“Apples to Apples” set something of a trend. I’ve seen hundreds of variations of this card game out on the market ever since its release. Who could blame these developers? Apples to Apples is not only highly popular but a fun social experience to boot. Now, I can’t possibly cover them all because science. That being said, I do take on those that either seem unique or make me laugh really, really hard. That’s why I agreed to look at “Top Tale”, a game coming to Kickstarter in mid-July. Since the game has not released yet it’s worth noting that my copy may not be representative of the finished product. I’m also required by FTC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, but any and all opinions are my own.
For those of you who have never played “Apples to Apples”, players take turns being a judge and accepting cards from other players, shuffling them to keep the cards’ owners hidden. The judge then chooses their favorite card. “Top Tale” is similar, but here all players vote on their favorite answers every single turn. I personally like this approach as it keeps everyone engaged like they have a say in the winner every singe turn. The judge in “Apples To Apples” is the only one who gets a say in the winner from round to round.
So how does “Top Tale” work? Firstly, the box lists that this game is for 4-10 players and ages 14+. The average play time is listed as 30+ minutes, though it’s variable depending on the limits you set. To start, any player will shuffle the deck of 100 topic cards. The person who most recently had a birthday goes first. The active player draws a card and reads it aloud. These questions range from “First run-in with the law” through but not limited to “Household chore you hate to do”. Starting with the active player who drew the card and going clockwise, each player supplies an answer. Players then vote on their favorite answer (they cannot vote for themselves). The winner received the card as a point tracker and the person clockwise from the active player becomes the new active player.
This continues until all of the cards get used or players reach the predetermined endgame requirement. You could opt, for example, to end the game once 25 cards are drawn/scored or when one player reaches 5 points/cards. Again, play time will vary depending on what players decide to do. Speaking of optional/variable rules, players can opt to include a timer to prevent rounds from playing out for too long. The rulebook directs folks to YubNubGames.com in the event that they wish to contribute their own personal variants to the forums.
“Top Tale” isn’t exactly using fresh and new mechanics, but I do want to give it credit for trying to address social awkwardness. These questions are designed to get people to talk about themselves, whether it be a highly personal or humorous experience. Some cards might make people too uncomfortable to answer depending on one’s shyness…luckily players can pass any round they choose. I highly suspect players will opt for the humorous answers more so than the serious ones, but I can see the latter being used in certain situations. Certain cards might be appropriate in a therapist’s office, for example.
Along those lines, the 4-10 player requirement on the box can be broken in some cases, but I really do feel that this game benefits with more players as opposed to fewer. The box lists the MSRP as $19.99, which isn’t bad for 100 cards. There are also 8 blank cards available for you to create your own topics, but I wouldn’t have minded more topics. As it stands there is one topic per card with a semi-humorous anecdote or note underneath. I would have eliminated the latter in favor of a second topic. The second topic wouldn’t be used that game, but could be used as an alternative in the next in the event of repeats due to multiple plays. Perhaps the Kickstarter campaign will offer potential buyers more, as of today’s date and time it’s too early for me to tell.
Speaking of being too early to tell, I typically do not review prototype/demo copies. What I can tell you about “Top Tale” is that the card quality was pretty good. I’m not an expert on card materials, but these seemed to be extra slippery. They shuffled well and were easy to read. The card art is pretty much nonexistent, opting for a black/white look similar to that of “Cards Against Humanity”. As mentioned earlier, I believe there was more room to improve the functionality on the cards. The manual is simply a small booklet consisting of a couple of pages. Thus, getting acclimated with the game, even if not familiar with the genre, would theoretically take minutes.
If you enjoyed “Apples to Apples” and found “Cards Against Humanity” to be too risqué, I think you’ll find “Top Tale” to offer a satisfactory middle ground. The Kickstarter campaign, as of the date of this posting, is not yet live. You can instead find out more on the game’s official website.
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