When we visit my aunt and uncle over Christmas break, we often break out
the karaoke machine, mostly to listen to them sing, though once in a
while the McCarty crew will join in. This year, none of us made use of
any of that fancy equipment. Instead, we sat around playing Encore,
which forced all of us to exercise our vocal chords as well as our
brains.
Encore is one of those fun party games, though it's
probably best with a smaller group of people. Unlike games such as Taboo
in which more players just mean more mayhem and more points, Encore is
set up in such a way that an especially large group of people,
particularly with different musical backgrounds, could keep the game
going all name.
The game comes with a board and a die with you
roll. You land on a square and do your thing, and if you emerge
triumphant from your turn, you get to go again. If not, the opponent
rolls. Sounds pretty simple, and it is, but those turns can take quite a
long time.
There are several different play options depending
on the color square you land on. The most common seems to be group
against group, either word or category. If you get stuck with a
category, watch out; chances are, you're in it for the long haul, since
there are so many songs that could fit in most categories. All you need
is six or more words of the song and you're golden. It's trickier when
it's only one word, but even that can take forever to stump someone.
When we played, we spend such a long time on "rain" and "God" that in
the end, we gave up and went with a new card.
Other colors
entail a person against person match-up or person against team. The deck
is stacked against the individual in that instance, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that the single person has no shot at winning that
round. In fact, it seems like it's sometimes easier for the individual,
since there's no confusion over which person is going to sing. As long
as there are plenty of songs left to go around...
I'm not sure
if the timers we played with were officially included with the game or
had just wound up in the box, but there only seemed to be half a minute
on the clock. I suppose it could have been a minute, but it sure seemed
shorter when we were searching our brains fruitlessly for songs with
"kind" and "name" in it.
There were nine of us playing, and
the game lasted well over an hour, and would have lasted longer if we
hadn't called a draw on several of the category questions when we were
still going strong after ten minutes. You don't have to be a good singer
to get a kick out of Encore, though it might help those you're playing
with enjoy it more. All you need is a lifetime of tunes rattling around
in your head, the more eclectic the better. Sing your heart out with
Encore!
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