Essen Game Fair kicks off this week and we here at BGQ wanted to take the time to give you a quick rundown of the new CGE word game, Trapwords, which will be debuting at the convention. We’ve only been able to spend a small amount of time with it so far, but as it is likely of interest to many Essen shoppers, we wanted to give you our first impressions.
If you’ve heard anything at all about Trapwords, its likely been a comparison to the mass market word game, Taboo. The two share many similarities as players are divided into two teams and each round a clue-giver will try to get their team to guess a secret word. The key, however, is that there are certain words you aren’t allowed to say.
In Taboo, the list of prohibited words is printed right there on the card and the clue giver knows not to say them. Trapwords is a step up in difficulty as the prohibited words—or, traps—are chosen by the opposing team and the clue giver has no idea what they might be. So, for instance, if the word you must get your team to guess is “steak” it’s possible you can say “cow,” but you won’t really know for sure until you try it.
If you hit a trap, the turn ends for your team. If your team successfully guesses the word, you move a step closer to the final monster fight. Trapwords is themed around a band of adventurers sneaking through a dungeon of sorts, avoiding traps, and trying to defeat the final boss. As you get closer to the monster, the rooms become more dangerous and the opposing team is able to list an increasing number of words to trap you.
If there is a round where neither team advanced, the monster will move closer. This keeps the game moving along and prevents it from overstaying its welcome if teams are continually hitting traps set by their mischievous opponents.
There are also advanced rules for curses when you reach certain rooms first, giving you an extra challenge if you pull ahead of the other team. When facing off with the monster, you will also have to deal with a special ability as well. The first team to defeat the monster wins the game.
As you can see, the comparisons to Taboo certainly make sense, but there is a lot more in the box as well. There are several different curses and monsters that add variety to the game. Trapwords comes with 50 cards with 16 words on each on them. Some of the words have a kind of generic fantasy spin to them and others are more general, you can choose which game you want to play by using the black books for fantasy or the tan colored books for general words.
If Trapwords sounds like it may be a hit party game for your group look for it at Essen!
