‘Block Party’: a game that’s like ‘Pictionary’ but with 3D blocks

When I was in Grade 1, the first thing my teacher presented each student with was a set of Cuisenaire rods – a collection of brightly coloured wooden cubes and rods in various colours, each size representing a number (a cube one centimetre equalled 1; a cube two centimetres long represented two, and so forth). Mathematics aside, I just loved playing with these magical Cuisenaire collection, even creating little houses out of them.

Opening up the boardgame Block Party by Big Potato Games gave me a rush back to that time in Grade 1, and I was ecstatic to see cubes of all manner of colour splayed out across the table, along with coloured cards, one for each player.

The set-up is easy. Place the main game (scoring) board into the central playing area along with all the building blocks and the challenge cards. Each player takes a building board in their chosen colour and places one block of the same colour onto the starting space of the scoring board. Each player is dealt one building card and given one steal token. Choose a starting player and, alas, the game begins.

The guesser reads out what it says on the top challenge card and gives the allotted time for a particular round. Each player then chooses one of the 10 things on their building card to try and build.

Once the time is up, the building stops, and the guesser then goes around and, yes, tries to guess what the object is that each player has created with their blocks.

Basically, Block Party is a more 3D style of Pictionary; instead of pencils and paper, each player uses a bunch of coloured blocks to create their object – be it animal, food, piece of furniture… you get the picture.

If a player’s construction has been correctly guessed, they score a bonus point. The guesser token moves around the table one space and the next round begins.

This is a fun game not only because it opens players minds in how they might like to present a particular object with the limited colours they have, but also because players can come up with some of the muntiest of creations.

Whether you’re a perfectionist and get your little ‘church’ looking perfect, or end up with a flat fruit that looks more squashed bunch of grapes than impressive eggplant, there are plenty of laughs to be had at the results.

A fun game for all the family, or for effed-up friends that want to get creative once smoking a bit of weed!

Lisa Andrews

THE POP SHOP