My family had a lot more fun than I thought we might with Confident. It took a few minutes to warm up the engine to play this, but once it got going, people were having fun. While this certainly isn’t a Cards Against Humanity sort of entertainment, it is a game that has an easy-to-understand start and playthrough, plus a hint of education to it. I respect the heck out of that considering how overly complicated board games can be these days.
Back on the attack with another whack board game. Yeah, I rhymed and went with it. Anyway, this is our second go-around with board game reviewing and I must admit, I was skeptical that this game wouldn’t hold up in a family environment. While the game is straightforward with how to play, you have to guess numbers/percentages to questions proposed and get the closest range possible than everyone else, I was unsure of its longevity. Maybe it would last 10-minutes? Maybe less? It seemed too easy to have fun, which had me mighty concerned.
Let’s dig right into it.
Longer than 10
The kids were skeptical, my wife kept the enthusiasm alive with smiles and as she called it ‘forced family fun’, as we began our Confident journey. Four of us played, one rejected the notion, and we dug into this quickly. The first few questions were feelers, where we were asked what percentage of women didn’t wash their hands after they used the toilet prior to the pandemic. The low range is the minimum percentage, while the high range is the maximum. Much like the end of Price is Right, the closest between those numbers would receive three points, while the second closest would receive one point. The winner of the entire game is the player first to 15 points. Back to the question, having been the father of four girls, I thought I had a good percentage grasp of the question asked, but apparently, I was way too high (the actual percentage was in the 20s, while I was choosing the 60s…I had my sample size reasoning). What is hilarious is that my wife and two girls playing nailed the range; my wife was the closest of the trio.
The game continued for over an hour. As each question was read, the family got more and more into its structure. The questions were well thought out, giving a good balance of outrageous numbers to normal numbers that you can easily overthink. The questions were also informative, which is the type of edutainment you want for a younger audience. Having fun and learning something along the way is the best type of teaching. We just didn’t have any candy to give out as rewards.
Questions and edutainment aside, the game featured moments of ‘gotcha’.
Gotcha moment!
The board you write on with an erasable marker (provided by the game) had three very distinctive boxes on the bottom. These three boxes were meant to screw people over during the game and believe me they did. They were:
Copy – In this box, you pick the person you believe would know the answer, write their name down in the box, and then hopefully receive the same number of points they do if they are right. It’s answering without even trying, which is just beautiful.
Swap – This box allows you to write down two players (who aren’t you) that must swap their writing boards after answering. This ensures that you have screwed someone over and potentially stolen their hard-earned points. We had this happen once in a game that cost everyone the game. As Tom Hiddleston’s Loki once said, ‘glorious’.
Double – If you feel good and ‘confident’ about your answers, you can double-up on them. You won’t find many moments where you use this feature, but it’s possible. I almost did when I answered what percentage of the world’s population resided in Asia. It was simple math considering the countries that reside there. Sadly, my confidence level was low.
The addition of these three boxes helps to add uncomplicated strategy to the game. They’re simple to understand and fun to execute. They make this more than just a game of guessing.
It’s a good game for parties
My family had a lot more fun than I thought we might with Confident. It took a few minutes to warm up the engine to play this, but once it got going, people were having fun. While this certainly isn’t a Cards Against Humanity sort of entertainment, it is a game that has an easy-to-understand start and playthrough, plus a hint of education to it. I respect the heck out of that considering how overly complicated board games can be these days.
Check it out if you’re looking for something quick and easy to get into.
