I'm a big fan of Games Magazine, and often buy games recommended on the reviews found therein. The Games 100 is especially a favorite of mine. Party games are rarely reviewed elsewhere, so it's a good source for me to find excellent, little known party games. Moods, one of my favorite party games, was found this way, so I had high hopes for Phoney Baloney - the runner up for party game of the year. So is Phoney Baloney worth it? The short answer is that it's very educational, and extremely boring. And now for the longer answer… First, a short description of game play… A game board, long and thin, is laid in the middle of the table. Each player takes a playing piece (colored question marks) and puts them on the starting space of the track on the board. There is nothing special about the track, just different colored spaces on which pieces are moved to show point accumulation. Each player gets three cards, an "A", "B", and a "C". They also get a card that is split into half, one half saying "1st" Choice, and the other saying "2nd" Choice. A box of cards is then brought out, and one player is chosen to go first. Each player then takes turns clockwise until the game is over. On a player's turn, they take a card from the box, and read the "fascinating" (word in rules) fact, a question relating to that fact, and three possible answers, marked "A", "B", and "C". Two of the answers are wrong. Each player, including the reader (since the answers are on the reverse of the card) takes their cards, and places the one that they think is most wrong face-down on "1st" Choice. They then place the answer they think is also wrong (but are less certain about) on the "2nd" Choice. After everyone picks their answers, the cards are all flipped over, and the reader reads to everyone the correct answer. Each player then scores points. If a player's first choice is an incorrect answer, then they score one point. If their first choice is the correct answer, however, they get no points! If their second choice is incorrect, as well as their first choice - they score three points! If only one player picks the wrong answers, they get a bonus two points, for a total of five points. Each player moves their piece on the track according to how many points they score. The first player to get to the finish space is the winner! Some comments on the game: 1). Components: The box is bright, and very sturdy. All the components fit well inside the box, including the little boxes that store the cards. The question cards are easy to read. They are colored yellow on one side, and purple on the other - making it easy to remember which side you are using. The playing pieces are funny little colored question marks. The game comes with little eyes that stick onto each piece, making them funny little characters to move around the track. The board itself is nice, even thought it's nothing more than forty-five spaces to move on. All over the boxes and the boards are little words, talking about how great the game is. Components are bright and nice, but that's about it. 2). Fun Factor: This is why I don't like the game. The components are nice, and the game is full of educational facts, but it's just not fun! Here's why… The cards have a fact on them which is long, boring, and generally very little to do with the question. The questions are so easy, it's not a challenge to adults. Even if you don't know the answers, it's still fairly easy to determine which ones are wrong through the process of elimination. Guessing the wrong answers may sound like fun, but it just isn't. The game keeps going on, and on, and on, and on -- it takes forever for a person to win, even if they get all the answers right. We sat there, thinking that the game would never end. - The game includes ways to have "extra fun", like putting cards in your kids' lunchboxes (Thanks mom!) or put out cards at parties (Hope those parties don't get too out of hand!). The designers were apparently under the illusion that people are hard up for fun in their lives. 3). Internet: I will give the producing company, Thing-O, a lot of credit for putting up a nice site - www.thing-o.com . Each card in the game has a number in the bottom right corner. When going to the website, you can input that number to find out even more facts about that card. 4). Educational: This game has incredible amounts of education in the box. This game might work in a school setting. However, it is my firm belief that in order for a game to be truly educational, it must be fun. Games are meant to be fun - and Phoney Baloney doesn't fit they bill. Yeah, I can learn lots of facts about broken cultures and electric cards - but are they fun or useful - no! 5). Time: As I said before, the game is not quick, but rather slow. It is quick to teach, however, and even quicker to put back in the box and back onto the shelf. I must sadly say, that while I like most games, and can find redeeming qualities in them, I cannot find any in Phoney Baloney. It's possible that some might claim that it's educational, and it is. But an educational game that is not fun is worthless. I don't write many negative reviews, but I must urge my readers to pass this game up. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 9 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com