SNAP Review – Oh What Fun!

[sings] Dashing through the snow, or staying home, inside… What fun it is to play a game with family and friends tonight!

Game

This is a SNAP review for Oh What Fun, a holiday themed party game from Project Genius. The box says it’s suitable for players down to age 7 and can accommodate up to twenty people.

I don’t even know if I know twenty people that would want to hang out with me at one time.

Art

Let’s talk about the art in this game.

The art here is simple block color pictures with holiday themes. The box has a cardboard organizer to keep the four card categories separate. (It’s ok.) There’s also a spinner, and a little cardboard tree with six punched out ornaments. It’s adorable.

The cardboard in our copy is a little warped, but it’s thick and it’s sturdy, and the spinner works well. The cards feel a little cheap, but that’s fine. I mean, it gets the job done, but it’s not blowing the needles off the tree, you catch what I’m saying?

Mechanics

So, let’s talk about the mechanics and how we play this game.

The first thing you’re going to do is split up into teams – you really can have pretty much as many teams as you want, as long as each team has at least two players. But fewer teams means the game moves faster.

On your team’s turn, someone spins the spinner – this determines what kind of challenge you’ll have to do. Draw a card from the appropriate deck:

In Claus’s Clues, you’re going to decipher a simple rebus.

What’s a rebus? For the people watching the video.

It is a picture or series of pictures that indicate a common phrase. Like this one:

Kissing… under the mistletoe.

For Tinsel Trivia, you’ll need to answer a holiday trivia question.

The Christmas Tree Conundrum challenges your team to figure out the correct placement of all six ornaments on the Christmas tree board in a minute or less, then answer a question about where a specific ornament is on the tree.

These three categories all have a correct answer printed on the back of each card. So don’t peek when you’re trying to figure it out!

The last category is Carol Collisions. You’ll need to sing the words from one holiday song – printed on the card – to the tune of a different holiday song.

If you complete a challenge, keep the card. Then it’s the next team’s turn to spin and pick a challenge!

When a team collects their tenth card, they win! (I feel like it should be twelve cards.)

Expectations

So Anitra, what did we expect from this game?

[Anitra] I expected this game to be a fun after-dinner activity for our family. With four different types of challenges, I hoped that meant that no one would get bored of it too quickly, or frustrated.

This isn’t a game that grabs you with fantastic art or a great hook of a theme – but I figured once we got playing, it wouldn’t matter.

[Andrew] I think that’s true. To be transparent, I really didn’t know what to expect from this. I thought it would be light, but I didn’t know if I’d like it at all. But we like Project Genius, so would we like this one?

Surprises

We did have fun with it. Let’s talk about what surprised us in the game.

There was a wider variety of trivia than I expected.

We also found most of the challenges were relatively easy. And that’s OK! It keeps Oh What Fun!, actually fun.

As our daughter said, some of the questions are easy for kids, and some are better for (cough) old folks – and that makes it great for the whole family to play together.

I will confess, I was stumped by a couple of questions. Apparently I need to study up on my 16th century European Christmas traditions.

Our only disappointment was finding a small error in a card on our very first play. It didn’t stop us from enjoying the game, but it did slow us down. Hopefully it’s the only one.

Recommended?

Oh What Fun! is perfect for a family holiday gathering. The variety of challenges in here means that no one will feel left out, and the holiday theming certainly got us in the mood for more Christmas celebrations. It’s inexpensive and easy to find – you can even get it today at Barnes and Noble, so it’s a low commitment way to get a lot of people to the table.

What are we going to rate Oh What Fun! the family game?

I think we’re going to rate it four Christmas cookies out of five.

And that’s Oh What Fun! in a SNAP!

[singing to the tune of “Deck the Halls”]

Here comes Santa Claus,
Here comes Santa Claus,
Right down Santa Claus Lane.

Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer
Pulling on the reigns… [laughing]

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Find Oh What Fun! for about $20 on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.

The Family Gamers received a copy of Oh What Fun! from Project Genius for this review.

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