All of us, at one point in our lives, have told a lie. I’m also willing to bet that the first lie you told was directed at some form of authority figure or parent. I, of course, never did that as a child. I was the good son twenty-four/seven and never got into trouble. Don’t ask me what the color of the sky is in my world…the jury is still out on that one. At any rate, as a father myself, there’s sense in denying it…kids will lie just to test your limits and to see how far they can push until you push back, figuratively speaking. “Lie Your Face Off!” is a variation of that theme, placing players in the role of kids who must lie to their parents in order to earn points. Before we get started with the preview, I’d like to thank John Bintz (the game’s creator) for sending me a press copy. As with all prototypes, it’s important to stress that they usually aren’t representative of the final product making the below content subject to change.
Lie Your Face Off!: 2-4 Players, Ages 13+, Average Play Time = 30-45 Minutes
“Lie Your Face Off!” comes with seventy-nine lie cards (valued three through twenty-one) and twenty-nine embellishment cards. Lie cards, to sum them up, will be played to develop the bogus stories in which players will be trying to score. Each lie card has a value in the upper left hand corner of the card, which represents how many points it may earn the player at the end of the game. It also plays a part in story growth and card placement, as lies must be played in ascending order (like in “Lost Cities”) or at least, the value of the old lie must be lower than that of the one placed on top of it. Lie cards may also contain a special action for players to follow as they are played onto these stories. Embellishment cards, on the other hand, allow players to remove lie cards from the table, whether it be another player’s or their own. The downside is that they will cost you points at the end of the game.
Your main objective in this game will be to form high-valued stories in the form of lies. When a particular player manages to place five lies on any one particular story, it is scored and placed off to the side at the beginning of their next turn. The game ends when one player manages to bank two stories (three in a two player game) in this way. At that point, each player will flip over the completed stories they’ve score and look at the value of the top most lie in each one. After adding the values of the top most lies, they’ll add a point for each additional lie in all of their stories (complete or incomplete) and subtract a point for each embellishment in all of their stories (complete or incomplete). The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!
High valued lies can put you over the top, but watch out for those embellishment cards!
Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that. The prototype manual is about twelve pages long, so there’s plenty of extra content for players to wrap their heads around. For example, lies must be played on stories in such a way to where the values are higher than the card previous. Some cards allow for special actions (drawing extra cards, placing extra cards, etc.) while others allow you to play offensively against others. Since embellishment cards count against you in the end, you’ll have to decide when they’ll be worth playing throughout the course of the game. There’s a lot of depth here for such a simple card game. I admit I was overwhelmed at first, but quickly warmed up to the process of making stories as I played my first game.
All in all, “Lie Your Face Off!” is a quick and clever little card game that is well worth a look. I can’t speak for the final product, but the art in my press copy was light, full of humor, and family-friendly. A press-your-luck theme is also present, as embellishment cards usually target the person with the highest valued lie showing. It’s worth noting that there is a special mini-expansion available only to Kickstarter backers called “Your Go-To Lies”, which essentially gives players access to more powerful lies but usually at some sort of cost. While a lot of us may not have fond memories of being caught lying to our parents, I can safely vouch that this was the most fun I’ve had “lying” to my kids in quite a while.
—
As of 10/24/13, the game is currently in the process of being funded through Kickstarter. You can learn more about and support “Lie Your Face Off!” by visiting the following websites:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnbintz/lie-your-face-off-the-press-your-luck-card-game