Sound Box, Cooperative Party Family Game, Perform Weird and Wacky Sounds, 4 to 7 Players, 30 to 45 Minute Play Time,for Ages 8 and Up

This has a nice, 2 part box, as most games do. Inside, there is a plastic form designed to hold all the items of the game neatly in their own compartments! There are 20 number tokens, a bag to hold the tokens in, 110 double sided sound cards (1 side of each card has a star on it which denotes sounds or concepts that are geared more for kids - things that they would recognize or understand), 4 marker tokens, 2 pairs of block-out "glasses" (these act as blindfolds), a gameboard, a sand timer, & instructions.The general premise of the game is simple: You lay out your soundcards on the gameboard next to a number, the guesser puts on their "glasses" , the other players draw a numbered token from the bag - find the soundcard next to their number & then quickly figure out what sound(s) they are going to make to convey what is on the soundcard, once all the players are ready the timer is turned over & everyone starts making their sound(s) at the same time! Chaotic fun ensues! When the sand in the timer runs out, everyone goes quiet, the guesser removes their "glasses" & has to guess what soundcards were in play for that round.The actual gameplay from there gets a little more complicated, & is different depending on if you have 4-5 players or 6-7 players. Since we only ever had 4 people playing at one time, we only looked at the rules for 4-5 players. We still don't know what to do with the triangle shaped 'double sound markers' or the 'recorder glasses' & we're not sure if we quite figured out how we're supposed to be using the board to score/determine a winner. But we had a terrific time none-the-less.We ended up putting all the tokens in the bag, placing soundcards next to all the numbers on the board, & for each round we would give all the correctly guessed soundcards to the guesser, replace the empty spaces & start another round until there were only 4 soundcards left on the board. At that time we all counted up our cards & declared the winner to be whoever had the most cards. While this is not how it is designed to be played, we all had a ball! We also switched it up a bit (added a bit of difficulty) when it was just adults, adding the element that we also had to guess WHO had which soundcard. (Jim was a 'cowboy', Mary was at 'school', Harry was 'bungee jumping', or Amy was 'exhausted')Some of the sound cards are similar - we had 'waking up' & 'exhausted' in the same round, with both players doing a lot of yawning, & another time we had 'drummer' & 'bad music band' in the same round as well. In addition, the sounds some players decide to make can be very confusing, such as the youngest player in our game deciding to make wind noises for 'camping' because his favorite part of camping is sitting out by the water & listening to the wind while watching the wildlife. He did this in a round that also had the 'wind' soundcard. lol So even if you think the sounds are straightforward, the players can still throw the guesser for a loop & trying to keep all the sounds straight since they're happening at the same time can be quite the challenge.I did take a star off for how confusing the directions are (scoring), but please, don't let that stop you from getting this super enjoyable family & friends game. If nothing else, you can score things the way we did & still have a great time! The soundcards/all sounds at once/guessing aspect of this game is a SOLID 5 STARS alone!

This game is unlike any that our family (2 adults, 2 high schoolers) had played before, so even after reading the instructions, it seemed a little confusing. After we just dove in and played a round, we realized how fun and simple it is!It is a cooperative game, so everyone is working together, which makes you want to take turns in making sounds that need to be guessed by the person wearing the blindfold. However, there is a very short timer which means you really can't go one a time and it can get a little crazy, but it's all in good fun because everyone is on the same team.There are cards marked with a star to designate them as family friendly, so if you want to play with younger kids then you can only use those. While we did not go through all of the cards, we didn't see anything that was really controversial or necessarily adult themed, but that of course will vary depending on the maturity level of the group.Pros:- Unique! This game is something new without having to be incredibly complicated and hard for someone to pick up quickly.- Quality. Everything about the construction is well made. Remember when board games all came in boxes, with boards and accessories, that were sturdy, durable, and well made? There's a high-quality plastic insert in the box with room and special molded compartments for storing everything. There is room for 2-3x as many cards as it comes with, so maybe there is an expansion pack planned or available?- My family prefers tangible game items, so we like the sand timer (did I mention the high-quality construction of the accessories yet?), but the publisher also has web-based apps that you can use in place of the normal timer or you can make the game more exciting by using "Advanced" timers that have a few different crazy qualities.- Easy to learn. This game is such a different idea that it might seem confusing, but once you learn it, it will take a minute or less to teach it to someone new.Cons:- Why is there so much extra space for tokens and cards in the designated places? The well-made packaging keeps everything in its place without having to use baggies and whatnot, but my OCD wants to know.- Umm... noisy? This really isn't a con, but be aware (if it weren't obvious from the title) that this game can't be played quietly. Probably not the game that you want to ask the 10-year-olds play quietly in the corner while you have conversations in the same room. Yelling is not at all required, but I can see the volume getting out of hand quickly. :)

This game just seems too simple. Personally, this was just not much fun. It seemed to be lacking in creativity.

This game is a blast (literally loud) to play! The game is a cooperative party game as everyone tries to get the blindfolded guesser to guess what sound they’re making. It can get quite loud as everyone wants the guesser to hear and recognize their sound in a pretty short amount of time. If there are 6 or more players, you add a recorder role, which is quite funny as they have to make all the sounds they heard solo as the guesser tries to remember what sounds they heard.The game moves rather quickly, especially in larger groups, as you either score points and win or get penalties and lose. There is really no in-between. Most games are short, and each person usually only gets one or two turns as the guesser. I could not come up with my own house rules to extend play without breaking the game or just completely omitting the scoring track.The game is limited by the creativity and shyness of the players though. If there are quiet players, they will likely be drowned out by others, which can make the game more difficult. Also, on paper, the sound cards are quite broad and diverse, but the sounds that you would make from them are very similar. For example, the sound for “bathroom” could be very similar to “sewers”, which could be very similar to “waterfall”. It really challenges players to be creative to make sounds that are distinct and unique. The rules are pretty loose which can affect the integrity and overall enjoyment of the game. For example, if the card says “Fighting a dragon”, it’s up to you to decide if someone can say “AH! A dragon!” or “Slash!” or “Roar!”. Even if you only allowed onomatopeia, what counts as onomatopeia is somewhat arbitrary.