Hey folks, I’m back with another game. This time we’re artists. We’re going up against other artists, and we’re all voting for what we think the art means. Some are straight forward, some are more deep in meaning. . . and most of it will include stick figures. Today, we’re looking at Really Bad Art. It’s made by Wonder Forge, and I couldn’t find a designer listed. You want to be the first player to reach the Finish space. This is a party game for 3-6 players. In my thoughts portion of the review, I explain a variant for 6-12 players.
The game comes with a game board, 250 Drawing Cards, 42 guessing tokens, 6 pencils, 6 player markers, 1 game board, 1 drawing pad, an electric timer, and the instructions.
To set up, open the game board and place it out. Give each player a color token and matching guessing tokens. You might notice that there are up to six players, but there’s 7 guessing tokens. This is done on purpose, don’t worry. I’ll go over that in the game play portion. Next, grab the deck of drawing cards. Give each player a writing utensil and piece of paper. Grab the timer and place it near the board. That’s it for the set up.
Each card has two phrases or words on it. Orange and purple. I think purple is the easier side, but it might just depend on what word or phrases you have. Here’s some examples of cards. Fear of Heights/Common Sense. Quick Fix/Entertainment Value. Power Outage/Beyond All Hope. These are just some examples of what players might be drawing.
For the game play, the “dealer” will deal one card face down to every player. Do not look at this card. I know you want to look at it, but don’t. Fight that urge to peak. The “dealer” will then pick a color that everyone has to draw. This is very important. Make sure everyone is ready before you hit the timer and start the round. Once everyone is ready, I usually check two times, you hit the button. It will beep three times followed by a ding sound. Do not look at your card until after the ding sound. Now, you have exactly 6 seconds to read your card and draw something to represent it. You heard that right, 6 seconds. This is where the name comes from. I don’t care if you’re Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Salvado Dali. Everyone is going to end up with drawing that looks like a Pablo Picasso rendition from a 2 year old. In other words, it’s really bad art. After the 6 seconds, the “dealer” will collect all the cards face down, draw a new decoy card from the deck, shuffle them, and starting with A place the color drawn in that slot. Do this for all the cards shuffled.
Ok, so it’s your turn to experience the pressure of reading and drawing in 6 seconds. Grab a writing utensil and scrap piece of paper. When you’re ready, hit the play button. You start hen you can read the word, and stop when the music stops. I’ll have a picture of what I could get out in that time followed in the scoring section.
Now players vote for what picture they think belongs to what drawing. They’ll place the corresponding letter token face down on that drawing. One guess per drawing and you don’t get points for your own drawing. Once all players are done guessing, it’s time to reveal. Starting with A, ask players what drawing goes to the phrase in A. Each player that guessed correctly, moves two spots up. Then, the player that drew that phrase moves 1 spot for every player that guessed correctly. Go through all the drawings for each player. Collect all the cards in a discard pile, move the “dealer” to the next player, and go to the next round. Go until a player reaches the finish or passes it at the end of a round. If you’re three spaces away, and move 6 spaces total for the round, use the spaces to get to the finish then loop around to start. The player that gets the farthest is the winner. That’s the game.
It’s an easy game to teach and play. So, what do I think? It’s a fun party game. You don’t need to have had an intro to art class to be good at this game. Eventually, everyone will be doodling stick figures and squiggles. The components aren’t anything special. It’s the typical game board thickness and card thickness. The art on these components aren’t fantastic or special. It doesn’t have to be. Where this game shines is the art everyone is making. It is great seeing how people can make a doodle, because in 6 seconds that’s what it is, connect to their word. Or, alternatively, how far from the word a drawing may be. You mention a drawing game and that might turn some people off. This game does a good job of getting everyone on the same drawing level. It’s a fast game to play, and great game for parties. We once had more than 6 players and wanted to play this, so we broke off into teams. For that variant, both team members would draw the phrase. Before putting the drawing out, the team selected the one they thought was best. We did this with a couples game night, and it was a nice way to increase player count. It was great seeing how you and your partner think. Several times my wife and I drew similar drawings. I highly recommend this game as a party and drawing game. You’re guaranteed to get laughs out of this box. My favorite is when you’re thinking too hard on what to draw, and end up with a single line.
Everyone and their Grandmother Games 