Social Gaming With Big Potato Games...

Its getting that time of year where we start to meet up with old friends and family and gather to catch up over the festive season..

 Being gamers we love to play games and know its a great way to socialise and have some fun, but if your like me I am the only person who players table top games in my family and it can be hard to convince anyone to play anything...

I am always eager to try and get my wife, family and friends to try out games that are from IPs or styles of games I think they might enjoy but most are not interested even though gaming can be a great way to socialise.

 So my questions is how do we get non gamers to play games?

I knew that I would be meeting some friends for a Christmas get together over the weekend so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try and find a game or two that we could play...

After researching I found a company called Big Potato Games and chose a festive rhyming game called Santa Banter and a drawing game called Scrawl.

I thought these would be ideal for the meet up.

So how did I come to choosing theses games?

When I was researching I took a few factors to help me decided on what game would be suitable for the occasion.
The list below is a little guide to help if your looking for a game.

* Know you audience find out what they like target a IP they know or style of game that fits personalities.

* Try to keep game time to fit the max 30mins to keep concretion.

*Try to pick a game that does not have many tokens/house keeping and or has a large set up time as this will mean it will save space and be easy to play anywhere.
*Make sure the rules are not overly complicated as this could put off some people.

*Read the rules before playing. Sounds obvious but you want to get the game going as quick as posable. Learning as you play may lose some people.

 I met up with my friends and after having our meal which was in a noisy pub we decided to move to a coffee shop and this was my cue to bring out the games.

We first started with Santa Banter. This game has a small footprint and was perfect to set up in the coffer shop we stopped off in.

In side the box you get the rules for the game and a catalogue of all the games from BPG as well as being able to join the BPG club to win games and get replacement parts for games which is a good idea and not forgetting some stickers..

The game is all about rhyming using Christmasy references.
You get 3 types of card which each turn you change. There is a Describe it where you have to  describe the rhymes on the card but not use the words on the card, a Solve it card which has a line which you have to read and hope you team mate can make out the rhyme and finally the last card which you get the word at the back but have to act out the rhyme but you only get 30 secs for each card so you have to be quick.

Finally you get the ? cards which you spread out and try to match two rhyming pictures which you only able to do when you score 3 points.
 If you match 2 rhyming cards you get to keep those cards and the team with the most at the end wins.
 It is recommended to split in to two teams for this game.

So as quizmaster and time keeper I set the table and the two teams ready to go.

Team Crimbo Vs Team Ginger Dave.

Each team started with a Describe it card..

Then moved on to a Solve it card

Then a Act it out card..

Lets just say it quickly descended in to chaos...

 

And some cards where just a bit tricky for some..

Some of the describe it cards had some rhymes that were not that obvious such as "A fireworks display in Norway" but the teams were having fun laughing at trying to guess what were on the cards with the acting out and solve it card ones being the funniest trying to work out.

In the end Team Crimbo beat Team Ginger Dave convincingly.

Team Crimbo Winners!!

Team Ginger Dave lost....

Next up was Scrawl..

In the box you get some rules, the BPG catalogue, BPG club card and another sticker.

Inside the box you get 8 Pens, numbered boards, clips and wipes. Lots of blank cards and a score card as well as the scenario cards.

At the start of the game you chose a scenario card and chose one of the 4 colours and get your board and start to draw no words allowed..

Then with the clip on top you pass your board to the person on the left who grabs a new blank Scrawl card. They then write down what they think the picture is and covers it with the new card. The next person draws the description on a new card covering what the last person wrote. This carries on until you get your numbered card back.

Once you have your numbered card back you present the scenario card and show all the drawings. Then you see if people got it right or wrong (which can be really funny)

The player can then chose the card they think is best and that player who draw or wrote that card wins a point.

If the scenario card matches the pictures and description all the way though to the end that player wins 3 points automatically..

The player with two points more the the number of players playing wins the game.

We set up and started to draw and all ready giggles and puzzled faces started...

 

Now this is a 17+ game so some scenarios are on the mature side but I'm sure you can take some of these cards out if you have younger players..

As you can see some could not contain themselves..

So here are some examples of our fine work..

Wheel barrow racing

Dreaming of Bacon

OAP conga line

Beating around the bush

Riding a Weasel

As you can see these are some questionable drawings and answers...

So my thoughts....

As I said at the start games are great for social occasions and can even help brake the ice with people you may not have met before.
Choosing the right game for the occasion and having an idea about your audience is key.

 Both Santa Banter and Scrawl are very easy to set up and are small enough to play almost anywhere which is great for time and space.

From the two games we played Scrawl turned out to be the winner on the night from the feedback I received.
 I had a felling Scrawl would to go down well with my group of friends here. This game had everyone in stitches in terms of the drawings and what people thought things were..

The components of Scrawl are are solid and is set out in a nice package with the dry wipe cards felling sturdy enough for quite a few games.
Unfortunately the pens tips did brake during the game but as they are dry wipe pens these are easy to replace.

There are a lot of scenario cards as well with 4 different possibilities to draw per card  which gives lots of replay ability.

Santa Banter has a very small footprint perfect for on the go and the cards are of the same thickness of a typical cards from common board games.
This was an easy to understand game but you do need to think a bit more due to the differnt style of cards and the rhymes.
 I am definitely going to be playing this again over christmas as I can see this being a hit with my in laws.

Overall if these two games are anything to go by Big Potato Games have really got a good balance of easy accessible rules that allow any one to pick up with a choice of games thats ever growing and at a price point that wont brake the bank.

I am looking forward to playing both these games again and exploring Big Potato Games back catalogue..

So there we have it with a little research you can get non gamers to play games.....

If you interested in any of the games mentioned or would like to find out more about Big Potato Games visit

https://bigpotato.com/us