“What Games You Got?!”

What is your favorite game to play?

Video games were (and still are) my brothers and dad’s thing. They let baby sis hop on the game whenever they needed something to lighten the mood when they were losing one of their tournaments. Baby sis got a good bit of Ws in her career though! I remember most of the video games we played were fighting games like Soul Calibur and Tekken. They would always get mad at me for just pushing buttons on the remote and getting lucky creating some magic combos or special moves lol. As an adult, I haven’t played many video games. I don’t even have any games on my cell phone these days. I was a Candy Crusher at one point and even dabbled in Words With Friends. But for some reason, I haven’t recently downloaded any games on my phone.

But board games and card games?! Those are my jam! I can have the best night of my life sitting in someone’s living room, surrounded by my family or a handful of my special people, laughing, drinking, eating, and getting loud playing the games. I’ve never been a real competitive person to where I become a sore loser or get angry if I’m losing. I view all the games and moments as just pure fun. And sometimes even pure comedy lol! And I think that just comes from my upbringing.

At every family function, we are going to play some kind of game. It started out with Phase10. And then we would play some Scrabble, Trouble, or even Monopoly. I vividly remember staying up until past 6:00am twice playing games! — One time when I was in probably middle school? My cousins and I stayed up playing Phase10 until the sun came up, and one time just a few years ago as a grown adult lawyer haha. A few of my friends stayed up until about 6:30am playing Taboo. Went through the cards twice! Lol! Yall, Taboo might be my favorite board game.

Spades is usually a big card game played at parties and gatherings, and I know how to play that a little bit. But Taboo is always the game I am up to play! Why do I like it so much? I don’t know, maybe because it doesn’t require much skill, you can get a friendly competition out of it, and just about everyone can play! According to Wiki, “[t]he objective of [Taboo] is for a player to have their partners guess the word on the player’s card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card.” Once you get the hang of it, and get your mental gears going, it’s pretty easy and straightforward.

I’m no pro, but I do think I have a little bit of insight to share on how to play the game well.

1. Know Who is on Your Team

Taboo requires a team. I think the game is more fun with more people, but there must be two teams of at least two people on each team. If I had a choice, I would always pick my cousin Dayna to be on my team. We lived together for a few years and we knew each other very well. We also had a bunch of inside jokes that could give us an advantage when it came time to try to describe a word on the card. My two cousins who are sisters would also choose to be on each other’s team for that same reason — they had this connection that always gave them an advantage.

But, even if your cousin or sister isn’t on your team, know who is. Sometimes it may be people you might now know very well if it’s played at a house party, but try to think about the things you do know about them. Their professions, whether they have siblings, things they hate or love, their political background, etc. Keeping the aforementioned objective in mind, you have to describe the word at the top without saying the 5 words listed below it, without doing gestures, and without saying “it rhymes with…” BUT, if the team guesses one of the words that is listed in the 5 forbidden words, you can THEN use that word to continue to guess the word at the top.

2. Pay Attention to What Was Already Guessed

Somewhat in the same vein as know who is on your team, pay attention to what your teammates have already shouted in guesses. You might not even recognize it, but your mind might be waiting to hear the word “BATH!” being shouted at you (I keep saying shouted, because I feel like all I know how to do is shout when I play Taboo), but your teammates have already guessed the word “shower” or “water” and you aren’t using those guesses to your advantage! Based on who is on your team, you will tailor your descriptions to things they will likely relate to and can guess. And then now when you’re listening to what’s being said, you can make your descriptions even better by including those words in your description.

3. How Are You Keeping Score?

We all know that at a house party, the house rules govern. That goes for Taboo, Spades, Beer Pong, all of that. So the way that I usually keep score in Taboo is: (1) if you guess the word correctly you get a point, (2) if you pass or skip a card, there is no penalty, (3) if you use a forbidden word to describe you have to skip that card but you don’t lose a point. I’m a lawyer. Less math makes me happy. BUT there are some people who play that if you skip a card because it’s too hard to describe you lose a point. How you’re keeping score is important to playing the game.

If you’re playing under my house rules, and you know you won’t lose a point if you skip a word where your brain just doesn’t want to work, then that should be your strategy. The cards are given to you face down, so your brain doesn’t have the chance to start thinking of descriptions until you flip the next card over. You are also TIMED. There is a little sand clock timer, so that adds to the tension lol. You have to be able to give descriptions of words without violating the rules and in a quick fashion. So, again, of course, I’m shouting because raising my voice means I’m speaking quicker for the sake of time, right??? Haha! I’m not big on history, people, or politics, so I am 9 times out of 10 going to skip those cards rather than embarrass myself or waste time.

At the end of the day, besides what the rules say, there are no right and wrong ways to play board games. The goal should be to have fun, make memories, and do your best! And if you’re adding alcohol to the mix, then who knows what will happen or be said lol. I am not proud of this moment, but below is a video recording of me trying to describe a word. Don’t ask me what that word was, because I have no idea. It is also the only recording I can remember having playing Taboo.

What’s your favorite game to play?

“So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 8:15, NKJV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record