Game Review: Quelf

By Neil Edge
June 10, 2008

Publisher: Wiggity Bang Games
Designers: Matthew Rivaldi, Robb Earnest & Jeremy Fifer
Players: 3-8
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Rules Language: English

If you click the link below, you’ll be taken to the Dictionary.com definition of the word ”party”. While there are twenty possible definitions, the one to focus on is #20:

To me, that’s still the rudimentary definition of what a party is. Granted not everyone parties like me (happenings which usually involve copious amounts of alcohol and the leaving of all inhibitions at home), but certainly everyone thinks of parties and going to parties in the sense of definition #20. Partying is about having fun, and Quelf is fun.

Just like the parties I go to, however, not all parties are meant for everyone. Quelf requires a sense of freedom about yourself and demands that any inhibitions you have as to what a party game should be are obliterated. Quelf goes well out of its way to make you feel silly, push you out of your comfort zone, and have you act stupid – which is pretty much how I feel after a party when all those memories start flooding back into my brain and I’m flushed with thoughts of “Dear God, did I really do that?”

At its core, Quelf isn’t much of a game really: Roll the die and move your guy. Land on a space and resolve a card of the same color that you landed on. First to the rocket ship in the center of the board wins. Mechanically speaking, we are talking about the absolutely most stripped down game that could ever be published, right? Good damn thing you don’t play Quelf to have a rollicking good time with the mechanisms then, isn’t it?

I’ve now had the chance to play this game many times with several different demographic groups and can honestly say that only one group was split on the game. Of that group, about 30% of the players were not happy playing it, while the other 70% were ecstatic and even grabbed the game to go play another round. When it came time for me to leave, they asked to borrow it for another round, but I needed to play it with others for this review, so tough beans. It may surprise you to hear that this group is one I would label a “hardcore gamer” group with one big time Ameritrash fan, several Eurogamers, a big abstract game fan, and others who like all sorts of games making up the cross section of this group. Both games easily filled to the playable capacity of eight even after two left from the first game.

The makeup of the other groups I played with were family, friends, and strangers meeting to play typical Milton Bradley-style board games. All of these groups were highly taken by the game, and all were eager to find out where they could get their grubby hands on their own copy. In fact, I had offers to purchase the game from me from the “strangers” group. (For the curious, that MeetUp group now meets to play board games once a month.)

What makes Quelf this special you ask? That’s a fair question. Cranium, especially with its new “WOW You’re Good” version, has made us goof off and be silly, sing, act, and show a bit of creativity. Isn’t that pretty much what we’re talking about here? Well, yes, it is, but while Cranium is a fun game, Quelf just goes that extra step.

Quelf makes you dance around the table singing or write poems about your armpit, gives ridiculous rules that your fellow players will enforce on you with surprising pressure, and asks trivia questions that the game rules claim range from “obvious” to “impossible”. Think all that sounds par for a party game? Think again. Go ahead, try it. Give yourself 30 seconds the next time you’re at the dinner table and bust out singing a song that really annoys you while blinking madly and dancing in your chair with a smile plastered on your mug. See whether anyone in the family comes to your rescue by naming the song you’re singing. Oh, right – they don’t know they need to do that. They’re just staring at you like the fool you just made yourself out to be.

Well, how about imagining that the player to your left draws a card, reads it, smacks himself across the face, then says to the player on his right: “Your turn now.” Another player at the table laughs and grabs the card…and upon finishing smacks himself across the face. Chances are good you aren’t going to grab and read that card, right? Sometimes, though, it’s the third person to read a card who gets to do something good. You can never tell with this game as it’s sheer insanity and I’m certain the designers have been institutionalized by now. On top of all that, occasionally the actual game piece you choose to play will impact and change the game!

I’ve found this game to be an amazingly good time, but as you can see I really don’t have a problem letting the world know what an idiot I can be. If I were to compare games to parties, Cranium would be the office Christmas party, typically fun and average with someone getting crazy every now and then; Boggle would be the ladies social gathering for Betty’s birthday party; and Quelf would be that drunken, wild night private party with naked people in the pool. Yeah, that’s my kind of party game. If you think you’ve got a group that can step out on the branch of social uncertainty and let their inner kindergartner loose, this game is immensely recommended! Check out Quelf today.

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