Task Team

• Designer: Olivier Finet
• Publisher: Gigamic
• Players: 3-18
• Age: 7+
• Time: 20-30 minutes
• Played with various review copies provided by publisher

In Task Team, two teams go head-to-head over a task while the third referees. Play with three people or three teams for even more fun!  The goal of the game is to be the first team to win seven madcap tasks.

To setup, split your group into three teams. There must be at least one player in each team.  There does not have to be the same number of players in each team.  Shuffle the task cards and create a deck. 

During each round, two teams go head-to-head over the same task while the third team acts as the Referee. The Referee team draws a card and reads it aloud.

This tells the players:

• How long they have to do the task: 1 sand timer, 2 sand timers, or no time limit.
• The number of players required per team: 1 player, 2 players, or the whole team.
• The equipment needed.
• The task itself.

When everyone is ready, the two participating teams then try to win the task. Before each task, the team members decide together who is taking part in the task. Make sure that everyone gets an equal chance to take part.

As the task  battle is in progress, the Referee makes any decisions necessary – and, the Referee team’s decisions are final!

When the Task is complete, the winners get the card and put it in front of them. After each task, the teams swap roles for the next round:

• The team who won the previous task stays in the competition.
• The team who refereed the last task plays the winning team.
• The losing team becomes the Referee.

Continue this pattern until someone wins – the first team to win seven Task cards is declared the winner.

My thoughts on the game

This is a game filled with wacky tasks – of all varieties.  Some are timed for speed while others are skill based and you need to do something the best/furthest/longest/most accurate.  Some are dexterity based while others are mental/observational.   You are given all the tools you need: paper/pencil, tape measures, counters, dice, tops, etc. 

But, the variety of tasks is actually quite impressive, and many of them bring immediate joy when you read about what you’ll have to do!  The whole game is filled with humor, and I must say that many of the Task titles on the cards have caused outright laughter…  

It’s fun involving all three teams in the game – with two participating and one being the Referee.  Sure, as with any judged game/sport, there are going to be some controversial subjective decisions – but this is part of the fun of Task Team!  Lots of good natured arguments/campaigning about Referee’s decisions just add to the enjoyment.  Anyways, in the end, this is the sort of game that is less about winning/losing and more about having a blast competing in the tasks and laughing when you get the chance to watch others compete.

I’d definitely make sure that you have a nice big room and table for the game – because you’ll never know what you’ll need.  You might be spinning tops on a table, or you’ll need space to build a sculpture.  You might also be racing tiddlywinks across the room to the opposite wall!  The space will also be nice because I guarantee you that this game is loud!  Lots of laughing, cheering, and well, some of the tasks even require you to scream!

Well, this honestly is not the sort of game that I thought that I would like, and I’ll be honest – I passed on the chance to review this earlier in the year.  First, most of my gaming groups only have 3 or 4 people in it, and it seemed like the numbers wouldn’t be a good fit.  Second, umm, well I thought this would be too corny/frivolous.

As it turns out, I was cajoled into trying this at the Gathering of Friends… and welp, I had so much fun playing the game.  I’m glad that I got a chance to try it, and now this is a game I have around for larger groups.  For me, I think I’d still like this most in the 6 to 9 player range – if only so that everyone gets a good opportunity to participate in the Tasks; but this could also end up being a great way for someone to still participate in a game if they don’t want to be the center of attention.  In one of our games, one of my teammates really enjoyed being the Referee the most – so each time our team was the Referee, we allowed him to take on that role as his main contribution while we took on more of the active Task winning jobs.  In this sense, everyone got to do what they wanted!   Task Team will for sure end up in my bucket of games that I’m likely to bring to a convention.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Justin B. (two plays): I had the chance to play Task Team at Gen Con 2024 with a group of eight media and content creators…and it is currently my #1 gaming experience of the year. Well past the time we took to play the game to its natural end point, we played for 90 more minutes and did some of the silliest stuff I’ve seen in a game. Task Team is incredibly group dependent–both in terms of the willingness to try silly stuff, but to also have the physical ability to carry out some of the dexterity challenges. Like Dale, I had reservations about Task Team and its exceptionally bland packaging; I wondered if I had the group to make it work. I did a play with a small group of gamers earlier in the year and it didn’t work at all. But my most recent play turned that frown upside down and I would happily do this at a convention again with spirited, open-minded people.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Justin B.
• I like it. Dale Y
• Neutral. 
• Not for me…