Would you remember the trip to the arcade if you felt a coin in your hand? Does a small piece of fabric remind you of your blanket on the beach? Memories are easier to recall when you see the photos of past events, but it’s time to test if you can feel your memories through just a few small objects in the palm of your hand. Let’s check it out.

What Is It?

Team Game – Players pair up and work with a partner. Each turn one player will be the “child” who gives the clues to the “grandfather” player. The clue giver will put any of the available objects into the guesser’s hand, placing and moving the objects as they see fit to try and describe one of the memory cards. There is also Limited Communication, as the guesser must have their eyes closed, and the clue giver can not speak, directly touch the guesser’s hands, restart a mime, and so on.

Deduction – The active team’s guesser will need to use the physical clues they were given to try and figure out which memory they are trying to recall. Other teams will also put cards from their hands into the stack with the card that needs to be guessed, to try and interfere with the memory and confuse the guesser.

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 8 Players – Full disclosure, the 2 and 3 player games do have variants. But ultimately, I think it scales pretty well even though the gameplay is different, and it works at all counts
  • Ages 8 and Up – The game is all about interpretation, so I think it’s great for a wide range of ages
  • Families
  • Players who like team play with limited communication
  • Good lighter party-ish game for players who don’t play a lot of games/heavier titles
  • Fans of image interpretation / abstract clue giving

Variants

Expert Mode – Once players are familiar with the game, they can add in the “constraint cards” which limit them during their clue-giving. They may be limited to a certain number of items to use, they may have to use a specific item, amongst others, or they may be limited to where on the hand they can give clues. – It definitely adds a bit of challenge, but I also think that it adds to the experience and really helps players think of more meaningful clues when they are more limited in the items they can use. I thought using these in the 2-player variant worked really well in particular.

2-Players – The 2 players work together in the same way as the multi-player game, trying to earn as many points as possible both being the guesser/giver twice. They can compare they final score to the given chart in the rulebook to see how they did. – I’m not going to lie, this variant did not sound exciting. But I thought it worked well and I really enjoyed it! I thought it was a nice, light, quick 2-player experience and if I was looking for something of this caliber to play cooperatively, I’d definitely pull it out.

3-Players – [You can play this one with up to 5, but if you have 4 or 5, the multi-team game is the way to go, in my opinion]. For this variant, 2 players will form a temporary team each round and play proceeds as normal, with anyone not on the temporary team adding a card to interfere with the memory. When guessed correctly, both players gain a point. – This variant was okay, but didn’t feel as interesting as the 2-player or 4+ player game for me. It was just a little bit clunkier, so it’s my least favorite option.

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Great art on the cards; love the blue and orange color scheme for the items
  • Components – Nice quality cards; all the items are nice quality and unique enough to tell apart with your eyes closed
  • Gameplay feels unique
  • Expert Mode is a great option to add challenge once you are familiar with the game and/or with the type of clues certain players tend to give
  • Very quick and easy set-up/clean-up
  • Plays quickly and smoothly
  • “Interfering with the memory” keeps all players involved on every turn, even when they are not the active team

CONS

  • The box is huge for what’s in it, and doesn’t have any insert; Could have used a simple insert, or come in a smaller box
  • The game doesn’t drastically change from play to play, so it doesn’t have high replay value

Final Thoughts

I thought this game sounded interesting from the get-go, but I ended up liking it even more than I thought I would. It was tricky to get the hang of at first, because it has a unique mechanism of “miming” just in another person’s hands, while they also can’t watch the mime, but it just works really well.

I was particularly surprised at how much I liked the 2-player game. I have found that most games that play a large group (i.e. anywhere from 6 – 10) usually don’t have 2-player variants that I’m a fan of. But again, this one worked. I thought it was a very neat, abstract, cooperative experience, and if I’m looking for a quick 2-player co-op, this is a solid choice.

One thing I thought was odd at first was that the clue-giver is the only person who sees the clue each round. I thought it would make sense for the opposing team(s) to see it too, to have a better chance at putting a challenging card in the mix when interfering. However, upon further reflection, I assumed this would make the opposing teams too powerful, and give them an advantage in getting the guesser to choose their card instead.

Overall, very unique game that I think will provide a lot of fun times for a wide range of players!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 7/10

Designer – Timothée Decroix
Artists – Pauline Detraz, Gaël Lannurien,
Sabrina Miramon, Umeshu Lovers
Publishers – La Boîte de Jeu, Hachette Games
MSRP – $37.99
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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