Around our tabletop, we love party games. A chance for humor and surprises is our favorite place to start. There are many restrictions for party games, though. Games like The Great Dalmuti require a prohibitive number of people. Most games require at least four, but no more than six, players. Other games make it difficult to score when there are few players. Games like Apples to Apples can feel like little more than 50% chance is on the line.
That’s what made me excited about a Kickstarter for Original Spin: The ONLY Party Game for 2+ Players. The unique voting element allows smaller amounts of people to play, while allowing any number of individuals to jump in.
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The game begins with a question card, similar to Cards Against Humanity or Apples to Apples. The Questioner places the card on the table and spins it to determine which question to ask. Players choose an answer card, and pass it to the Questioner. The answers are shuffled, then revealed. When you have few players (3 or less), you simply add random cards to the pool, so there are a minimum of 4 cards to choose from. From there, players can choose a game mode and play to their needs.
The first option is for everyone to vote for their favorite cards. Each player has four tokens. Three of those tokens have a number on the “down” side. These let the voter choose between 1 and 3 points for the cards they like best. They place the decoy vote on their own card, so no card has zero votes. After everyone votes, the cards are revealed, and the highest scoring player advances their pawn on the track. The first player to 35 points wins. This game mode is for 4 or fewer players, as there aren’t tokens for larger groups.
The second option is more similar to Apples to Apples and CAH. After the answers are each revealed, the Questioner chooses their favorite answer, and the players keep the question card as a “point.” This is my favorite for larger groups, because there is no central board for everyone to crowd around.
Using the first method, as few as two players can play by awarding points to the random cards as well. Since each player cannot vote for their own, they must really impress the other player in order to win. Alternatively, there are co-op rules included in the game, which allow for 2-player play.
My favorite part about this game, though, is the cards. Each card has 4 questions or 4 answers. Cards are color-coordinated, though. The Questioner chooses a question from Blue, Grey, Orange, or Black. Answers must be of the same color. This adds a whole new level of strategy; players must choose their cards carefully, because they are not throwing away one answer when they “dump” a card. They are actually dumping four!
I cannot wait for this game to ship. It has already funded (yay!) so this game is really going to happen. I’m hoping this game gets around, because I’d love to see it played in lots of settings. I’m also hoping to put my hands on the three announced expansions. After Dark is the adults-only expansion, and Sci-fi and Retro Gaming are self-explanatory. These can be played as stand-alone, but are probably more effective when added to the overall game.
