The Big Taboo Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have to say I was psyched to get this game as I love the original taboo, always wondered why they havent really pumped out new editions, and thought the description of the new varieties of games in The Big Taboo sounded very intriguing. Alas, I brought this over to my cousin's house the other night - we all love our board games - and it was pretty much a bomb. I liked it more than most but I'm not sure if that's because I paid money for it or not.

let me first state the positive - Classic Taboo is still as fun as ever, though pressing the buzzer when someone uses a Taboo word is infinitely more fulfilling than pressing Bendy Bob's (more on that unfortunate addition later) lame, tinny squeaker. The 15 words version of the game is pretty fun - though I wish the instructions were more clear on how strict one should be about what counts as a word (we decided to be generous and not count 'Ums' 'Yes'es or repeated words as additional words).

Now for the negatives:

Unfortunately Bendy Bob was probably the biggest disappointment. I so wanted to love the little guy cuz he's cute and creative, but the fact of the matter is it was very tough to manipulate him at all, let alone trying to move him in such a way to get people to guess what were way too complicated phrases. Truth be told, I actually kinda enjoyed the difficulty of Bendy Bob and people's pathetic attempts to move Bob around certainly induced a fair amount of laughter among the group, but my fondness for Bob put me in the distinct minority. Most people hated him, and wanted to rip his flexible arms and legs off, limb by limb. I think the whole problem with Bob could have been solved by just making the phrases simpler - (ie instead of 'chewing gum', the phrase should have just been 'chewing'). Landing on a Bendy Bob space was good for one, maybe two spaces forward maximum while the others generally got your 4 or more.

Other negatives:
The 'pictionary' version of the game was OK I guess but we've seen this so many times in games it just didn't do much for the group.

There was another game in there that was partly a memory game using already played cards, but it was pretty lame and just felt tacked on.

The time limit of the various games seemed kinda arbitrary as we thought some games that used two minutes would have been fine with one, and vice versa.

In general the gameplay was just a bit too complicated, as it took me about as long to read the rules as it did to play the game.

The ending in fact was a big, anti-climatic disappointment (though the game was so ho-hum I can't even imagine how good the ending would have had to be to register an actual climax) as the goal was just to get to the end. There was no final challenge, which most board gamers have come to expect. Come on people, we've outgrown Chutes and Ladders.

I really appreciate the effort of the game makers to take the Taboo game and give it a bunch of new twists, but the sad fact is that most of them (with the possible exception of 15 Words) just weren't executed well. I have a feeling they really didnt do much live testing. And aside from the classic version, the whole 'Taboo' aspect of the game was missing. Sometimes, you just can't top the original. I may give this one more try, but I can't see myself playing this game much more often. I ought to just give Bendy Bob to my 3-year-old cousin and let her do with it what she wants.

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Product Description:
The Big Taboo is just like the Taboo you know and love, but now it has four fantastic ways to play! Race against the timer to get as many guess words as possible. You might have to draw them, describe them using as few words as possible, play Classic Taboo or use Bendy Bob to help your team guess them. You even have a chance at the brain-bending memory round. Whatever happens, you can expect "unspeakable" fun every step of the way. Includes: 252 cards, three movers, Bendy Bob plush character, game board, sand timer, sketchpad, pencil and instructions.

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