Christmas Gift Ideas: Outsmart Game For the Family

Recently Olive Tree Genealogy was given a free game called OUTSMART to review.

My husband and I tried it out first and it was a lot of fun. Then we had friends over and the four of us played for several hours! Marketed as a children's game, it definitely appeals to adults too.

Basically you have cards (there are hundreds of them in the game) with questions. We had such questions as "Who are the main characters in Peter Pan?" and "Name the  characters, other than the four main ones, on Seinfield" and "What were the largest grossing movies in 2010" and "What actors have played Batman?" The questions are on varied topics - there were several sports questions and other topics besides sports, movies and t.v. shows.

One question that had us all chuckling was "What are the top 10 New Year's Resolutions" Oh, and a rather easy-sounding one that turned out to be a challenge, was "What are the most-ordered dishes in a Chinese Food Restaurant"

Each question card notes how many correct answers there are.  One player each turn is the reader and that player takes a question card and inserts it into a sleeve. The sleeve reveals only the top half of the card so that only the question is displayed.

A roll of the dice indicates the maxium number of points (correct answers) each player can score.

An hourglass shaped timer starts the round and each player writes down as many answers as they can think of. When time is up, the first player reads one of his/her answers. Anyone else having that same answer crosses it off and cannot score for it if it is one of the correct answers.

Players continue in turn with their answers. Only the first player to say an answer scores IF that answer is correct.

When all players are done giving their responses to the question, the player who read the question takes it out of its sleeve and reads off the correct answers at the bottom of the card.

We surprised ourselves by doing a lot of laughing and slapping of foreheads as correct answers were read. Our ages ranged from 40 to 68 and we loved it!

I am excited to have our grandchildren play this game with us. It's going to be a lot of fun and a good bonding time. So even though this game isn't genealogy-themed I think it's a great one to give as a Christmas gift to your grandchildren or children. We are going to keep ours here for the grandkids to play with us when they visit.






Remember - any bonding fun family time with your children or grandchildren is an opportunity that we genealogists shouldn't ignore. A night of fun playing a game can lead to talk about ancestors or family or family treasures, and that's always a good thing too.

Manufacturer suggests that OutSmart is for ages 8 and up. You can find the game  at  www.outsmartgame.ca   The OutSmart game is  available at Toys R Us in Canada Ltd. and  other distributors for only $19.99 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this game in exchange for trying it out and writing a review. I was not told what to say and was not paid any money. My opinion is entirely my own.