Thanksgiving Day is later this week in the US and we’re looking forward to gathering with extended family members. It’s a great time to celebrate the many things we’re thankful for – especially family.

And it also means party game time!

That’s because when we get together with family members we usually get in a few games as part of the fun. And the types of games we pull out for such occassions are typically the light, party games that can accommodate many players.

This year we’re for sure going to play an awesome new cooperative party game we got last month – Fun Facts!

It’s a new party game by Repos Productions that we’ve had a blast playing as a family and at the office.

 

How to play Fun Facts

Fun Facts is both a party game and a cooperative game. Players work together to see how high of a score they can get. And if they play multiple games in a row (which is most often the case), they can try to get a higher score every time.

The setup is super simple. Each player is given a colored arrow tile and they write their name on one side (with a dry erase marker). That’s it!

The starting player draws a question card and reads it out loud (all questions have a numeric answer). Here are some examples:

• To what degree would you describe yourself as a sore loser?
• Which year in history do you find the most fascinating?
• How much do you enjoy making lists?
• How many push-ups do you think you can do in a row?

Then players simultaneously write their answers on the other side of their arrow tile. Once everyone has written their answer, the starting player places their arrow tile in the center of the table with their name showing – so their answer is hidden.

The player to the left then places their tile either above or below the first arrow depending on if they think their answer is higher or lower than the first player. Then the next player places their arrow in the line – wherever they think their answer falls – and so on until all players have placed their arrow.

The first player then has an option to move their arrow to a different location.

After that, all the arrow tiles are flipped over to reveal the answers.

The goal is to have the arrows all in ascending order. And arrows that are out of order are removed and the players score points equal to the number of arrows still in place (correct order).

Then the player to the left of the previous starting player becomes the new starting player and draws a new question.

After 8 questions, the game ends and players total their score from the 8 rounds and write it on the “Record of Legends” sheet included with the game.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Fun Facts?

Fun Facts is absolutely meant to be enjoyed by the whole family!

While the game box recommends ages 8+, we know players younger than that are going to join in the fun. As long as they can write a number, they can play. And because it’s a cooperative game, you can always find a way to accommodate younger players that really want in.

The game was a hit with our family right from the start. First of all, it plays up to 8 players – which is perfect for our crew of 7 (thanks to having a son-in-law). The cooperative nature of the game was also an immediate plus for us because it keeps us pulling for one another.

The game comes with 195 question cards that cover a huge variety of topics. While some of the questions lend themselves perfectly for a numeric answer, other questions indicate answering on a scale from 0 to 100 (thus making it a numeric answer). In almost all cases, the questions and answers spawned plenty of talking between questions because of the interesting topics. (And even a seemingly mundane question will turn interesting when played like this.)

Take for example the question about how long it you take to make yourself presentable each day (shower, shave, hair, etc.). You might think that’s a straight forward question and that you’d be able to guess where your answer falls among your siblings. But are you so sure? In our case, we found out a lot of interesting things.

When you get a fun game that also spawns additional conversations with your kids, it’s a huge success!

After playing our first game, it was obvious that playing 8 question cards seemed way too short. So we played again…and again…

We all know that’s a sure sign of success with a game as well.

Then I took the game to work the following week and played with my marketing team over a lunch break. My team also happens to have 8 people on it, which was another perfect fit for number of players. Everyone had a great time and we learned new and interesting things about each other – making it also a great team bonding activity.

 

How does Fun Facts score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

If you haven’t already guessed, Fun Facts scores very high on our “let’s play again” game meter with all the groups we’ve played with.

Since there really isn’t any setup to the game, you can immediately dive into playing another game by just erasing your score and drawing another card. And since everyone writes their answers simultaneously and the questions spark conversations, game time seems to fly by. So there’s a big draw to just keep playing.

We highly recommend getting a copy of Fun Facts for your family!

The Board Game Family would like to thank Repos Productions and Asmodee for a review copy of Fun Facts.