Every year, Allplay seems to dig up the most random games for their Gen Con releases. They are tiny boxes that sell for $9, and yet they are also some of our most talked-about games at the convention. Fellow BGQ reviewer Brand already gave his thoughts on Stonk Market (which I absolutely love), but today we are going to talk about one of their other small box party games, Jibber Jabble.
Jibber Jabble is a party game for 3-10 players that takes about 15 minutes to play.
Gameplay Overview:
Playing Jibber Jabble is super simple. In this cooperative game, one player is the guesser and is trying to figure out the secret word. All the other players know the word and have to try to give the guesser clues by spelling out 3 hint words.
The wrinkle is that the hint givers aren’t allowed to discuss what the clues are. So say the secret word is Lemon. The player to the left of the guesser starts to spell out the first clue by saying the first letter. The next player has to say the next letter of the clue word. And so on until one player feels the clue is complete and says stop. In which case they then start spelling the next clue. Once three clues have been given, the guesser needs to try and figure out what the secret word is.
Game Experience:
Jibber Jabble sounds really easy to win, but once you realize not everyone thinks as you do, chaos ensues. For example, in one of our games, the secret was Starbucks. The first person started with the letter C. The next person then added an A (C-A-). Not being a coffee drinker, I panicked. I assumed wth C was going to start spelling COFFEE, but apparently the second player was spelling CAFE. I don’t remember what letter I added, but it was not very helpful. The next player just stopped the clue and just started a new one.
It’s funny how one tiny wrinkle in a game can change things up so much. And when you are put on the spot, it’s crazy where your mind goes. There are some clues that should be so obvious, but in the heat of the moment, your brain just doesn’t go there. And as the guesser, you can be totally in the dark, so a word will partially make sense to the group, but if someone goes off the rails in the spelling, you will end up having no idea what they are trying to communicate.
And that’s really where the genius in Jibber Jabble lies. It’s a riff on the classic game Password, but you have to get into the head of both the clue-givers and the guesser. And even if you get three helpful clues, you still need to figure out the secret word. If the clues were WATER, FISH, and BOAT…it could be Ocean, Lake, or Sea. So what may be obvious to the clue givers might still be unknown to the guesser.
The other nice thing about Jibber Jabble is that it scales up really well. It’s three players minimum, which is fine, but it’s best at the higher player counts. We played a 6-7 player game, and it was fantastic watching other players struggle as 2-3 letters of a clue came out, and the next player just was not getting it. I think it’s the most fun when you can revel in other players’ misery… even though it’s a coop game.
Final Thoughts:
Jibber Jabble is a great party game. It’s very rules-light, plays well with a lot of players, and only takes about 10-15 minutes to play. And since the only component is a deck of word cards, you can play this one literally anywhere. It’s at its best when things go off the rails, as people will have different ideas of what a clue should be. Those are the funny moments that will keep you coming back for more.
Final Score: 4 Stars – A great party game that you can play with just about anyone, and anywhere.
Hits:
• Easy to learn
• Accommodates lots of players
• Plays quickly
Misses:
• Needs the higher player counts to really shine
