Bye Felicia! – Where Great Minds Must Quickly Think Alike

In Bye, Felicia! players mind-meld to create word associations based on topics listed on a card. Everyone must jot down answers as quickly as possible before the timer runs out.

Peggy Brown designed this wild word association party game for 3-8 players, ages 12 and up. Bye Felicia! is published by Big G Creative.

How to Play

Each player starts with five scoring tokens, an in/out chip, pencil, and paper. Flip the in/out chip green side up (“in”). The player whose name is alphabetically closest to Felicia goes first.

The goal of Bye Felicia! is to match as many answers with other players to remain in the round the longest. At the start of each round, the active player draws a card and rolls the die. Next, they read aloud the topic that matches the color on the card.

Flip over the 30-second timer and everyone begins writing down things associated with the topic that they think will match other players ideas. Once the sand timer runs out, stop writing!

It’s Matching Time

The active player selects an item from their list and reads it out loud. All players who match must say so and cross that answer off their lists, including the active player. The person to the left of the active player reads one of their items and players compare and cross off matches. This continues until a player announces a selection but nobody matches it. Then, everyone says “Bye Felicia!” The ousted player flips their chip to the red side so everyone knows they’re out and gives one of their scoring tokens to the person who last had a match.

Eliminated players must still acknowledge any matches called out by others, which helps keep everyone involved a little longer.

If an answer is close, but not exact, the uninvolved players act as judges to determine if it is acceptable. For example, the topic is “Expensive Things.” One player says “Lamborghini” another says “supercar.” Players who are currently out get to decide if the match counts or not. Lamborghinis are considered supercars, but it’s not close enough for the judges. So its “Bye Felicia!“

The round continues with players reading and crossing off matches until only one person remains “in”. Once that happens, the next player in clockwise order draws a card and rolls the die.

A Go! Round

Whenever the die roll lands on “GO”, it’s time for a Go! Round. The Go! face also shows the direction in which players take turns.

The active player reads aloud the Go! Topic and says something that fits the topic. They must answer in less than five seconds! No answer means instant elimination for the round. Once sent packing, the player must give a scoring token to the person who last gave an answer and flip their chip to the red side.

Winning

The game plays until each player has drawn a card three times or until somebody has collected all of the scoring tokens. Whoever has the most scoring tokens wins, and gets to say “Bye Felicia!” to everyone else. If there’s a tie between players, the tied players play a Go! Round to crown a victor.

Impressions

Bye Felicia! is a fast-paced party game that engages players 100% of the time. It challenges everyone to quickly create lists on a randomly selected topic.

The true challenge is trying to get inside other people’s heads and write down what they’re going to answer. Because topic selections come down to a die roll, I felt it leveled the playing field. The active player’s only advantage is to read an item of their list first.

Keeping eliminated players engaged (matching answers) is a big plus to holding everyone’s attention.

The 12+ age seems about right. Everyone needs a decent vocabulary and knowledge of random facts ranging from Marvel characters to trail mix ingredients.

Before playing with the family, I did peruse through the cards and found them perfectly wholesome. Nothing was deemed inappropriate for younger gamers.

“You’ve Got A Choice”

Bye Felicia! is one of the few party games that makes the cut to stay in my library. It’s light and easy to teach, but gets your brain working.

It’s a great ice breaker game to play with folks you might not know. Since it’s compact, Bye Felicia! makes for a great pub game too. And because there is nothing risqué, you’ll feel comfortable playing with your parents or coworkers. It can even be played remotely over video chat, with everyone keeping track of their scoring.

I loved the fact that that Bye Felicia! had a set end. Most party games just seem to drag on past their welcome, but Bye Felicia! doesn’t. With the relatively short play time, I found myself way more engaged than I would be in say something like Game of Things. I never got bored and wished the game would end.

I definitely recommend Bye Felicia! for folks who enjoy this style of game.

Find Bye Felicia! for under $15 on Amazon or at your local big box store.

Highlights

• Easy to teach
• Family friendly content for a variety of crowds
• Great for remote play
• High player count

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Bye Felicia! from Big G Creative for this review.

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