What is the difference between balderdash and absolute balderdash

Reverse — In Reverse Balderdash players may use either side of the card. For example, the player may read out the movie synopsis and ask the players to suggest a title. Or he may read out the definition of the word and ask players to come up with a word for the definition.

Obviously this variant only works in certain circumstances, for example, people, dates and initials are not as funny when reversed.

All Play — In lower player count games I highly recommend that the reader also writes an answer and includes it along with all the submitted answers, this prevents the tactical voting that can occur in the lower player count games. Although, I would suggest this variant at all times because the more answers the better in a game of Balderdash. Balderdash is a blast when played with creative people who are capable of coming up with witty definitions on the spot.

I have seen exceptionally shy people really come out of their shells when playing this game. It is the kind of game that really brings out elements of peoples personalities that you never knew were there.

The more you play the game the easier it becomes to get tactical with it. As you learn the way the real answers are structured you can begin to emulate them, which makes your answers more likely to be chosen by the other players. They each write down a made-up, but believable answer and hand it to the person who read the question. This person then reads out the REAL answer and all the made-up answers, in random order.

The others must guess which is actually correct. You score moves on the board for each player who is conned into believing that your made-up answer is the real one, as well as for choosing the real and often unbelievable answer. It sounds simple… and it is! In its day, Absolute Balderdash was mightily popular with those who like to create a bit of a hectic, party atmosphere around board game nights.

Each player requires a pen or pencil and a Bluffing Sheet from the pad in the box. Each player writes their name at the top of their Bluffing Sheet. Lay out the board and assemble the spinner through the hole in the centre.

Select the first person to read a card entry known as The Dasher by common consent. For the very first turn of the game the Dasher takes the first question card from the card box and chooses one of the five categories on the dark green question side. He states which category he has chosen and reads the relevant question to the other players who then write it on their Bluffing Sheet.

Make sure no-one can read the answer on the back of the card. However I am told that any copy of "Balderdash" without the "Absolute" that was printed from onwards by Mattel should be exactly the same in content as "Absolute Balderdash" - but I can't say for sure as I've only played the Ventura Games Edition. Should have at least 5 people. You don't really need to buy the game if you have a good informational resource - you'll need to come up with your own dates, words, people, initials and movies which could be annoying - essentially you're buying the convenience of having these categories already set up for you Availability : Mainstream and widely available online.

Also in game stores or department stores, given its notoriety and success. Andre Lim's Rating and Brief Summary :. I really enjoy playing this game with creative, humourous and easygoing people. The prospect of conning people into picking your answer is also particularly fascinating.

However, not everyone will enjoy this game - especially those who aren't feeling particularly creative or in the mood for fooling other people. Also, there are plenty of other opportunities to be cunning. There is something satisfying about coming up with answers that fool the other players while figuring out the correct answer for yourself.

While you could play Beyond Balderdash seriously, there will usually be at least one silly answer for each question. Sometimes the silliest answer is actually the correct answer. These silly answers generally illicit some laughs. You need to come up with something somewhat random though as rarely are the answers what you would expect. It is hard not to laugh at some of the completely random things that players can come up with. As far as skill versus luck, I would say that Beyond Balderdash tends to lean a little more towards skill.

There is a technique to writing good answers in the game. You need to come up with something pretty random as most of the actual answers come out of left field.

You also need to provide enough details as the correct answers are usually not vague. The correct answers are written in a certain way so if you can emulate the style it will be easier to trick the other players.

There is still some luck to the game though. You could come up with the perfect fake answer and even do a good job guessing the correct answer, and still not win the game.

To do well in the game you have to rely on other players choosing your answers. Some players are going to have an advantage in the game, but most players should have a chance of winning at the start of the game. While I really liked Beyond Balderdash, there are a couple things that I think the game could have improved.

In Beyond Balderdash the players take turns making their guesses starting with the player to the left of the dasher. As players reveal their guesses out loud, players will receive additional information before voting. Maybe if you are playing with a lot of players it might pay if you can trick three or more players.

I think this would solve a lot of the problems with the voting. As all of the players would be voting at the same time, there is no need to vote for your own answer. Instead you could vote for what you think is the actual right answer. Having all of the players vote at the same time also prevents any of the players getting more information than the other players.

I know I would never want to play Beyond Balderdash again without having all of the players vote at the same time. Just like the original Balderdash, I see no real point for the game board. The game board feels like an unnecessary component and mostly just adds more luck to the game.

Beyond Balderdash should have just used a score pad instead of the game board. The players would play a chosen number of rounds and the player who scored the most points would win the game. This would eliminate luck from the game board as each player would be the dasher the same number of times.

The winner would solely come down to who scored the most points. The final issue with Beyond Balderdash is that the game can go a little long at times. Unless one player dominates, I would guess most games will take at least 45 minutes and a lot of games would take longer than an hour to complete.