WHAT’S MISSING?… FROM MY DRAWING
Designer: Florian Siriex | Publisher: Ludonaute
If you’ve ever played Jackbox, you’ll be surprised to hear that this game emulates all of the good stuff about their quirky little party games, but instead in an analogue format, saving you from even turning on the TV.
The premise of the game is simple. You’re given an object by your card deck. You conceal the card from your players, pop the card under the transparent page, and draw a scene around it, omitting the object itself, but in such a way that hopefully your fellow players will be able to figure out what is missing. For example, if you were to pull the umbrella card, you’d maybe draw the rain, leaving out a missing part for where the umbrella would be, and with a person stood dry and avoiding the rain underneath.
Everyone draws at the same time, and then attempts to guess the other drawings. If they succeed, they get the card (which equates to a point). If no one can guess the missing part, you lose the cards you gained and the card is discarded. It’s an easy way to stop those drawing poorly intentionally, and an amusing occurrence when you explain that – of course – the missing object was a zombie. Why else would there be a half-eaten brain? No, it wasn’t jelly.
As everyone plays at the same time, there’s no dreaded downtime, and it comes with three different difficulty levels in the cards, which means the family can play at a level engaging to them. There’s real variety in these – you could pick from an alarm clock to a panpipe, a swimming pool to a three headed dog, so the challenge really is on. Plus, the boards are dry wipe, which means you can just shuffle the cards and play again and again.
It’s surprising how fun a simple premise can be, and has quickly become the most requested at our family game nights.
CHARLIE PETTIT