One Round?

Designer: Tobias Tesar
Publisher: DEVIR
Players: 2-12
Age: 8+
Time: 15 minutes
Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4h9uBt8
Played with review copy provided by publisher

What do the terms “work” and “banana” have in common? Perhaps the word “farmer”? What about “harvest”? And where does “fruit” fit in? In the co-operative party game One Round?, you need to close the gaps in the word circle — quickly! — in order to win. The game is played with one hundred numbered cards on which you can write.

Initially, three starting cards with the numbers 33, 66 and 100/0 are laid out in a circle, and each is labeled with a freely chosen starting word. Twelve of the remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table; these must be placed in the correct place in the circle over the course of the game.

On a turn, the Tipster secretly looks at the number on the top card and then thinks of a word that indicates the card’s position among the cards on display. The tipster is trying to write down a word that will relate to the two words on either side of it. This requires quick creativity because you have only a short amount of time before the other players have to agree on a gap in the circle of words based on the tip. If you use the included hourglass to keep the game moving along, you will only have 20 seconds to come up with your word!

Once the word is said aloud, the rest of the team now discusses and decides upon which gap the card should be placed in. If the decision is correct, the card is flipped over and placed in the right spot. If the decision is wrong, the card is still placed in the right spot but the team loses one of their three life points.

The more cards are laid down, the closer the distances between the numbers become and the more difficult it is to classify new cards correctly. If the team places the last card correctly before it loses its three life markers, everyone wins.

The team can also use the Overtime rule where the team can continue playing after losing their last life, but now both the Tipster and the team must abide by the sandtimer to make their decision.

One Round? includes a team variant so that players can compete against one another in groups, in addition to 28 entertaining challenges and word categories.

My thoughts on the game

I played the original German version over the winter, and I was pretty excited about this one. It’s a great word game that is easy to grok but gives a fair amount of challenge to both the Tipster and the team trying to work out the correct placement.

I’ve played with a few people who felt a bit pressured by the sandtimer, but for the most part, there is a real nice tension that is created when you have to think on the fly to try to find the right word. It’s certainly not easy, but this game is bound to cause lots of laughter and cheering as the team makes their guess and then gets to hear the Tipster’s explanation behind their word choice!

I do like the book filled with categories and hints for start words. This can honestly be the trickiest thing in the game for us. Our pattern now is to give three different players one of the start boards, and they each get their category/hint in secret written on their board. They erase that and replace it with the starting word – and then we’re off!

For group party games that require vocabulary, this one is a keeper for us – in the same cubbyhole as Just One, Codenames and So Clover. Each provides a slightly different game, and as such, all of them have a spot reserved in the Gaming Basement.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

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

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4h9uBt8