Sounds Fishy: The Fast-Thinking, Bluffing Family Board Game for Kids 10+ and Adults | Best New Board Games | Same Game, Smaller Box

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You could ask people to repeat their answer, but we’ve found that can give away if they were faking or not. So we have a house rule that players can’t be asked to repeat what they said. It is not hard to work out that I really like this party game from Big Potato Games. The concept is very simple. One player reads out a question and the other players all have to provide a fake answer except one player who has to tell the truth. The guesser then has to find as many of the wrong answers as possible without accidentally revealing the correct answer. Points are then awarded and play continues with the next player. For all players other than the Guesser, the scoring is a bit different – but very tied to their objectives. The Blue Kipper got flipped. The Guesser gets 0 points. Players will take a look at their fish without letting the guesser know who they are. Just like that the game is set and you’re ready to move onto gameplay. Gameplay So if you have the Blue Kipper, you want to give the correct answer in such a way that the Guesser thinks it might be fake. And if you have a Red Herring, you want to deliver your answer like it’s the real thing. Which players gave fake answers? Those are the fish you want to flip.

If you have a Red Herring and it gets flipped, you get 0 points. If yours remains unflipped, you get 1 point for every flipped fish (including the Blue Kipper). The fun and hilarity in this game comes from the crazy answers people give and you are 100% sure they are lying only to be told it is the truth. People can really try to put you off by seeming unsure when they give an answer or look ‘shifty’ all with the aim of throwing the guesser off the scent. Seeing Red Play continues until everyone has been the Guesser either 1 or 2 times (depending on the number of players). Then players total their points and the player with the most points wins. As such, we’ve enjoyed games with 6 or 7 players the most. Though it is pretty fun in a 9-player game to have the Blue Kipper and get your fish flipped first so you score 7 points while everyone else scores nothing. The same can't be said for Sounds Fishy. Actually, there's a danger of learning the answers to each question if you overplay it. That means it has a more limited shelf-life.This game includes some lovely points tokens which look great on the table. Points are allocated to the guesser as well as the red herrings and true blue kipper depending on how well the round played out. The questions are mostly so bizarre that we’re genuinely curious to just keep rattling through more of them. And since the game comes with 220 question cards, there’s plenty of fun to go.

The guesser then flips the fish of a player they think lied. If a red herring is revealed the guesser gains a point and can continue to try to find more red herrings or stop if they wish to do so and retain the points. If the guesser reveals the true blue before exposing all of the red herrings they lose all of their points and play continues with the next player becoming the guesser.And we much prefer making up crazy answers to these trivia types of questions than obscure word definitions. Some sample questions. Accordingly, it's quirky and has plenty of character. There's no confusion about what you have to do during a match either, so even board game novices are unlikely to feel lost. If the Guesser eliminates all Red Herrings and only has the Blue Kipper left, they also get an extra point. If you have the Blue Kipper and it gets flipped, you get 1 point for every unflipped fish on the table. If you remain unflipped, you get 0 points.

First, players decide who will be the starting guesser. They then take the dispenser with the question cards in, making sure the side with the blue answer on is facing down. Then, the guesser will randomly dish out one fish to each player, keeping them face down. All of these fish should be Red Herrings except for one: the True Blue Kipper. That’s because of course, the questions have a hint of silliness to them in most occasions, so providing a slightly absurd answer is often within the theming, where hilarity then ensues. It’s easy to panic and struggle to provide an answer, but even some of those are labelled ‘that sounds so ridiculous, it might even be true’, meaning you’ll sometimes risk it for a biscuit on an entirely obscure answer. We giggled our way through the style of answer one player consistently gave, only to assume red herring – where miraculously, it was the one time she played blue. We questioned whether answers were based on video games, news pieces, strange stories, when they were true. We asked why in the world you answered that, debriefed the why’s afterwards, and found the game facilitated our fun perfectly. In a 4 to 5 player game you play two rounds and with 6 to 10 you just play one round. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. I Get The Point! Whoever has the True Blue Kipper has to try and get caught as soon as possible (Image credit: Future)

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Overall, Sounds Fishy is a fun, simple party game that even those who don’t like bluffing games in our family enjoy playing. The point tokens have cool fishy symbols on them. I played Sounds Fishy with different groups of varying sizes, and made sure I played each of its roles to get a better idea of what they were like. You'll also have a good time battling each other for points. The process of trying to weed out fibs from fact is engaging enough to keep you invested, and the same is true of those attempting to stay under the radar. Keeping players off your scent as a True Blue Kipper is an equally usual challenge; be too obvious and the jig is up, losing you the advantage. Scoring in Sounds Fishy varies for each of the three roles. When playing as the guesser, players will score a point for every correctly guessed Red Herring. They’ll also win a bonus if they correctly identify everyone, without falling prey to the True Blue Kipper. But be warned, if the guesser calls the Kipper out as a Red Herring, they lose everything. Red Herrings will score one point for every flipped fish on the table, including the Kipper.