Boardgame review: Last Word

Okay this one goes out to all the nerds out there. It's cheap, its easy, it's fun .. heck it's a lot like dating me would be.



We like this new board game we recently acquired. Its name is "Last Word" and last night on family night we took our first crack at it. You can read all about it on Buffalogames.com where they list some of their other products. But here is our personal family review.







Here's the basics of how it works. You have a small board to move your pieces around. No dice though. Very simple gameplay. Basically if you win a round you get to move a space forward.


So here is how a round works.

• Each person is given a "subject" card in their hand which they show to no one else.
• A "letter" card is turned up and placed on the board.
• Any player can begin the round by thinking of a word, beginning with that letter, and which falls within the subject card they hold.
• If the player wants to go for it, that player plays their subject card so others can see it, reads it to the group and announces the first word.
• They also start a timer, which is randomized.
• The start of the timer begins the official round.
• Other players then compete by blurting out other words that begin with that letter and are within the subject played.
• When the timer sounds, which remember is at random intervals, the last player to have a correct answer has "the last word" and wins that round.
• The winner moves forward a single space.
• Rinse.
• Repeat.

There are other cool things built into the game. There is a "jump start" rule which means, if you're like me, and enjoy seeing other people struggle for a word ... well this rule is for you. :)

You can use a jump start like this.

• Player A (me) sees player B and C are having trouble finding a word for their subject. So I ... er, player A ... call out "jump start" and hit the timer.
• This causes Players B and C to have to come up with words for "their" subject cards. They don't have to show them to anybody. They just have to start individually coming up with words.
• Player A has no further responsibilities here whatsoever other than to see people sweat.
• If they fail and neither of them come up with any words because the presssure crushed their fragile nerves ... ahem ... then Player A gets to move 2 spaces. (This is what I like, the potential of huge payoff with zero effort)
• And if they succeed, whichever of the two of them has the "last word" gets to move a single space.

Conclusion:
This is a fun, fun game which we really liked a lot. We like games that are simple to play but still get the emotions/mind involved or aka .. fun. This one fit the bill nicely.

Additionally or lastly and finally, it only took about 2omins or so to play a round and we really took it slow since we were reading rules while we played.