Customer Reviews

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Game

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this kind of board game - it's basically a variation on Balderdash, except instead of providing your own definitions to words, you come up with your own punchline/quip for a cartoon. One person per round has to not only pick their personal favorite among the players' captions, but also has to match up each caption to who they believe wrote it. Don't let the New Yorker name scare you off, thinking this would be too highbrow for many people - the cartoons are broad enough (and family-friendly) for players of all ages.

It's not easy, which of course is what makes it worthwhile. It's tough coming up with something funny to say about random cartoons - especially the ones that aren't particularly funny looking on the surface. The timer runs only 45 seconds, which I humbly suggest you either A) ignore the the first few times you play the game, or B) maybe turn over twice to give everyone 90 seconds. I understand the importance of having a time limit - each player has exactly the same length of time. If you have to scribble down a one-word caption because you're out of time, so be it. But 45 seconds goes by really quick - unless you're the wittiest person at the table, you'll probably spend most of that time staring blankly at the picture on the card.

Also your mileage will vary depending on the personal gameplay style of yourself, your family, and/or your friends. This is quite honestly the type of game that could possibly result in a lot of hurt feelings if any players get too analytical about other players' work. We had some of that when my family played over the holidays - too much nitpicking of what is or is not funny to people can really wear on the nerves. Best, in my opinion, to kick back and enjoy it - don't overthink the cartoons. I just think this kind of game is more fun when people aren't taking it too seriously.

The other weird thing about the gameplay is the way board-movement is structured. There is a single six-sided die that each player is supposed to cast prior to their turn. It's hard to explain without seeing the board, but we ended up discarding the die altogether and having each player advance (or not) based entirely upon the results of their matches. (The player who has their caption chosen as favorite is allowed to advance two spaces, the player who is matching each caption moves one space for each correct match.) Rolling the die each time - in addition to moving spaces based on correct matching - will result in a VERY quick game.

It should be noted that the game simply won't be as much fun with less than at least 4 players. I'd say 5 or 6 players is ideal, more variety and harder to match up all the captions. Definitely a recommended family board game.

I bought this game over winter break & my whole family played it (11 of us) & had a blast. We didn't really like the rules though so we made up our own. I thought I would post them for other people to try.

1. Everyone but the "guesser" makes up a caption for the cartoon & gives it to the "reader"
2. The "reader" reads them silently first & then shuffles them & reads them to the "guesser"
3. The "guesser" picks his/her 3 favorite captions & ranks them accordingly
4. The "guesser" tries to guess who wrote each of the 3 favorites
5. The person whose caption was rated first place moves 3 spaces, 2nd= 2spaces, 3rd= 1 space. For each one the "guesser" guessed correctly the "guesser" moves 1 space (for a max of 3 spaces)
6. The "guesser" & "reader" rotate each turn.

We played with 11 people so that's why we did 1st 2nd and 3rd, however if you are playing with less people the "guesser" might only want to choose your 2 favorites.

We laughed a lot while playing this game & sometimes the "I give up" sort of answers were the funniest. Little jokes

We played this board game for the first time last night (1/14/08) and really enjoyed it! This is a challenging game and lots of fun, although it was clear that two of us had more talent at "quip writing" than the other two. Sad to say, I wasn't one of those with the most talent, but still had a fun evening and several of my cartoon quips were selected as "funniest". We played with four people but all agreed that playing with five to six folks would be the ideal. Regardless, we had a great time and look forward to playing again. The reviewer who suggested turning the 45-second timer over twice (we did that when we played) and not rolling the die to advance is right on the money. Rolling the die doesn't do much to enhance game play and I think I will suggest not using the die next time we play...

Just played this for the first time. I was pretty worried because when I look at those captionless New Yorker cartoons, I usually draw a total blank.

But the game turned out to be non-intimidating. You're just trying to guess who wrote which less-than-perfect caption, so you're all in the same boat. And regular folks come up with surprisingly good ones from time to time. If you can _appreciate_ New Yorker cartoons (not everyone does), you can enjoy this game. The four of us had a great time.

What a hilarious game...even for prepubescent kids..as long as you weed out the risque cards..their perspective is even better!

Four experienced adult board game players played this game several times over one long weekend. We all found it's rules overly complex and hard to follow. We quit the game about half way through being totally frustrated! Like others have commented modifying the rules as you go might fine tune to your liking. This game was NOT fun to play. I can also imagine that with a limited number of cartoon cards to play and replay it might get to be predictable real soon.

My solution was to return the game for a refund and move on!

To add insult to injury I am a long time subscriber to The New Yorker and love the back page cartoons, sometimes even making a submission.

The New Yorker game is one of the funnest games our family has played. We have spent hours playing this game and we always hate stopping. Even the quietest person never fails to surprise us. We have let the kids join in and their unique answers even some how become hilarious. This is game to get your creative thoughts going and laughing muscles working. It is amazing to see everyone's different perspective of the same cartoon and how each idea can become funny. I highly recommend this to people who like to have fun and laugh!

This game is great for couples game night. It plays a little like Apples to Apples, only with more opportunity for creativity. With a larger group, you can ever play without the included game board and have one group writing captions and another group judging them. This game is a new favorite!

The New Yorker Cartoon Game is great for young adults and up. We enjoy using the game for after dinner entertainment or during weekend getaways. We've had a lot of laughs reading the players creative captions.

Purchase this game. Add your creative friends. Enjoy. Repeat.

This game is a blast, and you'll gain some insights into your friends' thought processes that you never knew they had. All in all, I couldn't be more satisfied with it!