Earlier in the summer The Game Aisle put out a request for “Game Review Assistants” to receive a free copy of Truth Be Told, play it with their friend and family and then tell us how it went.  We ended up with quite a group reviewing Truth Be Told including a Matt Morgan who writes for The Modern Day Pirates who took it on vacation with his extended family; the Northside Prep girls volleyball team (Chicago, IL) took it to their week-long camp in Michigan and lastly game inventor Colleen McCarthy-Evans who brought it to a “Moms-Only Game Night” she put together for a charity winner (she did not receive a free copy).

With three reviewers this article got a little long, but I hope you read all the way to Colleen’s. (She had to ask if it was “too racy” so you know it’s going to be good.  Matt kicks us off with a brief synopsis of the game:

“In a burgeoning market of “rotating host” party games, Truth Be Told stands above the crowd as the new must-own title.  The basic game play consists of one player (the host) reading a question about themself aloud, and every player then answering that question from the host’s point of view.  Once everyone submits their answers, the host will read each answer out (including their own).  Players then must guess which answer was the host’s.  For every correct guess, the host and the guesser each receive a point.  However, every time a player incorrectly guesses, a point is also awarded to whomever originally wrote the incorrectly-guessed-on answer.  After all the points are tallied up, the next player to the left becomes the host, and play continues on until someone reaches 15 points.

What separates Truth Be Told from other similar games is that its laughs are more genuine.  Often, these party games devolve into a few rounds of “who can give the most ridiculous answer”.  While those moments are still funny, the players in Truth Be Told are always trying to give an honest answer that could be mistaken for the host’s response.  In the rounds we played, the humor came out when our players’ knowledge of the host faltered, and serious answers wound up sounding hilariously off-the-mark.  It’s not just the humor that makes me recommend Truth Be Told though.  The game play is fresh, as well.  The use of two different skills (the ability to impersonate the host, and then determine the host’s real answer), keeps rounds from becoming repetitive.  The only caveat to Truth Be Told is that it would not work well with strangers.  If you have a close group of friends or family though, you cannot go wrong with this game!”

The Northside Prep volleyball team (they chose this game as their 2^nd favorite to iMAgiNiff but above Last Word).

“This game was also a lot of fun.  The outcome was very similar to iMAgiNiff.  We enjoyed the time with our teammates and the “guessing what they would say” game.  The best part was coming up with ideas that sounded like something a particular player would say when we didn’t know the right answer.  As with Imaginiff, we laughed the whole time and would recommend this game to groups of students.  We changed/added some cards while playing.  We had so much fun that we kept playing until everyone scored all maximum points.

To us, this game was very similar to Balderdash.  We also did not like the setup of the game at all.  There were too many boards, too much writing and passing around and keeping score was cumbersome. We loved the game but really would have liked to see a better setup/arrangement of how to play.  We ended up changing the game around a little and made some new rules for ease of play and scoring.”

Lastly Colleen’s Moms-only Game Night.  Not suitable for readers under 18!

“A friend of mine with children at a local Montessori school, asked me recently to consider making a donation to their annual auction. She wanted me to donate myself as a private Game Night event host. I thought it sounded like a blast and added a basket of games to the prize package. I had pictured a few families with elementary aged children bidding wildly on the event, and that it would turn out to be a playful night of family fun! To my surprise (and delight) a very different event emerged…8 saucy señoras pitched in and purchased the event as a Moms-only Game Night! When the night arrived, the gaggle gathered gleefully, and laid out the potluck refreshments. They seemed to have a lot to talk about, so it took a while for me to corral them into listening to the various game options. I had brought along several favorite word games and social party games that I felt would be most fitting these feisty females. Not surprisingly, they chose Truth Be Told. This quickly became a seriously PG-13 rated event, with lots of hysterical innuendo, especially when one of the women got the card that read: Truth Be Told, the most dangerous thing I have ever done is____________________________.  The fictional answers were a riot and the TRUTHFUL answer had something to do with youthful unprotected sex with a stranger in a clown suit and a rooftop in New York! I guess you can’t make that kind of thing up!  And another outrageous gut-busting round ensued with: Truth Be Told, the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning is____________________________.  Well, you fill in the blank. This was a group of very creative and, well, slightly ‘marinated’ moms, who eventually all went home safely to their loving families after playing this one game for close to two hours! They had some great laughs, got in on a few juicy secrets, and truth be told, had a night they won’t forget any time soon. Nor will I.”

Thanks again to Buffalo Games and to all of my reviewers!

Truth Be Told Stats:

~$25 at Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, Toys ‘R Us and many mom & pop retailers
3 to 8 players (kinda lame with 3)
~30-40 minutes (depending on number of players)
Ages 12 and up

You know what’s great about being in the game industry?  Free games.

Of course, there are a zillion other reasons I could have given but free games are definitely a perk.  As with anything free you’re stuck with what you get and sometimes I get games I already have but more often it’s a game I don’t own so it requires some further investigation.

Recently, I got really lucky and a couple of free games came my way (this will be a 2 part entry).  One was a fun party game from Buffalo Games called Last Word, which is a free-for-all category game.  You get a letter and a category, like “Cartoon Characters,” and you and your opponents yell out answers that start with the given letter — “Spiderman” “Sideshow Bob”  “Stimpy” “Samurai Jack” — until the timer buzzes and the last player to say something wins the round.  What makes it really exciting is the timer is random so not only do you have to come up with a lot of answers, you also have to be strategic about WHEN you yell them out.  You don’t want to run out of cartoon characters too early but if you wait to long, you’re outta luck!  Simple, great game that I enjoy playing with a group.  And a great game to play with a variety of ages.

Last Word stats:

• ~$20 at Target, Barnes and Noble, online retailers
• 2-8 players (but I say at least 3 players to make it fun, 4+ for best outcome)
• ~30 minutes
• Ages 10 and up