It involves a lot of socialness too. It's wonderful, I'm a child, and I L-O-V-E this game! You will too! I reccomend you play it! It will guarantee a good laugh or two!

In the beginning there was a game called Balderdash. To avoid confusion, I'll refer to it as Balderdash 1. I first played it with some friends in Ohio about twelve years ago. In Balderdash 1, the players were given an obscure word which they had to guess the meaning of or trick the other players into "voting" for their definition.

Then a "sequel" came out called Beyond Balderdash. Balderdash 2 was a huge improvement over Balderdash 1. Balderdash 2 still had words, but it expanded the categories to include People (who was Sherwood Schwartz?), Initials (what does NRSV stand for), Movies (what is Eegah about?), and Dates (what happened on September 1, 1939?).

And a few years ago, a third version of Balderdash came out. Like the first version it is also called Balderdash. Balderdash 3 has replaced the Dates with Laughable Laws (In Cincinnati, Ohio, it is against the law to wear _________ ? The answer may be anything from "...a bulletproof vest to church" to "...a stetson while snorkeling."). In my opinion, the Dates were much better and much funner than the Laughable Laws.

So if you can find an inexpensive version, I recommend Balderdash 2 -- or Beyond Balderdash as it is officially called.

Premise of this game: word definitions, but don't let that stuffy premise fool you. A person, elected or declared the balderdash `ref' by a roll of dice reads out a word. Only he/she knows what the `real' definition is. The rest of the participants write down their definitions and hand it over to the ref, who reads out each definition. The participants then vote on which is the correct definition. If you guessed right, you get the maximum points, but every person who thinks your definition is the right one wins you points as well, making this the only game that rewards knowledge as well as creatvity. So, the word is Nipter. What is your guess?

I started playing Boulder Dash back in 1996 and since then it has become one of my favourite games. There is no limit to the number of players that can participate in the game. Actually the more that are playing the more fun it is. You DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW the meaning of the words to have fun. What you need is a wild imagination and good skills in bluffing. The game now includes more categories such as dates, initials and movie titles but still the word category I think is the best. If the cards that are provided in the box are finished no problem you can use scrap paper and honestly I have never used the board of the game while playing.
Be ready for rounds of loud laughs and why not be ready to enrich your vocabulary with words you will never use anyway!

Balderdash is a riot! It keeps my family in stitches! My entire family is so full of bull we play this easily. Playing Balderdash is a family tradition after Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners and everything in-between. Anytime there is a family gathering the Balderdash game comes out! My grown sons and their wives are full of bull, the grandkids are now joining in, but, it's tough to out bull the mother of bulls! Gotta Love It! Jane

This game can be a lot of fun if you have the right crowd to play with. Balderdash is unique and a great idea because it so simple to play and you can expand on it.

I think the best part of the game is when you invent a new defintion of a word and make it sound so good that you get all of the votes. Where did this idea for a game come from? Some genuis somewhere needs to promote this game more to get it out there.

Again, for simple fun and a quick after dinner game on a calm evening, Balderdash is the game of choice.

I owned the original Balderdash game many years ago and loved it. I recently ordered the game on the internet and we played it the other day for the first time. This game is a variation in that it has 5 categories where the original only had unusual words. Quite honestly, I enjoyed the original much better than this newer version and we only played the game using the first category (unusual words) rather than all 5. The other 2 players were new to the game and really enjoyed it.