My family still loves to play games together. It is something we do on any special occasion. Because of this, we are constantly on the lookout for fun games. Although we love strategy games, we have found that we don't really have time for very long, intricate ones so we have been gravitating towards quick ones that are pure fun. Poetry for Neanderthals definitely fits that bill.
Some friends of our who also have kids in their upper teens introduced it to us. When we first saw them demonstrate it, the game looked too easy. Where was the fun? All you have to do is look at a card and describe it using only one syllable words. Then your teammates guess what you are talking about. Where's the challenge? Use easy words to describe another easy word? Child's play.
And then my turn came. Oh my god! I never knew how rich my vocabulary was until I tried describing an animal cracker. Oh and in case you could not tell, I was being very sarcastic when I said I have a rich vocabulary. have you ever seen a book review by me? Nope. There is a reason for that, sadly, I don't read nearly enough. The only things I read are work related. And I've always been that way. Not exactly the recipe for building the best vocabulary. So back to describing an animal cracker.
Animal Cracker
"Not cookie" ---- buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrong! (cookie is 2 syllables)
"Eat like bread shape like monkey" ---- buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrong! (monkey is 2 syllables)
"Shape like lion" ---- buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrong! (lion is 2 syllables)
After trying it a few times, I could not believe how could their kid was at this. I honestly think she is a genius. The ability to process this information so quickly and to come up with simple words on the spot was amazing.
Let me see if I can describe the rules using only 1 syllable words.
Play game by look at card and read word. Make friend guess word by say small words. No two beat words. Do fast. Sand say to stop. If say 2 or more beat word, friend on not your team hit you with club.
Wow! That actually took some doing.
I can't really explain how fun this game is. The best part is that it is so easy, it only takes a few seconds to explain to a new player. One of the worst things is when you crack open a new game, everyone sits down at the table... and then waits for someone (who am I kidding, it is always me) learns the rules and explains the rules. All of that waiting and swearing (wait maybe that's only me) really kills the vibe. Well there is no danger of that with this game. You can start the game and be laughing about 30 seconds after you open the box. It actually took more time to remove the plastic wrappers than it did to learn the game.
This game is also expandable. there are already expansion packs and they can be pretty much limitless. To be honest, you don't even really need to buy the game (although I highly recommend it). You could just get a list of words and write them on paper and pull them out of a bowl charades style.
Either way, if you are looking for some quick fun that is surprisingly challenging, check out Poetry for Neanderthals.
Now for the interactive part. let's try some in the comments. Using only 1 syllable words, how would you describe the following words, or phrases.
Yellow Belly
Bubble Bath
Crash
Clam
Chewbacca
Submarine
Foot Fungus