A Question of Scruples

Game Review

reviewed by Derrick Bang


Maruca Industries, Inc. ,
One Market Street, Passaic, NJ 07055
Released: 1985
Price: $16.00
Complexity: Beginner to Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None
****

"Your son has missed the age deadline for kindergarten by two weeks. You feel the child is ready Do you misrepresent his age?"

Life is full of niggling little decisions. They require additional thought because of conflicts with social, religious, or moral order. If a gracious neighbor rewards your help on the new back patio with a hundred bucks in cash, you probably won't report that income to the IRS. If a valued friend invites you for a home-cooked meal which curdles your socks, you'll pretend great enjoyment rather than offend your host. If you accidentally drive through a stop sign in a deserted neighborhood, you certainly wouldn't turn yourself in to the nearest police officer (although, if you did, he'd probably lock you up for insanity).

In other words, we all cross different lines with individual style, make judgment calls and bend rules with a self-justification that makes each of us unique. Although many such choices are completely harmless, we tend not to broadcast them; one person's easily - dismissed little white lie might be the next person's religious cause.

What we flex are known as scruples, which have lent their name to an intriguing new game.

A Question of Scruples, developed by Canada's Henry Makow (why do Canadians have such a lock on good games these days?), challenges participants to anticipate how other players will react when faced with a variety of mental stumpers.

"Friends have let you into a long movie line, prompting a growl from somebody behind. A friend of yours comes by and wants in. Do you let him in?"

The game can be played by any number of people. The yellow question cards and orange answer cards are mixed (separately), and each participant receives five of the former and one of the latter. The question cards contain hypothetical situations such as those sprinkled throughout this review; the answer cards read either "yes," "no," or "depends."

The object of the game is to get rid of all your question cards. This is accomplished by correctly anticipating the response an opponent will give to one of the questions held in your hand. Play proceeds clockwise. On your turn, select any opponent who, when faced with a particular question, will (you hope) provide an answer which matches that on your orange card. If you achieve a match, your yellow card is discarded and play continues to the next person. If the opponent's answer comes as an unexpected surprise, you still surrender the question but must draw another card from the pile; your hand, therefore, gets no smaller.

Regardless of the outcome, you discard the orange answer card and select a new one after each turn.

Suppose, for example, you select Judy to respond to this question:

"A bitter divorce has left you with custody of your young children. Do you make a conscious effort to portray your ex-spouse to your kids without prejudice?"

Without hesitation, Judy replies with a resounding "Yes." Your orange card, however, reads "no;" you had expected the usually-vindictive Judy to respond differently. You discard both the yellow and orange card, take new ones, and play moves to the next person.

"Yes" and "no" answers are made without qualification, but a "depends" must be defended. The responder has a quick 20 seconds to explain why such a situation requires additional information. The group then decides, by majority vote, whether the reasons are valid. If so, the answer stands. If not, or if too much time is taken, the responder is penalized by having to draw another yellow card.

Several of the yellow cards read "Invent a question of scruples." This forces the questioner to invent a situation. Care should be taken to phrase the question similarly to those on the other cards, else it might be pretty obvious which answer is sought.

"You are waiting at a red light at 4:00 a.m. There isn't a car in sight. Do you go through the red light?"

Which brings us to the games most important ingredient: honesty. Sufficient interest--and discussion--will be generated by genuine answers, it shouldn't be necessary to lie. All the situations are pretty safe, which is to say that it's unlikely anybody will be offended. If anything, the game tries too hard not to be controversial. Some sharper questions might have been interesting.

A Question of Scruples is not without its minor drawbacks. People who know each other very well (husbands and wives, parents and children) may concentrate their questions on those whose answers are better anticipated. The rules do not insist that players divide their questions evenly.

More critically, the game comes with only 250 question cards. A group of four or five people easily can use half of those in a single evening, and the game loses its charm when the answers are known in advance. More questions are, I'm told, on the way. Also, if you send in a question and its used in a future edition, you'll receive a free copy of the game.

One rule variation attempts to compensate for too much familiarity with the questions. A bluff factor allows a player to answer completely counter to his actual inclination. This answer may be challenged, in which case both questioner and responder attack or defend the answer. Everybody then votes to determine the winner of the argument, the victor surrenders a yellow card to the loser.

"The people who discover your beloved cat injured in a ditch pay $150 for veterinary care and adopt it. You discover what happened three months later. Do you let them keep the cat?"

Those who enjoy The Ungame probably will love A Question of Scruples. I actually prefer it to The Ungame; the play is less contrived and provides more fun for everybody at the same time. It will, however, require... er... scrupulous updating.

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© Copyright 1986 by Dana Lombardy.
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