Title: Off Topic
Published By: Off-Topic Games
Released: 2019
Player Count: 2-10
Time to Play: 30-90 Minutes
Off Topic is a party game that promises to have players laughing their pants off. While we were able to keep hold of our pants (shout out to belts!), we can confirm that Off Topic did leave us in stitches from laughing so hard. This 2-10 player party game offers a lot of light-hearted, competitive, adult fun for your next game night.
Off Topic is super easy to get from the box to the table, and takes about two minutes to learn how to play. This makes Off Topic a fantastic option when you want to teach a large game group a new game but don't want to spend all night explaining the rules. Fans of the game Scattegories, who want a game designed a little more for grown-ups, will love Off Topic. It has many similar mechanics but has more of a Cards Against Humanity feel than wholesome family game night vibes.
Off Topic plays over five rounds, and at the end of the 5th round, the player who won the most rounds wins! To get started, give each player a player board, a marker, and a numbered card (these cards should all have the same number on them). Have someone roll the dice and flip the timer and get to writing.
One of the first things we loved about Off Topic is how well made the components of the game are. The player boards are made of a durable dry erase material. These arent a flimsy, thin dry erase sheet, they are hefty and have a good thickness to them. The best part though is that they actually erase wonderfully. Unlike many games that come with dry erase components where the finish seems to wear away quickly or the marker just refuses to come off without some serious scrubbing (or even with some serious scrubbing), the boards for Off Topic wipe clean and are ready to use again with just a quick wipe. It even comes with a microfiber cloth in case you want an even cleaner board than just the eraser can achieve.
We would also be remiss if we didn't mention how much we love the chunky oversized die. The letters are large and clear, making it easy to read by lots of players around the table. We also just love a big die, they are loads of fun to roll. The use of a 20-sided die allows for a lot of replayability of Off Topic. Even with only 16 topic cards, having 20 options for your starting letter pretty much guarantees you will have a different game every time. We appreciate this, as a lot of party games can grow stale after a few plays when everyone knows what to expect from the cards. With the entire dictionary for potential answers, you will never be at a loss for words!
Off Topic really did have us laughing throughout the game. It's great to get the creative juices flowing and you will be surprised at just how challenging it can be to think of accurate responses in the time allowed. We also appreciate how increasing the player count doesn't drastically increase the playtime. Playing with 10 people takes almost the same amount of time as playing with two as everyone responds to the questions at the same time and there are always just five rounds. The only real variation in time is if a lot of people are challenging each other's responses. This means you can play more games of Off Topic in the time it takes to play one of other game. More games = more winners and who doesn't love more winners!
Want to add Off Topic to your board game collection? Our friends from Off Topic Games are super awesome and created a special coupon code for all of our Pudgy Cat Games fans. Enter the code "PUDGYCATG10" at the check out from Amazon to get 10% off your very own copy of Off Topic! For those with younger kids, also check out A Little Off Topic! Anyone starting their holiday shopping soon? Just saying, Off Topic would make a great holiday gift!