The Big Taboo

by Winning Moves

Product Features

• 4 or more players or teams
• ages 12 and up
• 252 cards, 3 movers, Bendy Bob plush character
• game board, sand timer, sketch pad
• pencil, instructions

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 10.6 x 10.7 inches ; 2.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000ETRDA2
• Item model number: 1118
• Manufacturer recommended age: 12 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,830 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Product Description

The Big Taboo is just like the Taboo you know and love, but now it has four fantastic ways to play! Race against the timer to get as many guess words as possible. You might have to draw them, describe them using as few words as possible, play Classic Taboo or use Bendy Bob to help your team guess them. You even have a chance at the brain-bending memory round. Whatever happens, you can expect "unspeakable" fun every step of the way. Includes: 252 cards, three movers, Bendy Bob plush character, game board, sand timer, sketchpad, pencil and instructions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, June 14, 2009

By 

D. Chervitz (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

I have to say I was psyched to get this game as I love the original taboo, always wondered why they havent really pumped out new editions, and thought the description of the new varieties of games in The Big Taboo sounded very intriguing. Alas, I brought this over to my cousin's house the other night - we all love our board games - and it was pretty much a bomb. I liked it more than most but I'm not sure if that's because I paid money for it or not.

let me first state the positive - Classic Taboo is still as fun as ever, though pressing the buzzer when someone uses a Taboo word is infinitely more fulfilling than pressing Bendy Bob's (more on that unfortunate addition later) lame, tinny squeaker. The 15 words version of the game is pretty fun - though I wish the instructions were more clear on how strict one should be about what counts as a word (we decided to be generous and not count 'Ums' 'Yes'es or repeated words as additional words).

Now for the negatives:

Unfortunately Bendy Bob was probably the biggest disappointment. I so wanted to love the little guy cuz he's cute and creative, but the fact of the matter is it was very tough to manipulate him at all, let alone trying to move him in such a way to get people to guess what were way too complicated phrases. Truth be told, I actually kinda enjoyed the difficulty of Bendy Bob and people's pathetic attempts to move Bob around certainly induced a fair amount of laughter among the group, but my fondness for Bob put me in the distinct minority. Most people hated him, and wanted to rip his flexible arms and legs off, limb by limb. I think the whole problem with Bob could have been solved by just making the phrases simpler - (ie instead of 'chewing gum', the phrase should have just been 'chewing'). Landing on a Bendy Bob space was good for one, maybe two spaces forward maximum while the others generally got your 4 or more.

Other negatives:
The 'pictionary' version of the game was OK I guess but we've seen this so many times in games it just didn't do much for the group.

There was another game in there that was partly a memory game using already played cards, but it was pretty lame and just felt tacked on.

The time limit of the various games seemed kinda arbitrary as we thought some games that used two minutes would have been fine with one, and vice versa.

In general the gameplay was just a bit too complicated, as it took me about as long to read the rules as it did to play the game.

The ending in fact was a big, anti-climatic disappointment (though the game was so ho-hum I can't even imagine how good the ending would have had to be to register an actual climax) as the goal was just to get to the end. There was no final challenge, which most board gamers have come to expect. Come on people, we've outgrown Chutes and Ladders.

I really appreciate the effort of the game makers to take the Taboo game and give it a bunch of new twists, but the sad fact is that most of them (with the possible exception of 15 Words) just weren't executed well. I have a feeling they really didnt do much live testing. And aside from the classic version, the whole 'Taboo' aspect of the game was missing. Sometimes, you just can't top the original. I may give this one more try, but I can't see myself playing this game much more often. I ought to just give Bendy Bob to my 3-year-old cousin and let her do with it what she wants.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Big Taboo game, August 18, 2008

By 

Karen & Paul (Tonawanda, NY) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

In this game you have four ways to get your team to guess your words. One is classic Taboo where you describe the word for your team but don't use any of the words on the "Taboo List". The next is 15 Words where you describe as many Guess words as possible using only 15 describing words per turn. The third is by drawing and the fourth is using a fuzzy, stuffed toy, Bendy Bob, and manipulating him to act out the word. You have 1 minute for Classic Taboo and Bendy Bob and 2 minutes for 15 Words and Drawing. We found that 2 minutes was way too long so we made everything only one minute. We are avid game players so thay may be why the 2 minutes seemed way too long. We all really enjoyed the game and would reccommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Taboo is Big Fun!, January 18, 2010

By 

Moxie Maven - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

I love boardgames! My family and friends enjoy getting together and it can get very competitive! I received The Big Taboo from my son for Christmas and I love it! My friends and I had a blast playing it recently.

I don't know why one reviewer stated that the rules were difficult to understand. They were listed in a concise, color-coordinated, step-by-step way. We found it easier not to read all the instructions in one shot. Plus we wanted to play right away and didn't have the patience! It's better to read the instructions for what has to be done when you land on a certain color square. Then when a player lands on a different color, instructions for that are then read. That way all the directions don't get muddled with one another.

I love the little muppet-like character! It would be easier to act out the clue than to make 'Bendy Bob' do it, but that's what my friends and I liked about it. It was more challenging and hilarious trying figure out how to make 'Bendy Bob' mime the clues.

The 15 Word portion of the game was like playing 'Password.' You try to get your partner to guess the word using as few clues possible because you don't want to use up your 15 word limit. The game is set up so it's easy to make sure the competition doesn't go over the 15 word quota.

And I'm a big fan of Pictionary so I loved that that was added to Taboo. We only played using 1 minute each for the Pictionary and Password portion of the game. It kept the pace of the game better.

All in all, I recommend this game heartily especially if you're an avid board gamer!