Customer Reviews

WISE AND OTHERWISE

5 star:		(147)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This game is similar in style and play to other board games like Malarky and Balderdash. However, I would recommend Wise and Otherwise over either of those games. In Balderdash, players come up with meanings to words 99% of the population has never heard of, and try to convince other players that their definition is correct. In Malarky, players answer questions that 99% of the population would never ask. In Malarky, I found that many people came up with very similar answers which took some fun out of the game. In Wise and Otherwise, players have to finish foreign sayings that rarely make sense. One example: If you take a squirrel out of water.... The real answer is, "he will devise a plot against you". Every player would have written down an ending to the statement and handed it to the reader, who would then read everyone's aloud as well as the correct answer. Players vote for what they think is the correct answer and hope that others will vote for theirs. As you receive points you move your pawn up the board and the first to the end wins. Creative people will really enjoy this game because many times the correct ending to the statement is extremely goofy. The whole spirit of the game is light-hearted and the losers have just as much fun as the winner. (By the way, I won today!!) For fun I gave the game five stars, because everyone really gets into the game and enjoys themselves even if they're in last place the whole time. For education I also gave it five stars because listening to these odd sayings gives people an idea of what foreign cultures are like. This game is also very durable due to the sheer number of sayings and the fact that nobody could memorize all of them.

This game is an absolute blast. I've played other great games (Cranium, Balderdash, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit etc...) and this is easily a match for any of them.

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A quick overview, the game is exactly like Balderdash except with old sayings instead of difficult word definitions. If you've never played Balderdash, here's an explanation of "Wise and Otherwise": There are 500 cards in a box with 5 old sayings on each card. The reader reads the first part of an old saying and everyone makes up the ending. You score points for guessing the correct saying or if anyone selects the one that you made up.

You would be amazed at how good the made up sayings are in the end. Your friends will be really good at it in just a few rounds.

I was also amazed at how well I remember the sayings after we've finished a game. This isn't the case with Balderdash where I'll never remember the definition of a word. This makes the re-playability a little lower, but the educational value much higher. As another reviewer pointed out, you have all kinds of new sayings to use around the office... how true. :-)

It is easily one of the best party games ever. My thanks to the folks at Wise and Otherwise for their act of creation in making this game.

Some of my favorite sayings: Cameroonian - "Why did you go into the clearing in the bush without first..." 1)making a lot of noise? 2)collecting leaves from the wambush tree? 3)first making friends with the monkeys?

Irish: "A cow dung is ..." 1) never far from the cow. 2) wider when trodden upon. 3) the surest thing from here to there.

If you like party games at all, this is an excellent addition to your other games. Have fun!

At first I didn't think much of this game when my friend showed it to me, however, by the end of the game, my friends and I were rolling on the ground with laughter and excitement. I couldn't stop playing! Months after playing the game I can still recall many of the proverbs, and use them. I never would have thought that a game that revolved around proverbs could be so much fun and at the same time, so educational. The box and game board design were creative and entertaining. The number proverbs for each section were amazingly clever and added just a little more enjoyment to the game. I can't find a single flaw in this game.

My friends and I play it time and time again! We're hooked! And I guarantee anyone who tries this game will be hooked as well! Each time you never know what crazy endings people will come up with, or what the real ending will be! This game ensures good times and a room full of uncontrollable laughter! Even if you don't like boardgames, this one is a sure-fire winner.

So much fun! We kept letting people jump in after watching - people who refuse board games at all costs were in the thick of things - on lookers want to help! No one's got the upper hand in this game since the phrases are so esoteric, its all about creative phrase finishing and a little bit of bluffing. This is not a game for 2 people though since Amazon never tells you those details - 3 is minimum but do-able, quite frankly the more the merrier!

Our daughter and son-in-law brought Wise and Otherwise with them for their visit last summer. What a total kick-- The game is similar to Balderdash except this one's theme is built around the obscure sayings from cultures all over the world.

At first I was a little skeptical, afraid that the sayings would be too obviously obscure and demanding, but someone there did a great job re-interpreting them a lttle bit for this generation.

Don't wait, buy this one --now-- I am 100% positive it is going to be a big hit this holiday season. In fact our local Toy's R Us coldn't keep it in stock already! (It's on my wish list if you want to pick it up for us!)

It is great for anyone 12 and up, but I bet if you break your younger kids in on it, they'll learn a lot too! I love games like this that actually help you expand your cultural horizons while you have a great time. Hopefully, toy makers will bring more on like this one.

It's simply a wonderful game.

In this game, players try to come up with plausible endings for unfamiliar sayings from all over the world. The winner is the one who gets the most votes for his/her endings and is most successful at spotting the real endings. The listed age range is "12 and up", but younger kids can be very good at it. My whole extended family loves the game, and the last time we played it, the youngest player (aged 8) came in second out of nine. Not bad!

You know you're going to have a good time playing this game from the moment you read one of the game cards. For starters, no one is going to know these sayings (which is intentional). Then, there are so many different kinds of sayings from different places that you never run out of ways to outwit the other players. Making up an ending to a saying and trying to fool the other players is often both wildly creative and uncontrollably funny. All in all, an absolutely fantastic game.

I bought this game for my 29 year old sister who has everything back in March,and it collected dust until we finally had the family together this past weekend and played it. Right from the very first saying everybody was just completely cracking up and having a great time. At first people were just coming up with goofy endings to the sayings (which was very funny) but then everybody had their competitive juices engaged and we all tried to come up with legitimate endings to try to trick people and win the game. The great part is that the real expressions are usually just as goofy as the made up ones, which makes this game very tough and fun to play. We can't wait to get the family together and play again!

This game is the current favorite in our extended family. We love the fact that the kids can play as well as adults. Age is not necessarily an advantage, you just need to be at or above a certain vocabulary level, perhaps that of the average nine-yr-old. Different types of skill are involved, but cleverness and wit are rewarded. The playing field is levelled somewhat by the fact that you can be good at guessing the right answer even if you're not good at writing credible bluffs and vice versa. I think its educational value is in the fact that you have to think about what's going to make sense from the standpoint of a proverb, or "advice". It's also a good vocabulary tool. Another advantage - a game can take as little or as much time as you want. The rules are very simple and it only takes a few minutes to get new players into the swing of it. A great party game!

I swear this game is addictive! Wise and Otherwise has been a major hit with everyone we've played with. People love making up these wacky sayings, especially when they fool someone else. We literally spend all night laughing. If you're having friends over and want to have hours of the very best fun, or you're looking for a great gift, Wise and Otherwise is your answer. All our friends went nuts for it and want to own it.