Time's Up! is a charades-based party game for teams of two or more players (and is best with teams of two). Before the game begins, each player looks at several cards featuring famous historical or fictional characters and chooses some of them. Each player's cards are shuffled to form a deck, and this deck of famous names is used for each of the game's three rounds.
In each round, team members take turns trying to get their teammates to guess as many names as possible in 30 seconds. In round 1, almost any kind of clue is allowed, and the cluegiver cannot pass on a card. In round 2, no more than one word can be used in each clue (but unlimited sounds and gestures are permitted); the cluegiver can pass on any card he likes, and the teammates can give only a single answer. In round 3, the cluegiver can use no words at all and can pass as often as he likes; again, teammates are allowed only a single guess. Give good physical clues in round 1, and they'll pay dividends down the road when you need to keep your mouth shut and gesture like a maniac before time's up!
Time's Up! is based on the public domain game known as Celebrities. Also known as Salad Bowl or Fish Bowl.
- Really funny party game
- Similar to unpublished hat game
- Feels slightly outside board game world
- More like informal party game
- Party guessing game
- Abstract party
- Light
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bluffing and description — Describing names without saying them
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It wasn't just the hundred sort of best designed games this was the hundred games that I feel that I'm particularly sort of connected to
- The games that have a place in my heart really games that I've got a lot of nostalgia for
- It felt a bit like doing a roll and write game but without all of the sort of convenience
- I wish I still had castles of burgundy and notre dame
- The main thing that got in the way for me was all the iconography
- I do use board games as an escape from screens and technology
- I really like the production of cockroach poker
- I found it was a game where I could see the ending coming and then someone would just go and there we go we've got another 20 minutes now
- It feels like something other than a board game
- The decisions you make in the game are very very slight
- Right up my alley
- I do really like push your luck
- That's my favorite game
- Abyss is my second favorite game
- I love pekka pig
- I just think it's ugly
References (from this video)
- handles varying trivia knowledge
- accessible and social
- memory is a supporting element rather than the core for some players
- word association and memory recall
- party game with clues and memory-based rounds
- Matrioska
- When I Dream
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- memory — remembering clues from earlier rounds to inform later rounds
- party_game — lightweight social play emphasizes communication
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the game is super fast
- I highly recommend that one
- Witness used memory in quite an interesting way
- it's really good family weight game where the actual lack of memory skills can actually make the game better
- Extremely charming and I think um very underrated actually
- This is a cool party game because even if your trivia knowledge isn't very good, you can still get the answers correct based on the previous clues given