Smarty Party review, by Tom Vasel

Party games hold a special place in my game collection. Very few of them I consider my favorite games, but there is a time and place for them. Whenever I’m with a large group of people who haven’t played board games much, these are the games that I bring out. And they are, by far, my most requested games. The thing that stands out to me, though, is that some of the most memorable events in my gaming history have happened during party games – and some of the hardest I’ve laughed in my life has been at party games. Not all party games are gems, however, and some are just plain boring. However, the reviews I read on Smarty Party (R & R Games, 2003 – Aaron Weissblum and Pitt Crandlemire) indicated that it was one of the best of 2003, so I was glad to pick up a copy and give it a whirl.

My feelings are mixed on the game. I really like how the game worked, and the mechanics and ideas were certainly interesting. However, it was not a rip-roaring fun fest, like other party games (Spinergy, Time’s Up, Balderdash). It was certainly the best trivia-type game I’ve played, and I did enjoy it. It did seem that the categories were either too hard or too easy or geared towards only one person. A fun game, but I’m not sure it’s an ultimate winner.

A board is placed in the middle of the table, with a “Start” and a “Game Over” space, with twenty spaces in between. A pile of penalty chips (four “1” chips, two “2” chips, and one “3” chip) is placed near the board, as well as a small rubber pair of pants – the “Smarty Pants”. Each player takes two pawns, putting one in front of themselves so that stupid people can remember who is what color and the other on the start space. The youngest player is the first Reader, and the first round begins.

The Reader takes one list card (from a box of 100) and places it in a special card holder that allows the card to be read. The Reader reads the name of the list, the amount of items in the list, and the wager number. The Reader then decides how he will wager by placing a chip down on its Yes side or No side. Basically, he is guessing if the players will guess at least as many items from the list as the wager number. The Reader picks one player to be the first guesser, and each other player follows in clockwise order.

The guesser must guess an item on the card. If they do, the Reader checks off the item, the guesser receives the Smarty Pants, and play passes to the next guesser. If, when the item is checked, a little smiley face appears, the lucky guesser gets to move back one space. If the guesser is wrong, they must take the highest valued penalty chip currently available, and then play passes to the next person. When either the last item has been guessed, OR the last penalty chip has been taken, the round ends. Each player moves their token an amount of spaces equal to the sum of their penalty chip values. The player who currently holds the Pants, however, can subtract one chip value. (If he has no chip, he may move his pawn one space backward). The Reader can move his pawn a space backward if he was correct concerning the Wager. The player who is farthest ahead on the track becomes the next Reader.

Whenever anybody’s pawn reaches the Game Over, the game (shockingly) is over. The player whose pawn is the closest to Start is declared the winner. (Ties are broken by sudden death.)

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: The board is nice, but as in the case of most party games, entirely superfluous. I have no idea why the game includes two pawns for everybody, but it seems to be in fashion nowadays. Frankly, it annoys me, as people sit there and play with the pawn the entire game. The cards are of good quality, and the little card reader is rather ingenious in its size. The penalty and wager chips are of high quality, which is good, as they get handled quite a bit. The little blue rubber pants are nice, but are mainly window dressing. Everything fits into a fantastic plastic insert in a sturdy, colorful box. (There’s even a spot in the insert that exactly fits the pants!)

2.) Rules: As with most party games, the rules are easily explained and understood in about 1 minute. The rule booklet (4 pages) itself is formatted well.

3.) Replayability: I’m a little concerned about how often one can play the game. There are only 200 lists, and about 10-13 of them are used a game. Now, that will give you 15 plays or so, but then the game can’t be played again with the same folk (unlike Time’s Up or Apples to Apples). I’m sure R & R, if the game is popular, will release expansions (they mention this in the rules), but I thought that the basic game could have had a bit more.

4.) Lists: I like some of the lists a lot, and others I thought were retarded. The problem with the lists were how hit-or-miss they were. Sometimes everyone would know ALL the answers, sometimes nobody would know ANY of the answers, and sometimes everyone but one person knew all the answers. If four lists are pulled in a row that you have no idea about, the game could seem a bit unfun. To be fair, however, most of the lists did seem to have common things. But then, of course, there could be LONG and LOUD arguments about what answers the company put on the cards and the answers that should have been there, etc.

5.) Time and Players: Up to eight players can play the game, and the game play doesn’t change that much – which is a good thing. Also, unless everyone is a genius, the game will end fairly quickly, like in a half hour or so. The timer that is included (15 seconds) for optional use is mandatory in my group, and really helps keep the games from dragging on too long. For a party game, that’s very acceptable and helps make the game more popular, I’m sure.

6.) Fun Factor: The game is fun, and everyone enjoyed it – me least of all, but I still liked it. However, there wasn’t a lot of laughing and talking, and there just wasn’t the “sense” of fun that I enjoy so much in party games. The game had a “nice” feel to it, but at the same time when one person gets ALL the penalty chips, it’s just not that fun. However, I will say that I think that the person who is effectively in last place being the next Reader is a marvelous idea, and this concept should be implemented in more games.

Is it fun – yes. Is it a game that I think you should run out and buy right now – no. If you like Trivia games, like Outburst or Trivial Pursuit, then I think this is a fantastic game of that genre, probably the best. However, the lack of excitement and raucous chuckles tend to make me not pull it out that often. Now, I will say that some in my gaming group have the opposite opinion and were eager to play the game again, so there are some that really like it. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ll play it again, but probably won’t request it.