Not a trivia buff? It doesn't matter! In Wits & Wagers, each player writes a guess to a question such as “In what year did the bikini swimsuit makes its first appearance?” or “How many feet wide is an NFL football field?” and places it face-up on the betting mat. Think you know the answer? Bet on your guess. Think you know who the experts are? Bet on their guess. The closest answer — without going over — pays out according to the odds on the betting mat. Strike it big and you'll be cheering like you just hit the jackpot!
Wits & Wagers is a trivia game that lets you bet on anyone's answer. So you can win by making educated guesses, by playing the odds, or by knowing the interests of your friends. It can be taught in 2 minutes, played in 25 minutes, and accommodates up to 20 people in teams.
- engaging social betting
- works well with large groups
- depends on players' willingness to gamble on guesses
- betting on trivia knowledge
- game show-style trivia betting
- fun and interactive
- Manila
- Three Dragon Ante
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- betting on answers — Players bet on their own or others' trivia guesses.
- imperfect knowledge — Players place bets with partial knowledge.
- Written Answer — Players bet on their own or others' trivia guesses.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is Camel Up.
- Gambling with your life.
- This is the loudest game at this convention.
- Poker is the number one gambling.
- This is the purest gambling game.
References (from this video)
- easy to explain to new players
- scales well to larger groups
- expandable with party-oriented variants and expansions
- gambling metaphor may be confusing for some players
- requires table space for chips and bets
- trivia with betting and social dynamics
- casual party/game night
- humorous, accessible
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- betting on answers — players place bets on likely answers to questions using chips
- round tracker with dice — round progression is tracked with a physical dice-based display showing amounts
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- colorblind marks actually did work and you could tell the cards apart
- one person is the dealer they're the blur blur the blur blur goes one-on-one against every other player at the table
- it's a fun what we call family party
- you can swaddle a medium-sized dog in it and this is the real Kickstarter item you're gonna get it
- the differences one is we talk to your non game playing friends and we learned one thing about them they don't know how to order around the media
- we're calling it evolution the video game because I want to make sure people understand that we're willing to take the extra weight that calling it a video game comes with
- we're going to have these match made options that are actually gonna take you time to figure out your skill level
References (from this video)
- extremely accessible and family-friendly
- innovative betting mechanic that rewards risk and strategy even without knowing the exact answers
- not as deep as heavier strategy games
- some players may rely too much on luck>
- trivia and estimation with a casino-flavored betting twist
- modern party/quiz setting
- light, communal, party-friendly
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Betting/auction-style scoring — players bet on others' answers, using stakes to amplify or mitigate points
- Open information reveal — answers are revealed and allocated to spaces that determine payouts
- Simultaneous reveal — answers are revealed and allocated to spaces that determine payouts
- Trivia with number-based questions — players write numeric guesses; answers are matched to a board for scoring
- Written Answer — players write numeric guesses; answers are matched to a board for scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there is this more injected element of player interaction
- it's a genius twist
- the market is completely driven by the players
- money is such a tight resource in this game
- the rules overhead is very low
- a timeless design
- you can bet your funds on other people being right
- loads of things to weigh up, a complete package of the game