Moods
# 2 on my "Top Ten
Funniest Board Games" List
A successful party game is not a game - but rather a fun time. It shouldn't matter who wins and loses, but how much enjoyment people get out of the session. Moods accomplishes this with great success, and is one of the most hilarious party games one will ever play.
So should you buy this game? The short answer is, if you need a good party game and already have Apples to Apples, Balderdash, and Time's Up!, yes! A longer answer follows.
First, a short description of the game: The Moods gameboard is set up in the middle of the table. On the gameboard are ten spaces, each numbered 0 - 9. From a deck of "mood" cards, a card is placed on each space. A sample ten words might be "apologetic", "jealous", "wishy-washy", "tense", "crazed", "sleazy", "suspicious", "confused", "silly", and "threatening". Each player is then given a "Mood stone" of a certain color, which they place on the Start space, and four voting chips - numbered 1 through 4.
Gameplay is very simple. On their turn, a player takes a dice cup with a single ten-sided die. The player rolls this die, and secretly looks in the cup to see which number they've rolled. They then draw a card from the phrase pile, These phrases range from "Are those real handcuffs?" to "I can't believe you said that." to "Rome wasn't built in a day" to "Are you flirting with me?".
The player must then read their phrase, using the mood of the number they rolled. After the phrase is read, the player calls out "1,2,3, Vote!" and everyone puts down one of their voting chips on one of the mood cards on the table. For example, if I think that you most certainly said "I speak fluent Klingon" in a "mellow" way, I'd put my 4 vote chip on the "mellow" number. If I wasn't so sure, I might only put down the 1 vote chip. After everyone has voted, the 10 sided die is revealed. Everyone who voted correctly moves their mood stone around a circular track outside the board - one space for each vote on their voting chip. Incorrect votes get nothing. The person who read the phrase gets one vote for each person who voted correctly.
After points are totaled, all the mood cards that have a vote on them (whether right or wrong) are removed, and replaced with new mood cards. All voting chips are discarded. When a player has used all four of their voting chips, they get them back. So you cannot use your 4 vote chip every turn - rather you use it every fourth turn. The game continues until someones mood stone passes all the way around the board - making them the winner!
Thoughts on the game:
1). Components: I thought the components were top notch quality. The mood stones were very nice, and with eight different colors! The only thing I can say negatively is that the orange and red stone were fairly difficult to tell apart. The voting chips - poker style (but the size of Axis and Allies chips) are completely distinguishable - and look colorful and nice when used. Card stock is not great, but is good and functional. The box is of good quality and is a nice size to fit on the shelf.
2). Rules: The rules are very well written - it's a simple game, after all - on one sheet of paper. You can explain this game to people in less than 2 minutes - and get a game started anywhere.
3). Variety: There are enough phrases and adverbs to last for quite a few games. If you decided to play the game every day for a month, I suppose that the cards would get old, but if you pull it out once a month or so - it should remain fresh.
4). Acting: This is the tricky part of the game. It's great fun when it's someone else's turn to read - but you will hate it when it's your turn. You just have to get over your stage fright and read the card. It is embarrassing when you have to read "There's nothing sexier than a lawnmower" in a "perky" tone, but the crowd will love it. And just think, next turn will be somebody else's. But word to the wise: This game will be a complete dud with a dull crowd. It's not like Apples to Apples, where even a boring person can toss a card easily into the middle of the table. Each person must give a decent effort when reading the cards. Let yourself go - it's a lot of fun!
5). Winning: This game isn't really about winning. Sometimes a person is SO obvious in what they read that the other 7 people playing vote for the correct answer. When this happens a couple times - that person will easily win. But who cares? This game isn't about winning - it's about watching people make fools of themselves.
6). Fun: As with all games, I rank the "fun factor" seriously. A game may have great mechanics, but is it downright fun? And Moods is a clear winner here.
7). Price and availability: Moods is not a very easy game to find - as it is fairly expensive, and not many places carry it.
This game seems to have flown in under the radar. It's not the easiest game to find, or the cheapest, but if you can afford it - I advice that you snag this party game for a fun, fun alternative to your usual party game batch.
A successful party game is not a game - but rather a fun time. It shouldn't matter who wins and loses, but how much enjoyment people get out of the session. Moods accomplishes this with great success, and is one of the most hilarious party games one will ever play.
So should you buy this game? The short answer is, if you need a good party game and already have Apples to Apples, Balderdash, and Time's Up!, yes! A longer answer follows.
First, a short description of the game: The Moods gameboard is set up in the middle of the table. On the gameboard are ten spaces, each numbered 0 - 9. From a deck of "mood" cards, a card is placed on each space. A sample ten words might be "apologetic", "jealous", "wishy-washy", "tense", "crazed", "sleazy", "suspicious", "confused", "silly", and "threatening". Each player is then given a "Mood stone" of a certain color, which they place on the Start space, and four voting chips - numbered 1 through 4.
Gameplay is very simple. On their turn, a player takes a dice cup with a single ten-sided die. The player rolls this die, and secretly looks in the cup to see which number they've rolled. They then draw a card from the phrase pile, These phrases range from "Are those real handcuffs?" to "I can't believe you said that." to "Rome wasn't built in a day" to "Are you flirting with me?".
The player must then read their phrase, using the mood of the number they rolled. After the phrase is read, the player calls out "1,2,3, Vote!" and everyone puts down one of their voting chips on one of the mood cards on the table. For example, if I think that you most certainly said "I speak fluent Klingon" in a "mellow" way, I'd put my 4 vote chip on the "mellow" number. If I wasn't so sure, I might only put down the 1 vote chip. After everyone has voted, the 10 sided die is revealed. Everyone who voted correctly moves their mood stone around a circular track outside the board - one space for each vote on their voting chip. Incorrect votes get nothing. The person who read the phrase gets one vote for each person who voted correctly.
After points are totaled, all the mood cards that have a vote on them (whether right or wrong) are removed, and replaced with new mood cards. All voting chips are discarded. When a player has used all four of their voting chips, they get them back. So you cannot use your 4 vote chip every turn - rather you use it every fourth turn. The game continues until someones mood stone passes all the way around the board - making them the winner!
Thoughts on the game:
1). Components: I thought the components were top notch quality. The mood stones were very nice, and with eight different colors! The only thing I can say negatively is that the orange and red stone were fairly difficult to tell apart. The voting chips - poker style (but the size of Axis and Allies chips) are completely distinguishable - and look colorful and nice when used. Card stock is not great, but is good and functional. The box is of good quality and is a nice size to fit on the shelf.
2). Rules: The rules are very well written - it's a simple game, after all - on one sheet of paper. You can explain this game to people in less than 2 minutes - and get a game started anywhere.
3). Variety: There are enough phrases and adverbs to last for quite a few games. If you decided to play the game every day for a month, I suppose that the cards would get old, but if you pull it out once a month or so - it should remain fresh.
4). Acting: This is the tricky part of the game. It's great fun when it's someone else's turn to read - but you will hate it when it's your turn. You just have to get over your stage fright and read the card. It is embarrassing when you have to read "There's nothing sexier than a lawnmower" in a "perky" tone, but the crowd will love it. And just think, next turn will be somebody else's. But word to the wise: This game will be a complete dud with a dull crowd. It's not like Apples to Apples, where even a boring person can toss a card easily into the middle of the table. Each person must give a decent effort when reading the cards. Let yourself go - it's a lot of fun!
5). Winning: This game isn't really about winning. Sometimes a person is SO obvious in what they read that the other 7 people playing vote for the correct answer. When this happens a couple times - that person will easily win. But who cares? This game isn't about winning - it's about watching people make fools of themselves.
6). Fun: As with all games, I rank the "fun factor" seriously. A game may have great mechanics, but is it downright fun? And Moods is a clear winner here.
7). Price and availability: Moods is not a very easy game to find - as it is fairly expensive, and not many places carry it.
This game seems to have flown in under the radar. It's not the easiest game to find, or the cheapest, but if you can afford it - I advice that you snag this party game for a fun, fun alternative to your usual party game batch.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
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