One of the things I enjoyed most about growing up were the times when everyone would get together and we would play family games. Being the youngest of 4 by some margin, my siblings had all left home by the time I was 6 so it was always very special when everyone came home for Christmas and the board games would come out. My children are very similar and we love to sit down to a family game at the weekend. To be honest they usually end up with someone stropping off in a mood because someone else isn’t playing properly but they always start off fun! We recently got sent a game of Headbanz to try and we couldn’t wait to give it a go!
Headbanz is based on the traditional game of ‘Who am I?’ that I remember playing many times as a student with post it notes stuck to our foreheads! The first time I actually heard of Headbanz was when a colleague used it as an ice breaker in a training session at work, which I thought was a great idea! The main difference with Headbanz is that it is ‘What am I?’ rather than ‘Who am I?’ which actually makes it so much harder!
Headbanz – The Game
Headbanz is for 2-6 players and is aimed at ages 7 and over. In the box you get 72 different cards with various objects on them from food and drink to vehicles and animals. You get 24 scoring chips, 6 headbands and a timer.
Headbanz – The Rules
The rules are fairly straightforward. Everyone gets 3 scoring chips to start with and the aim is to get rid of your chips by the end of the game. After picking a card from the pack and placing it in your headband you start asking the other players ‘closed’ questions about your card to help you try to guess the object. If you manage to guess your object within the time then you give up one of your chips but if you don’t manage to guess then you take an extra chip from the bank. The winner is the person with the least chips at the end of 5 rounds.
Headbanz – Our verdict
We played Headbanz for the first time on Father’s Day. My parents had come to lunch so it seemed like the perfect after dinner activity, sat round the table with a cup of tea! I also thought it would be a great opportunity to see if the game was suitable for all ages as my youngest, Phoebe, is 7 and my Dad is 87! We had so much fun playing the game but it was much harder than we expected! We found the animals were the easiest things to guess but the food was the most difficult! There are some cards within the pack with some sample questions to help guide you in what might be useful to ask. These definitely helped Phoebe until she started to get the hang of it. I can honestly say I was completely rubbish at it but my Mum was brilliant! She whizzed through her cards and often got to guess more than one within the time on her go.
I would definitely recommend Headbanz as a great family activity. I think children could play it with their friends too, Phoebe is already keen to take it into school on the last day of term. I’m always encourage these sorts of games as they instill thought and imagination and it’s great for getting kids (and adults!) off their devices, away from the TV and spending fantastic quality time together as a family.
Disclaimer:
We were sent our game of Headbanz by Spin Master for the purpose of this review. However, all opinions are our own.
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