Curses

by Worldwise Imports

• Mensa Select Mind Games 2002
• Ages 12 and up
• Hours of fun
• Players draw curse cards with specific instructions the goal is to continue the command or combination of commands as long as possible
• Crazy combinations of curses for a variety of hilarious performances

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 3.8 x 8 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Origin: China
• ASIN: B000NDMDHC
• Item model number: 10
• Manufacturer recommended age: 12 - 18 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,655 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

It will put a laugh spell on you. Can you speak like Capt. Hook, a grizzled old pirate, while trying to get the player next to you to switch to your company's long distance phone service? Or how about this, make your friend speak while pinching her nose.

Product Description

Cast a laughing spell with the party board game Curses. Players receive curses such Speak like an old grizzled pirate,in or You cannot bend your elbows,in which they must maintain throughout the game. Act out any number and combination of wacky commands without breaking the curse. The player with the last remaining curse wins. Curses is full of hilarious antics that will enchant any party or family game night. Easy to play, hard to stop laughing.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 110 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected From the Reviews September 13, 2008

By A. Bailey

Amazon Verified Purchase

Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 1.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

Curses is a game for 3-6 players that's goal is not strategy or knowledge but laughter... Unfortunately it fell a little short.

How to Play:

The gist of the game is that on each of your turns you must do a challenge card. The cards have a challenge such as "You are Santa Clause, tell each player what they are getting for Christmas" or "You are an airplane pilot in a plane that is crash landing, show how you would make the announcement to your passengers."

If you at least try to do your challenge you get to give a "Curse" card to someone. This is what is actually funny about the game. The curses vary and say things such as "You are now fingerless; do not use your fingers anymore." "Speak as though you have an invisible golf ball in your mouth." "You are Scooby Doo speak like him. IE I am Rooby Roo." and "Every time someone touches you, you must act like you are being electrocuted."

If you catch another player not following their curse cards (and this gets complicated once you have four or more) you ding the bell on them and say "curse breaker." They must then flip that curse card. Three cards flipped and they are out. (As a note, we added a house rule that once someone was out they could still play, they could just no longer win. It gets boring when only two people are left playing.)

Thoughts:

This game certainly produced some laugh out loud moments for each group I played with and, the image of my sisters with their "fingerless" hands against their head singing a Christmas Carol in a high pitched voice in a wicked witch's accent, havening to echo the last word of each sentence, backwards (one's Curse card said you had to copy the player to your left) was pretty funny....

But as a note some of them are not so funny, especially with certain crowds. Also, the challenge cards aren't that funny at all unless you have several curses. How is it funny for someone to "take each person's dinner order" or "Arrest the person next to you?" These can be funny, if someone is cursed with something crazy like "speak only in a high-pitched tone" but often there are no curses that really affect game play too much for the first half of the game and it's not that funny.

Another thing I noticed was that there are not many cards included if you plan on playing with the same group very often. It's funny the first time for someone to do something totally ridiculous, but the third (or following) times it loses something.

I will have to say, though, that most everyone who played enjoyed it. (Including one 7 year old... he didn't really get the game play but seeing the adults & older siblings act like morons and getting encouraged to do so was fun for him).

Only half of the moments are actually funny. I would revise several of the cards (making the challenge cards, well, a little more challenging) and include more "curse" cards.

I don't regret buying this game and I'm sure we will pull it out from time to time (although not too often)... If an expansion pack was released I would probably purchase it with high hopes.

As a note this game is great with middle & high schoolers... If I had only played it (once) with that age group it would probably get a five star. But, due to the small amount of cards and other age reactions, it receives a "3 star" rating.

**UPDATE 7/12/2010**
I still agree with my 3 star rating ... but I have a group of friends who just LOVE this game ... they could play it over and over again and NEVER get bored of it (there age range is early to late 20's) ... I am sticking with my original thoughts though ... this game depends entirely on the group you are playing with. If they don't get into it the game will be terrible ... if they love it, Curses will become your favorite game on your game shelf. Read more ›

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Uproariously, HILARIOUSLY funny!! December 6, 2006

By Renae

It's been a while since I had the chance to play this game, and I cannot WAIT until I have the opportunity again! This is one of the silliest, most outragiously funny games on the planet!! Where else will you be made to speak like Shawn Connery, use Vulcan sayings, clap in a circle when you hear food mentioned, cluck like a chicken, and slap around your head like you're being attacked by mosquitos- all at once??? *grins*

There's no way for people to get ugly or competitive w/this game, and like the review says- the more open, creative & expressive the players, the more fun you'll have. But don't worry if you've got a stiff duck or a shy violet (or two) in your group. This'll open 'em up in a hurry, and get everyone laughing. There's nothing funnier than when the cards really begin to pile up and you're "cursed" with affliction on top of affliction, trying hard to not only get them all right so you don't get "belled," but also to just keep from stopping from laughing too hard. And that's the rule in this game- NOT the exception. :)

Good, good stuff! I'd -highly- recommend this to anyone young or old, and even moreso encourage people to let go, get silly and not worry what other people think when they play this. The sillier, the crazier, the goofier THE BETTER! Great party-saver, party starter, social warm-up, or ice-breaker, too!! :D:D

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You must begin everything you say with the Mr. T phrase, "I pity the fool!" January 8, 2009

By Colleen

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

Our family has a tradition of spending Thanksgiving afternoon, after the gorging, crafts, football broadcast, and cleanup playing board games. I like introducing the crowd to something new we've never played before, and trading up between trivia games, charades type games, drawing and guessing games, Apples to Apples type games, etc. This game looked really fun, judging by the reviews, so I bought it and the 10 of us gathered around the dining table to give it a whirl.

Players gather around the table. The first player draws a card. He reads the card aloud and then does what the card asks him to do. Example: Do a 15-second cheer for one of the people at the table. Once that is done he draws another card (a curse card), reads it silently to himself, then gives it to someone at the table, whomever he wishes to give it to. That person then must read the card out loud and perform whatever is written on the card for the remainder of the game. If he fails to perform the curse and someone catches him he has to turn that curse card over in front of him. Once the curse card is drawn and given away, the next player draws his cards - one for himself and a curse card to give away. Play moves around the table, and around the table, and around again. When a player is caught not performing his curses and has turned over three curse cards in front of him he is out of the game. Players are eliminated this way until there is a winner. Very easy game to just start playing right out of the box.

It was a complete riot... at first. Oh my gosh we were laughing our fool heads off for the first hour.... But, maybe it was because we were slow (too courteous) to catch each other not always carrying out their curses, or we were all just too good at keeping up with all the little curses we were given, but after awhile this game got stupid, and one by one we got bored with it and wandered away from the table. We all just kind of petered out after an hour+.

Overall, I still smile at the memories of my 75 year old mom having to say, "I pity the fool" like Mr. T before anything else that she said. Everybody totally lost it when Karen couldn't bend her elbows and way overacted the shenanigans. Michael had to strum a pretend guitar and talk like Elvis every time he talked. Any time anyone clapped Karen had to announce her undying love for that person. I was not allowed to laugh at anything and had to say with a serious face, "THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" every time I started to laugh at anything. Gawd... do you know how hard that is? And then to have a curse card tossed at me later that forced me to have to say it in a high-pitched falsetto voice. Sheesh.

My advice, definitely buy it and play it, but be tough to catch people not doing their thing... and only play it for maybe an hour tops, then move on to something else. If you really love it, you can go back and play it again later. Having a bunch of clowns in your group helps. But the stoic person having to do something way out of character is just as funny.

Good memories! Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So Much Fun! December 24, 2005

By Patience Gaydos

Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 2.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

You have no idea how fun this game can be until you have played, and, once you have played, you will never miss a chance to play, again.

It's a great party game both for people who know each other well and those who don't. You'll laugh so hard your sides will hurt.

Great game!