You will doubtless recall our unmitigated enthusiasm when we gave the Major Fun award to the original Reverse Charade. Today we are happy to extend that enthusiasm to the continued evolution of Reverse Charades, now appearing in French, Junior and App editions.
The Junior edition (like the newly updated original version) includes 360, 2-sided word cards. The packaging has improved – there is now an inner box, with its own lid, that allows you to carry your word cards around with you so you are always prepared to engage the world in a moment or many of major madcap merriment.
The main difference between the Junior and standard editions is, as you’d suspect, vocabulary. The majority of words are guessable even by a 6-year old – it might take longer, it might require a bit more histrionics, you might need to run the timer twice, but the fun will trump any difficulties. Older children, and even adult players shouldn’t let this child-friendly vocabulary fool them into premature complacency – the game is still challenging enough (how do you get someone to guess, for example, McDonalds, human pyramid, or bubble bath) to drive most of us into gleeful exhaustion.
Ultimately, the Junior Edition is best played by a mix of ages – kids, teens, adults, seniors. With a little compassionate rule-bending, the youngest will find themselves happily engaged, and the oldest driven to happy exhaustion.
In case you are still not familiar with the concept, I reiterate – the game is just like charades, except that it’s the team that’s frantically gesturing to one of their team members, who is guessing with equal franticity. Which makes all the difference – so much that the Junior Edition, just like the new App (for iPhone, -pod, or -pad), are each as award-worthy as the others.
The App, now that you ask, has, of course, its own timer. Extended vocabularies are available as well (in addition to the “original” and “junior” pack, you can also download packs for “sports fans” and those who still remember the “awesome 80s”), giving you an even more portable and extensive invitation to hours of merry mayhem.
Designed by Scott and Bryce Porter, Reverse Charades proves to be Major Fun in all of its current manifestations.