Sketch Fever Game Review

Game Review - Sketch Fever

Mechanics: drawing, time limit

Game difficulty: Easy

Game duration: 10 min

Number of players: 3-6

Best number of players: 3-5

Language: the game is available in Latvian

Often, when visiting younger children and seeing our large collection of games, they are very interested in board games, but understand that there is not really anything to offer, because no one will sign up for the three-hour Tzolk'In or Rising Sun, while the younger generation no longer recognizes Dixit my Lord of the Rings reference. Therefore, it is ideal to have a game that is quick to learn, just as quick to play and at the same time exciting for both adults and children. All these criteria are perfectly met by the game Sketch Fever.

There is no topic here, let's move on! Players simply compete in drawing accurately and guessing the drawings. But that's good, because an imaginary theme would only complicate the teaching of the game and would hardly fit at all. 

At the beginning, I want to highlight the design of the game box. It has a running clock and a pencil drawn on it, which I think perfectly describes the essence of the game. As before, I really like R. Peterson's work and Brain Games' line of light, abstract games (Pikoko and Sketch Fever) look classic and elegant on the white box shelf.

The box also includes sturdy cardboard drawing squares, 6 markers, an hourglass and more than 170 double-sided cards. Components are not masterpieces of game visual design, but they are good, high-quality. The markers come with erasable brushes, they don't smudge and at least they all write well for me. I would have preferred single-sided cards, because then there is less chance of accidentally mixing things up, but I understand that when producing double-sided cards, you can physically produce twice as many of them.

The game lasts exactly 6 minutes , where each stage is fixed with an hourglass.

The first minute - the player finds out what six words he has to draw and then frantically starts to draw them on the small cardboard plates. Try to draw the word "total" or "dimension" in a couple of seconds. When the minute is up, the hourglass is reversed and the game continues.

Second minute - players look at the cards others have drawn and try desperately to remember what their partners have drawn. It happens to everyone at the same time, pointing loudly to the cards and mentioning what is drawn there. If the player guesses, he takes the remembered card. It is important that everyone should try to guess other people's drawings in parallel and listen to see if someone has guessed them. This can be messy and loud, but the game itself acknowledges it and the chaos doesn't last too long, so it can be tolerated.

Third minute - Continues to add or redraw the unremembered drawings.

Fourth minute - tries to guess again.

The fifth minute - draw.

Sixth minute - min.

After six minutes, the points are counted - one point is due for each card remembered, one point is lost for each card not guessed. But let's face it, points are unimportant in Sketch Fever, the game is more about communication and the ability to quickly draw unrealistically complex things like "stadium" or "attraction". The nice thing is that players can get satisfaction in two ways, both by being careful to represent things in their drawings and by being able to guess what others have drawn.

For example, you can try to guess which three words I have drawn in these pictures:

*Answers below grade

My favorite part of Sketch Fever is right after 6 minutes of playing, discussing the unremembered words, when the draftsman explains his thought process and can't understand how he could have missed it.

High. I haven't gotten to the point where all the cards have been drawn yet, but even with only six player games, the cards will be enough 58 times until each one has been drawn at least once. The game's adventure comes from the players, not the mechanics, so I think it's playable a lot until you get bored. In the same way. Don't be afraid of the short 10-minute game time, Sketch Fever is unlikely to be played just once.

I believe that a good family game is one where both children and adults have an equal chance of winning, but at the same time the adults feel that the decisions they make are important. Sketch Fever is full of hilarious moments and is perfect for any member of the family. I think that if you have relatives you haven't seen for a long time coming to visit for Easter, who are on you with games, then Sketch Fever would be a pretty safe choice to bring to the table and offer to practically anyone. Rating 7 out of 10 .

PS Officially no numbers are allowed in the game.

* snākrub, skrap, statsterp

You can buy the game in Brain Games stores on the 1st floor of Rīga Plaza or K. Barona Street 55, or in the online store*: Sketch fever

Board Game Geek rating: 6.6

Author: Kristaps Auzāns

Pictures from Brain Games and Brain Games Publishing and K. Auzān

* Free delivery throughout Latvia.