Talking a good game

Would you rather suck fresh milk directly from a cow’s udder or drink store-bought milk two days after it’s gone bad?

The question, from Zobmondo!!

Entertainment’s latest board game, “Would You Rather…? Sick, Twisted and Wrong,” is a far cry from the typical “Trivial Pursuit” query. The game, a more adult version of the company’s original “Would You Rather…?” poses hypothetical questions – some ethical, some funny, some ludicrous – designed to provoke debate and encourage participants to defend their choices. The winner is first to complete three challenges that revolve around predicting people’s answers, creating your own question and other tests. But winning is almost beside the point. The game’s real reward is the interplay between the participants and the amusement in passionately defending, for example, the virtues of either leaving a slime trail wherever you walk or emitting exhaust fumes. Although social interaction has always been an element of playing board games, today it is more up-front than ever. Indeed, games like “Would You Rather…?” and Mattel’s “Apples to Apples” are based almost solely on the opinions of the other players – no trivia knowledge required, no intricate rules, no marathon strategy sessions. Both typify the latest generation of board games: easy to learn, easy to play, egalitarian and, above all, about as social as you can get. That’s not a surprise to game developers.

Most of today’s entertainment options – TV, video games, iPods – “tend to isolate us a little bit,” says Matt Molen, co-founder and vice president of marketing of game company SimplyFun, Bellevue, Wash. “Think about going to the movies. You can go on a date, but all the interaction is between you and the screen.” By contrast, social interaction is the organizing principle of his company’s newest board game, “Cahoots!” which Molen describes as “charades on steroids.” “There is still something to be said for the face-to-face connection of sitting down and playing a game together and having lively conversation,” says Molen. Historically, that is what gaming is all about. “Until the video game entered the picture, games were specifically designed to create quality time among intergenerational family members. That was actually their entire purpose,” says Celia Pearce, director of the Experimental Game Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Video games “have created a bigger generation gap in that adults seldom play [them] with their children.” The introduction of the Nintendo Wii, the interactive video-game console, is starting to change that, but board games still have a huge edge in serving such needs. “Monopoly” has outsold “The Sims,” the best-selling video game in history, by tenfold,” says Pearce. “It’s about fostering human connection,” says Molen. But not every board game can do that, particularly with today’s hectic pace of life. And bridging the age gap – finding something that will hold both an adult’s attention and a child’s simultaneously – has never been easy. Today’s game developers follow a general set of rules to encourage consumers to choose games over other forms of entertainment. One of those rules is to speed up play. “Today’s families are so busy that taking time to sit down and play can be tough,” says Molen, whose SimplyFun games are