Boggle

"Even if I lose in this game, I still find it amazing!"

Designer: Allan Turoff

Publisher: Hasbro, Parker Brothers, Winning Moves

Players: 2+

Age: 8+

Game Time: Completely up to you!

Objective of the game: "Earn points by spotting words your friends don't, before time runs out."

Board Game Contains:

- BOGGLE grid base and lid

- 16 letter cubes

- sand timer

Game Summary:

Boggle is played by first sahking up the grid to mix up the letter cubes and letting them fall into place. The timer is flipped, lid revealed and the search for words begin. Players are to write down as uniquely and as many (minimum 3-letter) words as possible before the time runs out. Players then take turns reading their word lists aloud and only words not spotted by another count.

Game Review:

I started out playing Boggle with just my boyfriend. My first impression of the game was the more difficult the letter cubes were, the more points I scored. Immediately, I fell inlove with the game. Mine and my boyfriend's competetive natures drove us to take this game up a notch; first to 100 points win. You could imagine just how menatlly draining and paper consuming this game is with scores averaging at 10 points a round. I would say majority of the time I beat him in this game but it's quite amazing to see what kinds of words he comes up with.

This game definitely challenges your ability to spot, form, spell and write words as fast as you can. Because of how fast I'm writing, I struggle to read my own hand writing more often than I care to admit. There are many challenges to this game. First off, you can't just form words from random letters scattered on the board. The words that count are the ones that create a direct flow of connection from each letter to another. Another challenge is to come up with words that are at least 3 letters long. I know what you're thinking, that doesn't seem too hard, I'm a Communications student after all. However, the real challenge is coming up with minimum 3-letter words that are so unique your oponent would never even think of it, securing you points!

Although the game can be played with minimum of 2 players, I highly recommend to play this game with bigger crowds. Yes, I consider this a party game for 3 reasons. One, this game is super easy to teach. It doesn't matter whether or not your players are English majors or Junior High students. This game reaches such a wide variety of demographics that anyone who is up for a word challenge will immediately understand the basics and will enjoy the outcome. Second, this game requires 2 materials to play with;pen and paper. Do you have scraps of paper you've doodled on? How about some junk mails that have blank back pages? As long as you can write on it and you can read it, it works! Third, Boggle is a game that isn't just enjoyable when you're winning, it's a game that continues to amuse you even when your list is composed of 4 words. There are so many words in the English language and not all of us have the same range of vocabulary. I played this game with my 10-year-old nephew once and the kid beat me because he came up with simple words that I didn't even notice. When you play with a smaller crowd (2-4 players) the game generates more of a competetive nature. Players start to overthink the board, start risking ambigious words, and arguments tend to get heated. With a bigger crowd, Boggle can truly shine because so many people are working on the same puzzle, surely the number of similar words are larger in comparison to unique ones. But I think that's what makes it fun, brilliant minds coming together to work on the same thing and still coming different up with different responses.