Family game night has been a staple event when it comes to getting the family together. We’ve played the Jackbox Games more times than you can count, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and even some of PlayStations PlayLink games. But there gets to a point where you need something new. Thanks to Big Potato Australia and Rocket Comms, my family and I got to try out two exciting games, and they’re called Herd Mentality and You Can’t Say Umm.
Herd Mentality Review
Herd Mentality features a deck of question cards, answer sheets, herd counters, a gold cow, and a VIP cow pen. The name of the game is to think like the herd and write down what you think will be the majority answer to the question presented. If you’ve ever played Scattergories, it’s the exact opposite of that.
Here’s an example of one round:
Q: Name the best girl band.
Person 1: Little Mix
Person 2: Spice Girls
Person 3: Spice Girls
Person 4: Spice Girls
In this case, the majority answer is Spice Girls, which means everyone who said Spice Girls gets a herd counter. The first person to reach 8 herd counters will win the game. Unfortunately for Person 1, the prize they get for having the only unique answer is the Golden Cow, which prohibits the holder from winning the game no matter how many herd counters they have.
This game was delightfully fun and sparked some light arguments. Star Wars was a topic they came up frequently, and unfortunately half of the family hadn’t seen the films (weird, right?). I would recommend playing Herd Mentality with people you know, as it will be easier to predict what others will write down.
Where to buy Herd Mentality:
You Can’t Say Umm Review
You Can’t Say Umm was the highlight of our family games night. It’s a chaotic board game that prompts players to describe weird things without, err… umm… hesitating. The game contains a playing board, 165 cards, two player pieces, a bell, and a timer.
Splitting into two teams, each team takes turns in trying to guess weird combinations of words without saying umm or err. These combinations are made up of A cards and B cards, which can make weird combinations such as “Cheap Potato” and “Angry Bouncy Castle”. Each correct answer moves the team one place down the board towards the finish line; however, if the other team catches the described saying umm, they can ring the bell and move their piece forward on space.
As someone who frequently says umm, outside of the board game space, the first round I played, I said, “Umm,” at least 3 times out of habit. As the game went on, I got more confident and was more conscious of what I was about to say. As you move down the board, rule cards (which a predetermined before the game starts) come into play. These rules can be anything from “you can only talk in a high-pitched voice” to “you can’t say any words beginning with the letter N”. This is where the chaos ensues. Towards the end of the game, when there are three rules in play, on top of the umm rule, it really becomes difficult to describe each word.
As I said previously, the whole family really enjoyed this game. It really promotes teamwork and thinking outside the box. You absolutely go into this game thinking it will be easy, but sometimes you will burn through the 45-second timer without even getting through the first combination of words. The only thing I think would improve the game is that I think the game would benefit from extra card packs, as we burned through the whole deck pretty quickly. We also randomly got “Hot” and “Potato” paired together at one point. What are the chances?
Where to buy You Can’t Say Umm:
If you’re looking for early Christmas present ideas or just need some new board games to play, now’s the time to buy. Many retailers are promoting their Toy Catalogue over the next couple of weeks. Plus, the end-of-financial year sales will begin to kick in soon after, so there will be plenty of bargains to be had.
Herd Mentality, You Can’t Say Umm, and more are now available at your favourite retailers.
