Monikers designer here! Interesting point about not explicitly saying you can guess an unlimited number of times: we had never heard of Time's Up when we made Monikers, and never even entertained the idea that you'd limit the number of guesses! That has always seemed like a terrible rule, so we've never seen the need to mention it. Also in the rulebook, right after "deal 10, choose 5" description, it says to adjust that to get around 40-50 cards if you have smaller or larger groups. We thought of included a table, but felt like people get it, and we generally try to respect the intelligence of our players to adjust things on the fly if they like.
@@Exozik Same! We've just never had the time to find the right group of people to translate the "voice" of the game into a different language/region, since it would involve writing a LOT more cards. One day!
It's a play once throw away game, and even less fun if your a first time player who's not a boomer and don't get the references to care bears😂. To much advantage to the first round player... personally save your nz$49 or buy a box of beer n throw a ball with your mates
Thankyou for mentioning the regionality or american-ness of the game. It's pretty difficult to try and name a sports player from the denver broncos or the name of some square in some american city. Happens in alot of party games which makes things difficult for us foreigners. Sometimes I end up making my own localised version.
Monikers is a game that has brought a ton of laughs and memorable moments in just about every game group - even those with strangers and new players! A very fast teach, with an easily adaptable game length. As far as party games go, this one is party-cularly (hur hur) excellent. The only downside is, because of its excellent ability to create strong memory associations during the rounds, the game does feel samey within repeated groups, even if many weeks have passed between sessions. Perhaps some of the more extreme game modes (like only using your head or performing from behind a sofa) will help reignite some of that initial spark. Still, an absolute recommend if you can get all the boxes at a decent price (I definitely overpaid when it went through a period of being out of stock/print).
I’ve played this a few times and really enjoyed it. For me, having the description on the card is essential. That’s why Times Up for me, wasn’t a good time. I much prefer this one. Good review.
Monikers has fostered the best laughs with my family (with two teenagers), and yes, I had to weed out some inappropriate cards. Curious, my version of the rules clearly says to aim for a deck of 40 to 50 cards. And the game is played by two teams of players.
This game entirely replaced Times Up for me when it came out. But if someone asked to play Times Up I would still agree. The rules for Times Up get it the way more often with things like limiting guesses.
Kind of an aside, but after hearing the full story of the lady who spilled coffee on herself at McDonald's, how she was burnt so badly that she required skin grafts and literally almost died, any use of that case as a source of comedy has fallen pretty flat for me. It was not the "frivolous" lawsuit that media and pop culture portrayed it as.
It’s a fair comparison (Time’s Up vs Monikers), but I’m not sure you gave Monikers its due. First, Monikers does accommodate more players than Time’s Up, one of its many improvements. BGG stats confirms this quite well. Having said that, neither game is going to play 24 well. No board or card games should be played with that count. There’s simply too little agency/engagement for each player. It’s utter chaos. If you half that number, it becomes more manageable (rules wise) and reasonable (gameplay wise). It seems like you embellished to fit your point. Second, you don’t really make distinctions in your review between ease of play and strategy/tactics. I understand that you’re trying to connect the dots, but it comes off as dismissive. The ability to read off the card GREATLY improves the game. It welcomes new players, puts people at ease when they are under time pressure, and injects humor. To not acknowledge how big of an improvement that is over Time’s Up is borderline criminal. 😉 Some will prefer Time’s Up for its more classic feel, but if you’ve played both-as I have, I would bet that the overwhelming majority would prefer Monikers. If you don’t, I would imagine it’s because the humor escapes you, you think it’s too profane, or you simply don’t appreciate good game design. I typically like your stuff, Zee. But you’re wrong with this one. Monikers is one of the best party games of all time.
I've loved playing Celebrity with friends for years, and cannot fathom why anyone would buy this. You can play Celebrity anywhere you have pens & paper without needing to lug a box of cards around, and because your friends pick the names to toss in the hat, they'll always be infinitely variable, timely, and familiar to the group. It's like buying cards to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with: An unnecessarily cumbersome way of doing something you were already perfectly capable of doing much better without any sort of packaged product.
This removes a lot of the barrier for those who are shy. The game is simply picking rather than coming up with ideas. As to the rest, the question you ask is summed up as "why have nice things?" Because they're nice and spark joy.
@@jokerES2 I mean, if it makes you happy to have pretty cards, fine, to each one’s own. But “shyness” I don’t understand. The game is about performance, which I could see a shy person being reluctant about. But… writing down a name on a slip of paper? I don’t really see how that implicates shyness.
@@normative Asking for engagement at the start of a party game like this is very different than asking for engagement as the game progresses. It's a barrier I've seen in action, and people disengage with Celebrities where you're coming up with ideas to write before I can get them to the fun.
@@normative This game is better because the creators of this game have put a lot more time and effort into picking the cards than your friends ever will. That's what you're paying for.
@@martind2520 If my friends were so unimaginative that a prepackaged list of cards had better names than they came up with, I can't imagine the game itself would be that fun.
Monikers designer here! Interesting point about not explicitly saying you can guess an unlimited number of times: we had never heard of Time's Up when we made Monikers, and never even entertained the idea that you'd limit the number of guesses! That has always seemed like a terrible rule, so we've never seen the need to mention it.
Also in the rulebook, right after "deal 10, choose 5" description, it says to adjust that to get around 40-50 cards if you have smaller or larger groups. We thought of included a table, but felt like people get it, and we generally try to respect the intelligence of our players to adjust things on the fly if they like.
Would love to see your game get translated in french. Never seen any copy of it anywhere.
@@Exozik Same! We've just never had the time to find the right group of people to translate the "voice" of the game into a different language/region, since it would involve writing a LOT more cards. One day!
Love this game and own every expansion. I can't wait to see an all in one storage box for it and more content! 😁
It's a play once throw away game, and even less fun if your a first time player who's not a boomer and don't get the references to care bears😂. To much advantage to the first round player... personally save your nz$49 or buy a box of beer n throw a ball with your mates
Thankyou for mentioning the regionality or american-ness of the game. It's pretty difficult to try and name a sports player from the denver broncos or the name of some square in some american city. Happens in alot of party games which makes things difficult for us foreigners. Sometimes I end up making my own localised version.
Monikers is a game that has brought a ton of laughs and memorable moments in just about every game group - even those with strangers and new players! A very fast teach, with an easily adaptable game length. As far as party games go, this one is party-cularly (hur hur) excellent.
The only downside is, because of its excellent ability to create strong memory associations during the rounds, the game does feel samey within repeated groups, even if many weeks have passed between sessions. Perhaps some of the more extreme game modes (like only using your head or performing from behind a sofa) will help reignite some of that initial spark.
Still, an absolute recommend if you can get all the boxes at a decent price (I definitely overpaid when it went through a period of being out of stock/print).
I’ve played this a few times and really enjoyed it. For me, having the description on the card is essential. That’s why Times Up for me, wasn’t a good time. I much prefer this one. Good review.
Monikers has fostered the best laughs with my family (with two teenagers), and yes, I had to weed out some inappropriate cards. Curious, my version of the rules clearly says to aim for a deck of 40 to 50 cards. And the game is played by two teams of players.
Did you have to weed out some cards?
I’m confused, does each team have their own pool of cards or is there 1 pool shared by both teams?
1 pool for both teams
I bought this game a couple weeks ago and played it with some family and a friend that was in town,had a lot of fun with it
This game entirely replaced Times Up for me when it came out. But if someone asked to play Times Up I would still agree. The rules for Times Up get it the way more often with things like limiting guesses.
This is currently my favorite party game.
A bit late to the party on this one... We've had some really funny moments with Monikers.
If you want to play this game with kids, the cards from Codenames: Disney work great.
Kind of an aside, but after hearing the full story of the lady who spilled coffee on herself at McDonald's, how she was burnt so badly that she required skin grafts and literally almost died, any use of that case as a source of comedy has fallen pretty flat for me. It was not the "frivolous" lawsuit that media and pop culture portrayed it as.
Good review!
I think the cards are great, but yeah I think playing it with the Time's Up rules is 100% the way to go.
We always just did 1 point per card
It’s a fair comparison (Time’s Up vs Monikers), but I’m not sure you gave Monikers its due.
First, Monikers does accommodate more players than Time’s Up, one of its many improvements. BGG stats confirms this quite well. Having said that, neither game is going to play 24 well. No board or card games should be played with that count. There’s simply too little agency/engagement for each player. It’s utter chaos. If you half that number, it becomes more manageable (rules wise) and reasonable (gameplay wise). It seems like you embellished to fit your point.
Second, you don’t really make distinctions in your review between ease of play and strategy/tactics. I understand that you’re trying to connect the dots, but it comes off as dismissive. The ability to read off the card GREATLY improves the game. It welcomes new players, puts people at ease when they are under time pressure, and injects humor. To not acknowledge how big of an improvement that is over Time’s Up is borderline criminal. 😉
Some will prefer Time’s Up for its more classic feel, but if you’ve played both-as I have, I would bet that the overwhelming majority would prefer Monikers. If you don’t, I would imagine it’s because the humor escapes you, you think it’s too profane, or you simply don’t appreciate good game design.
I typically like your stuff, Zee. But you’re wrong with this one. Monikers is one of the best party games of all time.
great review but I'm going to pass on this one
I've loved playing Celebrity with friends for years, and cannot fathom why anyone would buy this. You can play Celebrity anywhere you have pens & paper without needing to lug a box of cards around, and because your friends pick the names to toss in the hat, they'll always be infinitely variable, timely, and familiar to the group. It's like buying cards to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with: An unnecessarily cumbersome way of doing something you were already perfectly capable of doing much better without any sort of packaged product.
This removes a lot of the barrier for those who are shy. The game is simply picking rather than coming up with ideas.
As to the rest, the question you ask is summed up as "why have nice things?" Because they're nice and spark joy.
@@jokerES2 I mean, if it makes you happy to have pretty cards, fine, to each one’s own. But “shyness” I don’t understand. The game is about performance, which I could see a shy person being reluctant about. But… writing down a name on a slip of paper? I don’t really see how that implicates shyness.
@@normative Asking for engagement at the start of a party game like this is very different than asking for engagement as the game progresses. It's a barrier I've seen in action, and people disengage with Celebrities where you're coming up with ideas to write before I can get them to the fun.
@@normative This game is better because the creators of this game have put a lot more time and effort into picking the cards than your friends ever will.
That's what you're paying for.
@@martind2520 If my friends were so unimaginative that a prepackaged list of cards had better names than they came up with, I can't imagine the game itself would be that fun.