I try to go into every game with at least reasonable expectations, but I must admit that my initial impressions of What Will You Think of Next? (Enterfection Games, 2005 - no designer credited) were quite low. The production quality of the game was poor, the rules weren't very well written, and the box art was uninspiring, to say the least. Still, after reading the rules, I thought that the idea of word association as a party game would have some merit.
And I am pleased to tell you that What Will You Think of Next is a fun party game - one in which players attempt to guess the word association of other players. Yes, the components' quality looks like someone produced the game from their home computer. But fortunately, the gameplay supersedes this, and I expect to play it many times over the next year. Perhaps a larger company will pick up this excellent idea and give it the nice components it deserves, because I think a lot of people aren't going to play/buy the game because of the shoddy interior.
Each player is placed on a team of two (up to four teams) and places a piece of their color on the start space on a track on the board. In the middle of the board is placed a large stack of "What Will You Think of Next?" cards, and each team is given a booklet and pencil. One team is chosen to go first, and then play proceeds clockwise around the table.
On a team's turn, the player with the booklet draws the top card and secretly looks at the word on it (i.e. "ant", "table", "chain", etc.). They then write in their booklet the first word that comes to their mind. A thirty-second timer is now flipped over, and the player's teammate must guess the word written down. The word is read to the player from the card, and the player has one guess. If the player guesses incorrectly or the timer runs out, then a player from another team may shout "steal". The timer is flipped over for them, and they have one guess at the word written down. If a stealing player is incorrect, or the timer runs out, then their pawn moves back one space. However, a correct guess will move the person's token forward one spot.
Several spaces on the board say "All Guess". On these spots, everyone participates and can shout out as many words as they wish. The first player to say the word (or a form of the word) is the winner. If the team whose turn it is guesses correctly first, then their token will move into an inner path, one without "All Guess" spaces. The player who guesses correctly moves their token forward one space and gets to take another turn.
Players continue taking turns, passing the booklet back and forth between them, until they miss. At that point play passes to the next team, if no one guessed the word, or to the guessing team. Play continues until one team's marker lands on the "win" space, at which point they obviously win!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: I cannot state emphatically enough how much I was unhappy with the component quality of this game. I realize that many independent companies don't have much money, but everything about What Will You Think of Next? seems like some guy just slapped the game together in his basement. The cards are thin business-sized cards with a thin black border. This black border was all beaten up in my game and gave the cards a slovenly look. The cards are rather uninspiring looking, with the words simply printed on them in a large font. I was really struck by the absurdity of the booklets, which had four pages! What were you supposed to do when the pages get filled up? Small folders that hold paper would have been a much better choice. In our games, we simply just relied on honesty and had the player remember the word that they chose, and it worked out much better. The player pieces are clear tiddlywinks, and the mounted board looks like it was printed from a color printer. The thirty-second timer is the nicest piece in the game and fits well with all the other pieces in the medium-sized box with more computer printing on it. Now I know that I've been rough here on the component quality, but the look on people's faces when I bring it out confirms that few will think this game is worth $35 (the current price).
2.) Rules: The rules are on two sides of two different sheets of paper and are oddly formatted, with one having to constantly switch back and forth between them to fully understand the game. They could have used a rewrite, but I will admit that once I understood them, the game was really easy to teach to other players.
3.) Word Association: The idea of word association has been a standard in joke telling, psychological testing, and much of modern culture. So it's an interesting concept to bring into a game, and everyone that I've shown the game to has really enjoyed it. I've seen some couples do extremely well at the game - my wife and I have a pretty good affinity with each other - but other times its hilarious to see how different two people's thought processes can be. For example, my first thought for the word "chain" would be "mail", while my wife's would be "letter". Similar, but not even close in thought patterns. So the game is all about attempting to assess the person whose turn it is, and think of a word that they would have thought of. At the same time, the person who is thinking of the word should not put down something obscure, but a word that feels natural and one they think their partner will guess. What Will You Think of Next? has the same kind of partner cooperation that will make or break a couple as other games in this genre, such as Waddya Know? (What's up with all these games having a question as their title?)
4.) Fun Factor: The most important thing for any party game is simply that it be a lot of fun to play. Disregarding component quality, if everyone is having a blast, then the party game has passed muster. What Will You Think of Next? completes the "Vasel" party game requirements, because it has lots of interaction, keeps players' interest even when it's not their turn, and is quick and easy to teach and play. A lot of laughter is heard in the game, which makes it a keeper for me.
However, even though I will hang onto my copy, and even though I think the concept is original and interesting, I don't think I can recommend the game to others. A party game usually takes a lot of wear and tear, and it's something that you'll want to bring out to many gatherings in the future. What Will You Think of Next? is a great idea, and a lot of fun, but NOT worth the price the company is currently asking. I usually don't wish to be shallow when it comes to component quality when purchasing a game; because many games with low quality components come with high quality gameplay. But in this case, I think I'll wait until someone produces a better quality version of the game before recommending it. If you have a chance to play this game, then buy all means, do so; it's fun and interesting. Just don't buy it.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
