Taboo is a word-guessing game originally developed and published by Parker Brothers in 1989, later on being acquired by Hasbro. Taboo is originally designed in an in-person, card game and party game format, appealing to bigger groups of players (between 4 and 10 people) such as friend groups and families. Yet, in the last decade Taboo, like many others, has been digitalized, with online versions enabling flexibility in terms of the location, timing and even language of the players, appealing to both the international audience and to younger audiences, bringing together friends and families online through the fun and thrill of game play. Taboo achieves balance in the game through the limitation of communication, offering simple yet creative alternatives through its use of the fellowship and challenges aesthetic, as we as formal elements such as rules, conflicts, players, and resources.
Taboo’s design relies heavily on the fellowship and challenge aesthetics to establish camaraderie within teams and competition across, pushing the members of the team closer. The essence of the game relies heavily on how well the members understand each other, almost mimicking a real-life relationship, where communication, even if not direct, is the key to succeeding. Therefore, the game is able to balance collaboration with competition, and the game’s golden circle of fantasy with real-life implications and lessons, making this into not just a party game, but also a social game. Moreover, the strict rules that dictate what player can and cannot say and which cards they should draw and what time they should have make it so that the game is structured even when played amongst big groups, eliminating any potential personal conflicts that might arise between the players due to unclarity or suspicions of cheating, etc. While players play both with and against each other, the rules of having to draw equal amounts of cards, and the equal luck shared by each player of getting certain punishments and boosts in the game creates a balanced atmosphere that treats all players equally. It also establishes balance between the game’s reliance on the players and their creativity as a resource to make the game fun and engaging, and reliance on the cards and physical resources to keep the game going.
Therefore, Taboo is overall balanced regarding its fellowship and challenge aesthetics, providing an equally competitive and collaborative play experience to players. Similar balance is also provided by the formal elements of rules, conflicts, players and resources, where for each choice, the game limits the communication in a way that treats players equally and fairly and relies equally on the players and the game design elements.
