It is the last week in my second quarter of accelerated french, and I have become surprised and proud of how much I have learned and the ability to string together a simple sentence. However, today’s class is different the professor has brought in a familiar purple game, taboo, and sweat starts to drop down my forehead because as confident I have gotten in my third language I am unsure if it is enough to play Taboo in it.
Taboo is a game in which players try to get points by going through as many cards within a minute. One person goes up and their team attempts to get them to say the word on the card. There are certain similar words/clues that are taboo. The group is separated into two teams and the team that gets the most points wins. It is a fun game, and interestingly enough I have always played it in foreign language classes. which added an interesting challenge to the game. I think this game is incredibly fun and gets your mind to work in interesting ways.
This game depends on the dynamics of fellowship and the challenge to function to create a social and high-engagement game. It promises the player fun in the form of challenges and timed responses that are rewarding if and when win. The fun is reinforced through the graphic design for the box and card packaging the mysterious purple box and the use of the smirking mascot. I think this game is the best in the genre, of the fact that they sell themed decks and it is available in different languages. The words are generally easy enough so that a native speaker child or someone who is learning a language and is intermediate can easily learn. It is different from charades or catchphrases because the cards have one taboo word that the team has to guess by not saying any of the other approximate words. I guess the thing that makes taboo old is the words you can’t say remain consistent through different iterations of the game, so if you played it enough times you know which words a taboo and which would hint at the word immediately. Since taboo is an established game I do not think they are continuing to improve in response to criticism. All this being said Taboo is fun, it is the game you pull out parties where people don’t need to know each other to have a good time.
