Gone Cardboard News: Say Anything - Coming from North Star Games in June 2008

Wits & Wagers might be appearing on every game recommendation list published in U.S. newspapers this holiday season, but designers Dominic Crapuchettes and Satish Pillilamarri aren’t resting on their laurels. North Star Games will release its third title at Origins in June 2008, a game called Say Anything.

The shorthand description of the game, says Crapuchettes, is “a mix between Wits & Wagers and Apples to Apples.” Say Anything includes a deck of question cards with topics ranging from pop culture ("What’s the best action movie?") to the personal ("What’s the most important thing in a good relationship?") to the humorous ("If you could have a big anything, what would it be?") and beyond. Each round, the judge chooses a question, then each other player writes an answer on a personal dry erase board. The answers are then laid out and people lay down chips on the answer they think the judge will choose, which may or may not be their own. “There are no betting odds,” says Crapuchettes. “We found they took away from the game, which is more of a conversation game.”

“We find that Say Anything has more replay value that Apples to Apples,” says Pillilamarri. “You get to choose the questions and write your own responses, so you tailor the game to who you’re playing with at the time.”

If all goes well, North Star Games will encounter the same drawbacks that have come with the success of Wits & Wagers. “We’re sold out in half the Target stores right now, and they can’t get the game back in stock before Christmas,” says Pillilamarri. “Funagain is out of both Wits & Wagers and Cluzzle.”

North Star Games is also in licensing talks for versions of Wits & Wagers in French, Spanish, and other languages, and these versions would have culturally specific questions and answers. Wits & Wagers might be coming to other platforms as well, although those announcements must wait for another time.

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