I’m a firm believer that everyone is good at something, regardless of sex, age, race, religious preference, and what have you. People can really surprise you, if you’re wise enough to do away with stereotypes and open your mind. Along those lines, “UNRIVALED”, a party game that supports 4-10 players / Ages 16+ with an average play time of 30-90 minutes, tasks players with reading the room in an attempt to figure out who is good at what. Before we began I am required by FTC Regulations to note that I was paid to sponsor/cover this game. That said, any and all opinions contained herein are my own.
The game includes a total of 248 cards which comprise of 62 activity challenges, 62 team trivia, 62 solo trivia, and 62 social challenge cards.
To start, all of the cards are shuffled together to form one large deck with the black border side of the cards facing up. The player to have most recently won a contest becomes the first player/referee, with turns going counter clockwise. On the referee’s turn, they’ll draw a card from the top of the deck and read the text on the black bordered side out loud WITHOUT looking at the reverse side. The referee will then identify which person or team could perform the challenge on the reverse side, again WITHOUT looking at the reverse side.
The referee will then turn over the card and read the question or challenge to the group. Everyone has thirty seconds to write down/prepare their own response. Once time has expired, everyone going clockwise of the referee will share their answers. Players can pass if they so choose. Once everyone but the referee has answered/gone, scoring occurs and the role of the referee passes counter clockwise.
Scoring: Players will discuss and hold a vote on subjective questions. The person/team earning the most votes receives a point. The player/team who answers an objective question correctly earns a point. If the referee was correct in their guess as to who would win the challenge, the referee earns two points. The first player to earn fifteen points wins the game.
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of party games out there, the best ones being the Klicken Sie hier, um diesen Link anzuzeigen games. It’s quite overwhelming to be honest…then again and in all fairness, anyone who’s tried to tackle the BoardGameGeek database would probably feel just as intimidated. That said, “UNRIVALED” is an interesting take on the social party game genre. It’s similar to “Who’s Got Game”, one of the first board games I ever reviewed for a developer back in 2012. “Who’s Got Game” is definitely more adult-themed and admittedly rather crude. I’d go as far as to say that “UNRIVALED” is a PG-13 version, which in my opinion makes it more appealing and suitable to a wider audience.
Speaking of age, the game’s box claims to support ages 16+. Some of the cards would support a slightly younger audience and could if you stack the deck accordingly. While possible however, I wouldn’t personally recommend it. Reading people is a life skill one learns (and appreciates) as they get older and as such, mature adults who slightly/somewhat know each other seem to be the targeted audience. I’m sure there are plenty of mature young/pre-teenagers out there who could handle this game…mileage will vary from child to child, of course.
Games like this are great ways to open up a conversation about almost anything (within reason). More often than not, a fact or story told from someone you know will completely surprise you or at the very least, make you scratch your beard/head a bit. With the high player count, there’s also a good chance that you won’t know everyone playing as well as the back of your hand, allowing you to learn things about someone that normally wouldn’t come up during a casual conversation. Playing with strangers is a bit more difficult as you’d be judging them on looks and behavior alone from the start, though things would admittedly get easier as you got to know them. In other words, it’s a fairly good ice-breaker game.
I wrote above that I’m a firm believer in all being equal, regardless of sex and etc. There is a card that rubs me the wrong way, but you may not care. One Activity Challenge card asks, “Who exhibits the strongest feminine energy?” with the challenge on the back being who can do the most girl push-ups. Firstly, I don’t know what feminine energy is, let alone how to do a girl push-up. No, really, I honestly didn’t know there was a boy push-up and a girl push-up. We had one kind of push-up in Gym class back in the 1980’s and everyone did it. With my medical issues currently being what they are, ANY healthy woman could run rings around me in the fitness department regardless of what kind of push-up is involved. I’m admittedly nitpicking, as I only saw the one card that really made me go “hummm.”
All in all, “UNRIVALED” wasn’t bad. The cards were finished with a laminated, smooth like effect. It’s difficult to recommend for small, anti-social families who stay inside their bubble, though. I’m one of those people to be honest…I don’t go to game nights and I don’t socialize outside of the holiday/family events. I simply don’t have the time or inclination. What games I do play are with my son or Aidalee and are thus 2-3 player appropriate. After a couple of playthroughs, the trivia cards that have a definitive answer can be memorized, so I recommend pulling those from the deck if necessary to eliminate the possibility of any unfair advantage (assuming someone in your group has played it enough times). The $20 price point is on par with similar games of this genre.
I found “UNRIVALED” to be slightly above average but it didn’t “wow” me in any particular way. It’s a typical “Apples to Apples”/take turns being a judge game with a heavy focus on social interaction and a healthy mix of physical challenges/trivia. As such, it’ll cater to those who group up with others often and socialize on a regular basis, like those who game regularly at their local hobby store. It’s a party game so needless to say, the more your group has a sense of humor, the better. Due to the judge-y nature of the game, playing with as many people as you can is recommended. This eliminates the possibility of one person ALWAYS getting judged as the most athletic, being a know-it-all in the trivia portions, etc. Some of the cards do call for some sort of physical challenge and on that note, I applaud the rulebook for reminding players to use their best judgement.
Does “UNRIVALED” do what it sets out to do? Yes. Is it unique? No. There are plenty of other party games out there with party-style questions/challenges, so I was looking for something that set this game apart from the rest and sadly couldn’t find it. That doesn’t make this a bad game in my opinion, but not one that one set groundbreaking review score records either. Still, if you’re a regular party goer/host and your collection needs to be expanded, then you can’t go wrong with this title.
“UNRIVALED” is currently available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and most hobby distributers for $19.99. It is expected to arrive at Target in January 2019.
Final Verdict: 6/10