The game of What's It To Ya? (Black & White, 2003 - Mike Petty) is one of those games that makes me scratch my head and think "Why hasn't anyone made a game with this idea before?" I've played a very similar game on message boards on the internet before and enjoyed them quite a bit. So this card game was understandably intriguing to me. Is it worth it? The answer is a simple yes. A very inexpensive, fun romp for three to six players can be found in this small box. It was a game that was instantly picked up by those in my gaming group and was the highlight of the night the time I first brought it out. It is an excellent party game and will fit many groups' playing style. And how does it play? Each player is given five cards that are labeled "A" through "E". One set of these letters is placed in a row on the table in order. Another deck of 126 white cards is shuffled and placed in the middle of the table. There are two ways to play the game - the Partner game, and the "Match the Most" Game. In both games, initial game play is the same, except that the players are separated into pairs of two before the game begins. Five cards are drawn from the deck Each card has a different word on it (i.e. "sight", "tradition", "sleep", “responsibi-lity", "indoor plumbing".) Each word is placed adjacent to one of the five letters in the middle of the table. The players then look at the cards, and try to determine which is the most important, second most important, etc. They put the cards in their hand facedown on the table to match their ranking of the cards in order of importance. For example, if I thought that "responsibility" was the most important, I would put the matching card (in this case "D") down first on the table. Once every player is finished, the cards are revealed. Each player turns over their "most important" card, "second most important", etc. In the partner game, whenever the partners have the same letter, they push it forward slightly to signify that fact. In the Match the Most game, every player who played the letter that was played the most pushes their letter forward (ties are good for everyone involved). After all five letters have been turned over, scoring commences. In the partner game, whichever partnership matches the most letters gets a point. If they matched all five letters, they get a bonus point. In the Match the Most game, whichever player has the most letters pushed forward gets a point. In both games, ties get a point for all involved. Before the game starts, players can determine how many points they want to play to (or rounds). Once one player reaches this point total (or the final round ends), the player with the most points is the winner. In case of ties, the game is prolonged until only one player wins. Some comments on the game: 1.) Components: The components of the game are extremely cheap. Don't expect too much here. But the price tag is only $4.50, which makes the game a great bargain to buy. The cards are a bit thin, but if that bothers you too much, you could always laminate them, as I'm going to do with my letter cards. They come in a small baseball card box, which fits easily into a pocket or on a shelf. 2.) Rules: The rules are very clear, explaining both games in great detail. They're printed on a small folded sheet, both sides. The rules do include some interesting variations, like giving players hands of cards, which they can place on the table, etc. One "variation", where one of the partners is "in charge" - and the other player tries to match him is very useful, and I can't really see playing the partner game without it. 3.) Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth: (Also known as the stupidity of partners) You will find yourself berating your partner quite a bit. ("How can you say that food is more important than teeth! You need teeth to properly eat food!" "No you don't, you can eat Jello, etc.") You can be quite vicious with one another in this game. Many times the thing you consider the most important is not considered important at all by any other players. I haven't seen yelling at partners like this since Time's Up! 4.) Strategy: There is some good strategy in the game, however. You'll find yourself trying to read your partner's mind, guessing what they think is the most important. Of course, this involves you knowing that person rather well. With strangers, I would much more recommend the "Match the Most" game. 5.) Fun Factor: This game is a whole bushel of fun. It's fairly short, and everyone enjoys it - even the yelling at people as letters are revealed. It's great fun to match the most people with your answers, and it's also fun to see whose answers are the most unique. This game gives those who play it quite a bit of pleasure. So I highly recommend this game. It's short, cheap, and fun. And when it comes to the gaming world, it's hard to give a better recommendation than that. I have many games with glorious components, fantastic rules, and grandiose strategies. But I find that most people like the games that are short and simple, and "What's It To Ya?" is one of those games. 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