So, you’re looking for a bit of fresh ink? Well, you’ve come to the right place! We have plenty of incredible tattoo artists here who will give you a design you’ll adore forever and ever! Or, maybe you’ll hate them, but hey, payment up front, please!

If you love tattoos as much as I do, you know that every tattoo has a story. Sometimes it’s a great memory, sometimes a symbol of hope or a favorite pop culture reference, or maybe just a mash-up of five different things that randomly got picked out!

Wait … that last one doesn’t sound totally right … Well, in Tattoo Stories, it is! Players take turns as the customer, requesting the best ink elements based on five selected cards. May the best (or maybe funniest, or maybe most clever) artist win!

What Is It?

A silly drawing game for 2 to 6 where players design tattoos for a customer based on five randomly drawn criteria cards. Players must choose their designs carefully, because they can not erase during the drawing phase – after all, tattoos are permanent!

At the end of each round, the customer awards each card to the artist who best utilized the element, in their opinion. Of course, artists can talk their ink up to try and convince the customer why theirs is the best. Once each player has been the customer twice (or however many times you want, really) the player with the most tattoo cards wins the game!

Who Is It For?

I think that tattoo fans will enjoy it because the theme works well and it changes it’s mechanics from other drawing games to be more on theme as well.

If you already like other drawing games (and are actually a good artist) you will probably like this one too. If you’re a terrible artist (like me) it might be frustrating, but at the same time, it’s pretty funny to try and sell your horrible tattoo to the customer, so still a bunch of fun. It also doesn’t hurt to be able to think quick on your feet since you need to combine so many different elements in your art.

The game says 12+ and I’d say that’s fine. There’s no really adult themes on the cards, it all comes down to how people draw, so just keep your company in mind when playing and it can be a fun family drawing game. In addition, it’s definitely a “beer and pretzel” gamers type of game; great for a party game night, or a quick end of nighter to cap off after some longer things.

Contents & Quality

Boards/Markers – Nice quality boards. Pretty large, so you have plenty of room to design. I like that it’s dry erase, so not wasteful, and comes with the markers, which is always a plus. The markers are average quality, and have erasers on them, which is great.

Cards – Also average quality, but you don’t really need to shuffle them often (or at all if you just put them to the back of the box in a random order) so they get the job done no problem. The words are easy to read on them as well.

Rules – It’s a simple game, so these are short and sweet and don’t raise any questions.

Box – A nice fit for everything that’s in it. Cardboard insert, but it holds the contents well. It also has a nice finish on the outside of the box, which is particularly pleasant in my opinion.

PROS

  • 5 points available each round – It’s unique for a game of this style which usually awards 1/round to the “funniest.” It also breeds more competition and gives reasons to maybe focus on some elements over other to try and secure certain cards. Awarding is still subjective overall,  but when only a few people incorporate certain elements, there’s more of a chance points will spread out.
  • The no erasing rule is also unique, and super thematic
  • A lot of cards available for variety in combinations
  • Can ask customer questions while drawing to help appeal to them with your art, which I also found cool

CONS

  • I thought it had a low player cap at 6, since it plays like your typical party game. I kind of wish it extended to at least 8
  • Two rounds each as customer felt a little excessive, everyone seemed to enjoy doing it only once, so I suggest deciding up front how many rounds to play

Difficulty

Like any artistic game, the “difficulty” will vary based on how well you can draw, as well as how quickly you can piece five random ideas into one image. But, since it’s also all about “selling” your design to the customer and not necessarily just your artistic talent, I give it just a 1/5 for difficulty. You can easily teach it to everyone, and you can just be silly with the drawings. The hardest thing about it is just that the drawing phase is timed (3 minutes) and that just never feels like enough time!

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a neat party-ish game that I really enjoyed! I think it has some unique elements that set it apart from others like it, particularly having multiple points available, which was really neat. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes light party type games, or really enjoys other drawing games like Telestrations or Pictionary.

My Final Rating: 7/10

Happy Gaming~

Additional Information:
Designer –  Eric Slauson
Publisher –  Games by Bicycle, The United States Playing Card Company
BGG
BGA
Website
MSRP – $19.99

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

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