Why is it that most Word Association games feel like they were designed by an English teacher? Not that this is bad thing, we all probably remember the fun teacher from our time at school, but so many word games feel like they were designed for the last day of term, when no-one can focus on anything but the rapidly approaching holidays.
It might be that a lot of these games also revolve around a single clue guesser, letting one person keep the unruly children (i.e., your friends who’ve come over for games night) under control. What’s so refreshing about Sides is how it flips this expectation, offering a small but substantial twist that breathes new life into an otherwise well-worn genre.
How do you play Sides?
Sides is a cooperative word guessing game that challenges players to work together and use their creativity to find clues that start with specific letters. Unlike other word games, where one player gives clues and the others guess, Sides has two clue givers who must collaborate without using any nouns. The game is fast-paced, fun, and engaging, as players try to guess as many words as possible before the letter deck runs out.
How do you play Sides?
Sides is a cooperative word guessing game that challenges players to work together and use their creativity to find clues that start with specific letters. Unlike other word games, where one player gives clues and the others guess, Sides has two clue givers who must collaborate without using any nouns. The game is fast-paced, fun, and engaging, as players try to guess as many words as possible before the letter deck runs out.
The game consists of 26 letter cards, 100 word cards, and a timer. Each round, two players become the Witnesses and draw a word card that they must make the other players guess. The word card has four nouns on it, one for each difficulty level: easy, medium, hard, and extreme. The Witnesses choose one of the nouns and place the word card face down. Then they reveal seven letter cards in a row on the table. The Witnesses can only give clues that start with the letters on the sides of the row, and they can remove the outermost cards to reveal new letters. However, they cannot use any nouns in their clues, nor can they say the word itself or mime it. The other players, called the Jury, must try to guess the word based on the clues. If they guess correctly, they score points according to the difficulty level of the word. If they pass or run out of time, they score nothing and lose a letter card from the deck. The game ends when there are no more letter cards left or when the players decide to stop. The final score is the sum of all the points scored by the Jury.
Sides is a refreshing twist on the word guessing genre, as it requires teamwork and creativity from both the clue givers and the guessers. The game is easy to learn and play, but challenging enough to keep players interested and entertained. The game can be played with 2 to 6 players, but it works best with 4 or more. The game is suitable for ages 10 and up, and it takes about 15 to 30 minutes to play.