Idle Remorse

Review: What’s Cookin’?

By On March 31, 2021 With No Comments

Review: What’s Cookin’?
Publisher: University Games
Year: 2008
Players: 4 or more
Tagline: The Dinner Party Game for Cooks, Foodies and Friends

Cover has food and people enjoying food in addition to title What's Cookin'?

how we met

Based on all available evidence, I bought What’s Cookin’? at a thrift shop for $1.99. The game is newer than most games I write about, but it’s also in nice shape and the box does a nice job of demonstrating the diversity of play. We get trivia, drawing, naming things and more! I was sold.

how it plays

What’s Cookin’? seems to be designed to be played before dinner, until dinner is ready. So the length varies with just the guidance of making sure each team has equal turns prior to dinner being served. The team with the most points wins!

NOTE: Alternatively the instructions recommend playing to 15 points.

Players separate into two teams. The first team to go rolls the die and plays the card for the corresponding category, or chooses their category if they roll yellow. The stickers on the die are all the same shape, so if anyone in your play group struggles with differentiating colors just add some shapes to the colors.

There are five possible card categories and teams get 30 seconds for each turn:

  1. What’s Cookin’? (blue) – The other team will read you a list of ingredients and you must guess the dish being described. A correct guess gets 1 point.
  2. What’s A Spatula? (red) – One person from your team chooses this card and draws a picture of the kitchen item on the card. A correct guess gets 1 point.
  3. Melting Pot (green) – The other team will list a dish and you must guess where it originated. A correct guess gets 1 point.
  4. Renowned Restaurants (orange) – The other team will tell you the name of a renowned restaurant and you must guess its location from the multiple choice options. A correct guess gets 1 point.
  5. Foodie First (purple) – The other team will tell you a category from the card and you must list as many items as you can think of that fit this category. You can get up to 5 points for 5 correct guesses.
The box holding cards separated by category
The box boasts over 700 questions across these 220 cards

The game throws in chips also. Each team has a Group Play chip that can only be played once per game. You can play your Group Play chip before the other team rolls the die to make the next play an All Play/Group Play. Turn order remains the same but either team can score the point.

The other chip is called the Bonus Token. This can also be played once per game by each team before a die roll and doubles the points earned that round. A loss will lose you 1 point.

Components include a die, sand timer, markers, chips, a main chip and a stand
The components for you to see. The stand is meant to hold the score card (and yes my bonus token is broken)

As stated above, the team with the most points after an even number of turns when dinner is served wins!

how it went

We played What’s Cookin’? many, many moons ago on a weekly game night. We had already eaten so we elected to play to 10 points instead.

I am not much of a cook, so I was worried about enjoying What’s Cookin’? But, as so often happens, the game exceeded my (albeit low) expectations. Many of the questions were within my grasp despite my lack of topical knowledge and somewhat unrefined palette (I once ate a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Burrito).

Examples of the cards in each category
Here is a random sampling of each category

If there was one unwelcome category it would have to be Renowned Restaurants. That one is multiple choice, which helps a little, but I wonder about the wisdom of including restaurant knowledge in the game at all. I would guess these renowned restaurants may not all be around after a certain number of years, which puts a shelf life on the question. But perhaps this is not true for cooks and/or foodies.

FUN FACT: I took ten random Renowned Restaurant cards and googled. Six out of ten are still open, even one year through a pandemic. Another fun fact: I’m wrong all the time. I still didn’t like that category though. I didn’t know a damn one of them.

The variety of categories was fun, and this was really just a party/trivia game that is themed around cooking. It may shock you to hear this, but I’ve played much worse.

Whiteboards
The scoreboard and whiteboards, where drawings are meant to happen
Some of our drawings from play
But we decided to draw on paper, I think because the whiteboards did not erase nicely. I had to use alcohol to erase a particularly memorable sketch from John

According to the scoresheet we enjoyed a very close game but Bill and I snuck out the win.

play or pass

I’m going to say pass, unless you have a very particular fondness for cooking. I was impressed by how accessible the game was to me as the furthest thing from a chef, but one of the five categories seems very limited. I think What’s Cookin’ ultimately pulls off what it is trying to do, which is be a fun, casual way to pass the time waiting for dinner to be ready. The game is perfect for its intended audience of cooks and foodies, but I would be hesitant to recommend it generally.

Review: CNN The Game

By On March 28, 2021 With No Comments

Review: CNN The Game
Publisher: GamePlan, Inc.
Year: 1994
Players: 2 to 6
Tagline: Cover the World As a CNN Correspondent

CNN logo over a globe

how we met

I know I paid $1.99 for CNN The Game. I know this because the price tag is still on it. I know I bought CNN The Game in July 2019. I know this because I decided to brag about it on the Flip the Table Facebook page. I remember the thrift shop where we bought it and that it was on the bottom shelf. Sometimes I like to think nothing will surprise me anymore, but I remember being surprised to see a board game themed on CNN. I was sold.

how it plays

Players (or teams) in the game get an airplane pawn. Their goal is to travel to destinations specific to their color pawn and hopefully correctly answer questions, which are marked in the passport checklist. Once they check off all of their location boxes, they travel to CNN Center in Atlanta for a final question. If they are successful in this last challenge, they are promoted to Bureau Chief! That player or team wins CNN The Game!

When you land on one of your correspondent locations, which are marked by a CNN logo with a background in the color of your pawn, then you are asked a CNN News & Information question. These are trivia questions that “reflect the wide range of subjects covered by CNN,” according to the instructions. A correct answer gets you one checkmark in that location!

The trivia box and example trivia card
Some are multiple choice which is nice

If you land on a space on the board with an exclamation point you get a CNN Special Bulletin. These can send you to different points on the board so whether they help or hurt you is a matter of luck.

Example special bulletin cards that send the pawn elsewhere such as go to Paris to cover flu epidemic
I swear I pulled these randomly and did not look for an epidemic card, but there it is

Some spaces on the board say LIVE and these require you to do a live report on the topic identified by your die roll. Yes, you! It’s your job, duh! These reports cover either a person, place or event and the only rule is you can’t use the words on the card (really just the topic itself). You have 30 seconds to get your fellow correspondents to guess the topic, and if one does you are both rewarded! The reporter gets to roll again and the correct answer gets to mark double on their sheet which can be used to double any die roll to their benefit once.

The example they give in the instructions for the LIVE challenge is for “Empire State Building” and the example report is “I’m standing here in NYC outside what was once the tallest building in the world. The building is located in midtown Manhattan….” Fun right?!

Example live cards including things such as Federal Reserve Board, Mt. Rushmore, The English Channel, The Brady Law
There are 18 report topics here. I think I could tackle 12 of them and do an okay job. But depending on my roll I might be in a tough spot. How many of these could you cover and get your fellow players to guess in 30 seconds each?

There are just a couple of other things to mention. If you land on a white space (most of the board) then that’s it and you pass the die. If you land on a colored pie space you have a chance to roll again if you answer your question correctly. If you land on a location that is not your color, you still get asked a question in your own color. A correct answer allows you to hop to any of your locations that you want to! Then you are immediately asked another question as though you just landed there normally and get the check if you get the second question right.

The passport showing May 31, 2004 player name Sharon Stone
I don’t like to brag but apparently Sharon Stone played my copy in 2004 and won

CNN Center in Atlanta is just yet another question in your color once you have all of your other checkmarks. A correct answer lands you that sweet promotion to Bureau Chief and you win CNN The Game!

how it went

After COVID-19 “safer at home” measures hit I didn’t game much at all. Even though I was very lucky in my circumstances, I retreated into comfort things like movies and television. I didn’t feel like I had the energy to sort through gaming online. And I think it was the right decision, because the last thing I need as I sit here at this moment is another Zoom appointment of any kind.

That being said, Bill and I played CNN The Game via Google Hangouts with my sister and bro-in-law early on in the pandemic. The game does not lend itself to online play or anything, but we made it work. I was teamed up with Jaime and Bill with Aaron.

An overview of the board from in the room
What Bill and I saw on our side during play
The laptop showing the game board during our play
And what Jaime and Aaron would see. This is what making it work looks like

We are all close to the same age, and I think we are within a limited age range of perhaps knowing some of the questions in a 1994 news trivia game. Some of the questions end up being still relevant (like who is the founder of Microsoft). But the majority are very of-the-time, so the game is really built for a limited shelf life.

My attraction to purchasing CNN The Game was more about it being a bizarre subject matter for a game rather than a deep knowledge of CNN. But it’s easy to appreciate how closely the game ties to CNN as a company by using their actual locations. They also provide a lot of information on CNN like a brief history and their program guide. So even though CNN The Game boils down to an antiquated trivia game, it does a nice job of being CNN The Game rather than just some random news trivia game. I definitely give it points on theme.

CNN Program Guide 1994
This is a neat, simple idea but also exemplifies the limitations of the game all these years later

I very much enjoyed the LIVE challenges. Most of the challenges I did were easy enough for me to remember, but it was also fun to make people guess when I kind of remember but don’t have full command of the subject matter. And I loved watching other people do their challenges.

Like any roll and move game, luck does play some role in how well you do in CNN The Game. We definitely slowed down near the end when we had narrowed down which cities each team was going for, but I don’t think we ever got really stuck.

Bill and Aaron were generally ahead throughout the game and they won CNN The Game!

Passport from our play showing Purple needing only Atlanta
You can tell this is Bill and Aaron because I don’t think Jaime and I got any doubles 🙂

play or pass

Pass. This is a news trivia game from 1994, so you would have to have a keen interest in news (and/or a very good memory) to really appreciate CNN The Game. I think the theme was handled nicely though. I usually expect the worst when I pick up a game based on a property that does not seem very gamely, but CNN The Game was well executed. The subject matter just assigns a shelf life to gameplay.

Review: “Read My [Lips]” Kid!

By On March 15, 2021 With No Comments

Review: “Read My [Lips]” Kid!
Publisher: Pressman
Year: 1991
Players: 3 to 6
Tagline: Hey, it’s the wild game of unspoken words!

Six children on the cover smiling or making faces

how we met

Reader, you know how sophisticated my gaming tastes are. I did not buy this game. This is another that Bill picked up unsupervised for $1. We played one night as a group of three while we waited for John and our fifth player to join us for game night.

how it plays

In “Read My [Lips]” Kid! players are mouthing phrases silently while other players try to guess what they are saying. Players roll the die and move around the board to determine which category the word or phrase they are mouthing is from. Pawns can move in any direction but may not change direction in a single turn.

The categories of the game are:

  • Green: Person
  • Pink: Place
  • Blue: TV Show/Movie
  • Yellow: Thing
  • Purple: Music
  • Orange: Saying

The player mouthing the word is not allowed to make any sounds or use hand signals. They also have a time limit determined by the sand timer included in the game.

An overview of the board with neon lips on each space
Yes, lips are prevalent inside the box

If a player successfully guesses a mouthed phrase, both the player mouthing the phrase and the guesser get credit.

The ultimate goal of the game is to successfully check off two phrases from each category. The scoresheet is just a set of two lips under each category that are marked off as progress is made. Pretty simple.

Example words like jellyfish, Bruce Willis, Saxophone, Darn it!, Jingle Bells
Here is a sampling of the words and phrases you will be mouthing

If you already have both of your points from a given category you can still guess in order to block another player from getting points. You just don’t get anything other than the satisfaction of a good block.

The first player to have all of their scoresheet lips marked off wins “Read My [Lips]” Kid!

how it went

It’s not often that I find something I am pretty good at, and I was pretty good at “Read My [Lips]” Kid! As I mentioned earlier, we played while waiting for a couple of our party to join us for a longer game. We were also eating pizza, which is not ideal for a lip reading game.

But this game was silly fun and we giggled endlessly.

One of the things that is really interesting about playing dozens and dozens of vintage games that are often simple is how they present you with this huge diversity of challenges. I would have never explored any natural talent I had related to lip-reading except that here we are playing a game where that is how I can win.

We are a competitive group, but we are not sore losers. I don’t think I could parade this mix of games in front of a group that truly cared about winning. But the opposite is also true: we are committed to winning. We are earnestly trying to win each of these games. We very, very rarely say, “This is dumb, I am not trying anymore.” And when we have done that you have heard about it. And we basically all have to agree before the towel is thrown.

So I guess I am saying a simple game like “Read My [Lips]” Kid! makes me appreciate my game group anew. Because it’s a short, silly game that tests an unrecognized, natural skill that we would never otherwise explore. And in a fun goofy way that causes us to laugh and giggle.

All of this being said, this game is a roll and move at the end of the day. You can move whatever direction you want, but near the end of play you all only need one or two categories. You almost always end up with a roll of shitty choices where your entire move is determined ideally by what you need, and if not by avoiding what your terrible friends need, and at worst by just moving to either of two spots where no one scores anything. Like many roll and moves, this can go on for far too long.

Lip pawns on the board
A shot of our play. You’d think the lips might stand up but they don’t, they just lay there

It’s very possible to break the game near end of play too. If I only needed an Orange category, landed there on my turn and did the best phrase mouthing of my life – but my fellow players chose not to participate? Or worse, to pretend not to get it? Well then we are all stuck. We didn’t do this, but it’s worth noting as a very real potential issue in gameplay. It might be a good option to each track your own score with your own sheet to hide what you need. Maybe you can bluff your way to victory.

Our scoresheet shows that we were all a single point away from winning in different categories. None of us remember winning, and I don’t remember whether anyone did win. I’m pretty sure what happened is our friends joined us and we moved onto another game that demanded more attention and heavier setup.

Our scoresheet and the pawns
Sometimes my game group call me Jan because I find it strangely annoying. I think it’s their accents.

play or pass

Pass, but only for the common roll and move reasons. The end of the game can carry on far too long, which ensures everyone catches up and only a terrible roll by another player or a shared goal can ensure victory. We giggled and enjoyed this game. I am not sure we would play more than once or twice, but it was an interesting exercise in lip-reading. And one that I may never have encountered in any other way. So it’s kind of what I look for in a vintage game experience.

Review: Ice Cube

By On March 7, 2021 With No Comments

Review: Ice Cube
Publisher: Milton Bradley
Year: 1972
Players: 2 to 4
Tagline: The game that uses real ice cubes

A young boy happily holding a Meltin Milton pawn with the game board in the background

how we met

I wrote in a past review (see Hide ’n’ Thief) how my friend Josh found a treasure trove of vintage games in a single store one fateful day. Ice Cube is part of that story.

Ice Cube is desirable for a lot of reasons. 1) It has nice resale value. 2) It was one of the games covered by Flip the Table podcast and crew. 3) Its novelty is through the roof. 4) It is rare.

This thrift shop had Ice Cube in really nice shape, just missing the ice cube tray (which is very, very common – it breaks). And to be honest, they priced Ice Cube fairly at something like $50, or just under. But for thrifters, that is a very steep price. I passed it up at that price. We all did.

Bill added this thrift shop to his typical thrifting route because in addition to awesome and weird old board games, they occasionally had really great vintage toys. Some of those toys were carded, unpunched. Bill is really savvy with toys, so he frequented this store and bought many, many items over many, many months (Josh, I probably owe you dinner or something).

One of these trips Bill determined that the profit he would make on his toy purchases would more than make up for the cost of Ice Cube, and he knew that several of us wanted it. So he surprised me by bringing it home that day. And that’s how we met!

how it plays

Ice Cube is a last ice cube standing game. The last ice cube to fully melt or fall away from the feet of the Meltin’ Milton is the winner!

The body of the Meltin’ Milton pawns is a special ice cube with a hole in the middle that lets you place the body on the plastic feet as well as put the plastic head on top. This gives you a fully-formed Meltin’ Milton.

A closer look at the Meltin’ Miltons

From here, play is very simple. On your turn you spin the spinner and find out where your Meltin’ Milton ends up. Nearly all possibilities are designed to melt your poor Meltin’ Milton body. Here are some gruesome examples:

  • You may get salt shaken over your poor, frozen body
  • You may get hot water dumped over your poor, frozen body
  • You may have to stand in a tub of what started the game as hot water
  • You may have to take a warm shower
  • You may have to wear a hot washer on your poor, frozen head

There is one space where you stand on your start space and nothing good or bad happens. There is also one space where you get to rest in some ice chips! But for the most part it’s deadly out there.

The spinner shows you these awful possibilities

The last Meltin’ Milton standing wins Ice Cube!

A closer look at a sideways glancing Meltin’ Milton, so you can see the ears, eyes, nose and moustache

how it went

I want to start off with a couple more thank you’s that made our gameplay possible. I mentioned that my copy is missing the ice cube tray, which is very common. So what do you do?

Fortunately for me, BGG user snicholson had this issue a few years before I did and solved it thoroughly. I simply followed Scott’s instructions to create my own ice cube tray. I experienced every single thing that he did when making a second ice cube tray, and I can’t recommend his instructions enough. Thank you Scott! (You can follow Scott on Twitter @snicholson or check out his board game YouTube channel where he has been live-streaming games during the pandemic)

My first ice cube tray setting
The completed ice cube tray in all its glory

I also had problems when trying to create my Meltin’ Milton positives by 3d printing at local printers. This issue was instantly solved when I reached out to Brian, one of my in-laws. Brian does really sophisticated 3d printing so I knew he could probably help me with my printing problem. But he replied to my cry for help immediately and those Miltons were printing within a few hours. And they arrived in the mail just a few days later. And they have at this point been passed onto another Ice Cube owner with no ice cube tray.

One of my four positive Meltin’ Miltons, much thanks to Brian

FAIR WARNING: If anyone here is wondering why someone doesn’t just pump out these ice cube trays and sell them to this niche market, let me tell you why. The instructions were very simple, but the silicone rubber is like $40. This is not a cheap solution.

I played Ice Cube a couple of times, once with my regular game group and once with the Thrifting Minions. The game is silly fun. I have learned to fear the Bucket of Water, which is devastating. You can actually watch your Meltin’ Milton shrink before your eyes.

A shot of our play, where the blue Milton is lucky enough to be taking an ice bath

I am generally okay with the hot head. It has an impact, but the impact is minor especially as the game goes on. The same can be said for the Bath which starts as hot water, but as you play the game water is everywhere and the Bath becomes lukewarm at best.

A hot headed Meltin’ Milton, and as you can see salt gets everywhere

The salt and warm shower are both middle-of-the-road for how terrible they are. I am sure they have impact, but they are less visible than the Bucket of Water.

Another shot of our play, nearing the end

Bill’s Meltin’ Milton was the last one standing, and Bill won Ice Cube!

This awesome slow motion video was posted by Flip the Table Podcast on YouTube and you only have to watch seconds to see the devastating Bucket of Water!

Now, if prices interest you please read on. I have three price tags on my copy of Ice Cube:

  1. I have an old, yellow price tag on the cover that appears to be from an ancient Kmart and lists the price at $26.28
  2. I have an old, yellow price tag on the side that also appears to be from Kmart and lists the price (presumably grossly discounted) at $4.33
  3. Most interestingly if you thrift, my copy has a price mark of $2.00 from a shop that almost always gives half off, so someone bought this at some point for $1.00. It can happen!

play or pass

Play, with a big nod to novelty. This game makes up for its lack of strategy with ice and salt and hot water. Ice Cube is not the most gamely of games, but it has more staying power than even the most robust Meltin’ Milton.

If you are interested in playing Ice Cube but not able to find a used version, I understand that Olaf’s Ice Adventure replicates at least some features of Ice Cube and is easy to purchase. It is also a version of Trouble, so not entirely the same as Ice Cube but might scratch the itch.

Review: moods

By On February 28, 2021 With 2 Comments

Review: moods
Publisher: Hasbro
Year: 2000
Players: 3 to 8
Tagline: it’s all in the way you say it game.

Speech bubble that says moods
The copy I found was unpunched but very, very sun damaged. It should be the bright green you see near the middle

how we met

I found moods at one of my normal haunts. Moods is one of those interesting thrift finds where the cover screams generic party game, but yet I have not seen it before. So what is it? Moods, what are you?

I picked it up and was holding onto it until I could look it up. If I am holding a game at thrift Bill often asks me if I have looked it up yet. The funny thing is, I only look them up on BGG and check out feedback. But he means eBay. Every time.

Both of our lookups netted enough interest to spend the couple of bucks and play moods.

how it plays

The object in moods is to be the first player to the Finish space. You get to move your pawn, called your Mood Stone, by correctly guessing the mood in which your fellow players say certain phrases.

To begin a round, take moods from the Mood Deck and place them face up along the board in the numbered spaces provided. Then the first player puts the 10-sided die into the cup and puts the cup upside down. Then they can peek at the die without showing any other players. The number on the die corresponds to the mood they must be this round.

Next this same player draws a card from the Phrase Deck. Read the phrase in the mood you were assigned by the die.

Image of the components
The components. My copy was unpunched so any game pieces over four players are still bagged.

Next the other players bid on which mood the active player is by using their Voting Chips. Each player gets four voting chips numbered 1 through 4. You can only use one chip each round, so use a higher number if you feel very confident and a lower number if you are not. Ideally the active player should call for votes so that everyone votes at once and no one can change their vote to go with the group.

Once everyone has voted, the player reveals the correct mood. If players voted correctly they get to move their Mood Stone the number of spaces indicated by their Voting Chip. If players voted incorrectly they just stay put. The active player gets to move one space for each player (not Voting Chip level, but each Voting Chip itself) that correctly guessed the mood.

So why wouldn’t you vote your 4 chip every time if there is no penalty for guessing incorrectly? Because Voting Chips are set aside until you use each one over four different rounds, and then you get them all back again. Don’t waste that 4 chip!

Example moods include fussy, wishy-washy, confused, depressed, dazed, threatening
A random draw from the Mood Deck, and an example of how some moods are similar
Example phrases include "I will return" and "All things being equal you lose"
Some of the phrases picked at random

The final part of the round is to replace every Mood Card that had any vote on it with a new Mood Card. Then the next player starts over with a new die roll. The first player to the Finish space wins moods!

how it went

Our game group played moods back in November of 2019 (omigosh!) so we played with 4 people, but I think this game would scale nicely to 8 to maximize party game fun. But we had plenty of fun, although this game is not without its challenges.

Overhead of the board
Here is a look at our play, all lined up nicely in a row

Challenge #1: After rolling the die, you have to be able to see the mood without giving away which number / mood you are looking for. This is by no means an insurmountable challenge, but it’s worth mentioning as I think this challenge becomes amplified in the casual atmosphere of a party game. This is not a bluffing game, but it requires bluffing skills just to determine which mood you are supposed to do if someone is looking at you. There must be a better way.

Challenge #2: Moods has all the inherent challenges of any performative game. Generally you want to be a caricature to get the mood across, but overdoing it might make the voting too simple? And subtlety could ruin everything. So you want to hit that sweet spot. Plus some members of your game group might just plain not enjoy this type of game, at least on their turn.

Challenge #3: Kind of opposite of the above, some of the mood cards are maybe too similar which makes the vote a crapshoot. When I pulled a few cards at random to take example photos I got both Dazed and Confused. I can think of ways I would try to differentiate them in my speaking but I’m not sure the difference would be clear. Not the end of the world, but less gamely.

Four pawns crowded on three spaces
This is approaching halfway through our game and we are fairly equal. Note: the Mood Stones are not always easy to differentiate in some lighting, but they are usually much better than this photo suggests

But honestly I am working pretty hard to bring up challenging nuances about what is just a plain, fun party game. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and if the players do not either then fun is sure to be had. And I had fun too, right up until Keri won moods!

FUN FACT: I hate playing the game Utter Nonsense passionately. I enjoy watching people play, but my own gift of accents is somehow worse than no talent. I have a talent for doing very poorly which is very hilarious to some people in my life. The general dynamic in my household is that I am always trying to get games into the house while Bill is always trying to get games out of the house. But every time I try to donate Utter Nonsense, it makes its way back onto the shelves quietly and ominously.

play or pass

Play. We are party game people, and you can’t go wrong with this type of simple, ridiculous gameplay. Good group fun. Knowledge of moods a must.

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