BUY MONIKERS HERE: https://amzn.to/3XMpXp7
You would think that it was difficult to improve on some of the games that we deem "classics", Snakes and Ladders, Chess, Backgammon? But the past few years have shown us that it can be achieved. What is Dobble other than advanced Snap? Or Mysterium, being just a cleverer version of Cluedo?
Well, Monikers manages to do this with the classic self made party game, Charades. I know what you are thinking, a lot of people these days roll their eyes at the meagre suggestion of playing a few rounds of Charades, and if that is you, then I beg you to try this out and see how well they have managed to improve upon it.
Monikers is a card and action based game that takes place over three rounds. First, you must divide everyone into two teams. Every player must grab 20 cards (this amount can change depending on how many are playing, consult the rules for info) and then pick out 10 of those cards, that they generally just, like the sound of. There doesn't have to be any reason for it, it's not really important. They put those cards into a pile and put the 10 they didn't choose back in the box. At this point, it would be useful to try and remember what some of your cards were but it is not absolutely essential at this stage. All the other players add their 10 cards to the same pile and all the cards are shuffled. This deck will be used throughout the WHOLE of the game. You are about to get to know these cards very well indeed.
In the first round one person from each team will take it in turns to try and describe what is on the card (without using the actual words written on the card). They have one minute to do this and each one they get right, is kept to one side by the team. Then it is passed over to the other team to do the same, and back and forth until all cards are gone. You are allowed to pass if people aren't getting it, but those passed cards just go straight to the bottom of the deck. The point here is that people will in turn see these cards and will most likely remember them, meaning they have potential to win that card again when it comes back round. Once all the cards are gone from the deck, you add up the points on each of the cards and take note.
Onto round 2. The cards in the deck are once again shuffled and when the round begins again as in round 1, this time, the person reading them out can only say ONE word. Hopefully, everyone at this point should be so familiar with what is in the deck from the last round that they will be able to guess "Jurassic Park" from a clue like "Dinosaurs". This is the point your realise the game is 50% clues and 50% memory based. As before, the round ends when all cards are gone and the points for each team are totalled.
Finally round 3, again, the same as the previous 2 rounds but this time, the person with the cards is only allowed to do a charade. Again, memory of the cards in the deck will help you here and should have people just shouting out random cards that they can remember, even if they blatantly don't fit the charade.
Now, the idea of the games itself is great as it is but what makes the game really special is that the cards in the game, they are not, really... normal? The clues are VERY different and often very obscure. One card in particular has Jeff Goldblum on it, but not just normal Jeff Goldblum, no... this is drunk Jeff Goldblum. These little quirks of weirdness is what makes this game so delightful.
I promise you, this is one of the best party games I have played in a LONG time and it's great to also see different version and expansions coming out for it to so if you play it to death you can invest in more cards to keep the game going long into the many parties of the future.
If you do like the sound of this game, please grab it from the following link: https://amzn.to/3XMpXp7
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