Bearing the slogan, "The unpredictible party game that gives random a new name," this unusual game for families and friends challenges players to escape from the off-beat land of Quelf. But it's not easy. As characters move down a topsy-turvy, colorful brick road surrounded by pink blimps and peculiar creatures, they must answer bizarre questions and meet peculiar demands in order to advance. One player may be asked, "How many fingers and toes combined do four one-legged weathermen and three blind, armless, retired submarine commanders have?" Another may be told, "For the remainder of the game, every sentence that you speak must end with the words: 'Hear me, for I have spoken.' If you forget, pay the penalty." The game has 550 cards, eight game pieces, a game board, two pencils and a pad of paper, one die and one timer, as well as a giant invisible harpoon.

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February Peeks (2/1/2006)

TDmonthly Review:

What Is It?
Bearing the slogan, "Random has a new name," this unusual family, friend and party game challenges players to escape from the unusual land of Quelf. But it´s not easy. As characters move down a topsy-turvy, colorful brick road surrounded by pink blimps and peculiar creatures, players must answer bizarre questions and meet peculiar demands in order to advance. For instance, "How many fingers and toes combined do four one-legged weathermen and three blind, armless, retired submarine commanders have?" one player may be asked. Another may be told, "For the remainder of the game, every sentence that you speak must end with the words: ´Hear me, for I have spoken.´ If you forget, pay the penalty." The game has 720 cards, 8 game pieces, a game board, 2 pencils and a pad of paper, 1 dice and 1 timer as well as 1 giant invisible harpoon.

What We Thought
The game includes five differently colored stacks of cards that each stand for a different kind of activity. Our favorite was the red stack, that involved players going around the circle trying to remember a different boy band that hadn’t been said yet or a one syllable word that starts with the letter W. Less enjoyable cards were the yellow ones, or stunt cards, which demanded players do something silly like “pretend you’re a mute prison guard with your legs glued together” or “do the hula dance while singing a hula song.” Sounds funny, but is probably more of a howl for kids age 8 and under. Still, the other cards fell somewhere in between silly and intellectual and proved entertaining for all.

Why They’ll Want It