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You are an alien.
You and your crew have travelled far and wide in search of intelligent life, and you’ve finally found it! Sort of. You’ve observed these curious creatures on their little rock hurtling through the deep void of space, and now you think you have seen enough. You abduct a couple of humans and are ready to make first contact.
In What On Earth Are You Talking About?, two teams race to translate uniquely human concepts into something even an alien can understand.
Compete against your friends and the intergalactic language barrier as your crewmates rush to figure out what on earth you are talking about!
Each round takes between 15 to 45 minutes (depending on how many players you're playing with), and is recommended for both humans and aliens aged 17 and up.
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'What On Earth Are You Talking About?' is split into two card types:
Earth Cards: Each featuring a peculiar human behaviour or concept. E.g. 'Climate Change', 'Doing The Worm', 'Circumcision' etc.
Alien Cards: Each populated with a string of letters that will make you think and talk like an alien. E.g. O C Q Y S R T Y N
So, with the above letters, a Human might say:
"OCEAN COMING QUICKLY! YOU SHOULD RELISH THESE YEARS. NO BEARS WORLD WIDE"
In this example, the correct guess would be 'Climate Change'.
Each correct guess earns your team 1 point, and the team who completes an orbit of Earth first... wins!
- Encourages rapid, creative communication and teamwork
- High replayability due to evolving prompts and letter constraints
- Interesting role dynamics with rotating clue-giver and guesser
- Can be chaotic or frustrating for some players
- Requires a fairly large player count to maximize interaction
- Dependence on players’ willingness to improvise and spell out ideas under constraints
- communication under constraint; team-based clue-giving between humans and aliens
- Earth-based context with alien teams competing in a word-communication party game
- competitive, fast-paced, improv-forward
- Time's Up
- Monikers
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Interruption — If a team leads by a margin, the opposing team can trigger disruptions (invasion/abduction) to slow the leading team's progress.
- invasion and abduction interventions — If a team leads by a margin, the opposing team can trigger disruptions (invasion/abduction) to slow the leading team's progress.
- letter-based word construction — Each player uses a set of starting letters to form a sequence of words that communicates the target concept without explicitly naming it.
- pass/skip option tied to score zones — Players may pass a limited number of times depending on the current score zone, affecting strategy and pacing.
- team-based clue giving — One team designates a human clue-giver and an alien guesser; humans try to convey a concept to the alien using constrained prompts.
- timed rounds — Rounds are played against a two-minute timer; successful guesses advance the team's position on a track.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a game that's all about communication it's all about word choice it's all about just all those fantastic problem solving you know in the moment just critical thinking that I think is so fun and I love guessing I love love clue giving I think both sides are just Dynamite
- it's wild it is just really really interesting I think having just one person give you Clues is probably a little easier but when that person is stumped somebody else can jump in on the team
- What on Earth are you talking about hopefully is your next party word game that you have a fun fun time with your friends
References (from this video)
- Humorous miscommunication leads to laughter
- Supports large groups (4-10 players)
- Dynamic pacing with rounds and rotation
- Potential for community-driven content
- Can be confusing for players new to constrained-letter clues
- Some players may prefer simpler party games
- Kickstarter-era component expectations may vary
- communication mishaps and collaborative guessing
- A group of humans and aliens around a table where aliens describe card prompts using constrained language
- informal, demonstration/explanation
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Description-led clueing with constrained alphabet — Humans attempt to guess a card's concept while aliens describe it using only words that begin with letters in a fixed order; blank spaces allow flexible clues.
- Turn-based scoring and rotation — Humans score by correctly guessing; play rotates around the table with multiple rounds; a bonus point can be awarded to the helpful alien.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- What on Earth are you talking about is a four to ten player competitive party game with a hint of cooperation where alien players speak in broken English in order to get the human players to guess whatever it is they're talking about.
- the hilarity comes when you're trying to string together nonsensical word formations in an effort to form complete sentences