Wits and Wagers Family Game Review

My family is definitely a game-loving family.  Therefore, I was thrilled when I received Wits and Wagers Family to review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew!  Rarely a day goes by in our house when some type of game isn't played.  We love card games, board games, domino games, and big games like ping-pong and pool.  Many of our favorite board games are housed in boxes held together with giant rubber bands and Duck Tape.  Based on the extremely positive reaction of my family to Wits and Wagers Family - the box is destined for rubber band and Duck Tape status at our home!

The game is extremely easy to play. After reading the simple and clear game rules, we were up and running with the game in about 5 minutes. Each game takes about 20 minutes to play. 

To play the game, first one uses his or her WITS.  One player (or players could take turns) reads the question to everybody.  Each player then writes his or her answer to the question on his or her cute, little dry-erase board (mini dry-erase markers come with the game as well).  Questions are a mix of basic knowledge questions that one really should know like "How many feet are in a mile?" and questions that many people are unlikely to know like - "How many different Webkinz animals have there been?"  The answers will always be numbers.  When all players have written their answer, the mini dry-erase boards are lined up in the middle of the playing area from least to greatest number.

Then, each player makes some WAGERS based on which answer each player thinks is correct.  Each player has two Meeples  - a big one and a little one.  (On a side note, everybody in my family thought the Meeples were adorable and my middle son is making more Meeples out of Sculpey.) 

So, for example, our teenager, Amber, is definitely the resident Harry Potter expert so when we had a question regarding the Harry Potter books, we all put our Meeples (both big and small) on Amber's answer because we felt confident her answer was correct! 

In each round, players have multiple opportunities to earn points.

• Players can earn one point for having the correct answer which is the closest answer to the correct answer without going over the number. 
• Players can earn two points for putting their big Meeple on the correct answer.
• Players can earn one point for putting their little Meeple on the correct answer.

Since all players play at once and there are multiple opportunities for points in each round, the game is an extremely fast-paced game.  The first player to reach 15 points (scored on another cute dry-erase board) wins the game.

My whole family laughed a lot during the game and found most of the questions quite interesting.  For example, I was quite surprised to learn that 60% of 10-14 year olds have cell phones.  We enjoyed teasing each other about outlandish answers.  We were all having so much fun, it really didn't matter who won the game. 

In addition to the flat-out fun factor of the game, I think the game is educational as well.  Some of the questions were general knowledge questions that are great to review (for example, "How many feet are in a mile?")  Many of the questions, though, required players to think about what they know and make an estimate based on past knowledge and thinking skills.  For example, none of us were sure about the smallest number of states that one could pass through traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean but we all knew it couldn't be more than 50!  Estimation and thinking skills are definitely great skills to practice.

Our family liked the game so much, my children were very interested to know what other games are made by North Star Games.  With Christmas right around the corner, one of my children will be receiving Say Anything - a game everybody thought would be a lot of fun.

Wits and Wagers Family is available online for purchase for $19.99 at Target.  I've also seen Wits and Wagers Family in our local Target store as well.

I received the game Wits and Wagers Family in exchange for my honest review.  No other compensation, monetary or otherwise, was given in exchange for my review.