It’s also definitely best at five or more players – that gives enough variety around the table to get lots of face-offs – and lots of laughs. Wild cards display two different symbols that may now be considered to “match”, and may cause a new face-off. It was definitely surprising that our biggest fear turned out to be an asset in the funniest way. Recommended? Anomia Kids is simple to play. Draw a card and flip it over for all to see. Does the colored symbol on your card match another player’s? If so, be the first to shout a word that starts with the same sound as the image on your opponent’s card. Easy, right? Beware – you may find that your brain can do some pretty silly things under pressure! When you have some time to think about things, or you aren’t put on the spot, normal thoughts are easy to process and think about. But when put on the spot and under pressure, it makes things suddenly almost impossible for you to do. For example, if I asked you to name me a dog breed, with no pressure around the question, you could probably list of 2 or 3. But if I randomly shouted it at you with, for example, a prize or a timer against it, you would start to question the amount you actually know.

When the Draw Piles are depleted, the person with the most cards in their Winning Pile wins the round. Anomia is a super easy game to play and understand. So, if you have 2-5 people with you (plus yourself of course), ready to get their board gaming hats on, this game is perfect for you all! Anomia is clever in the fact that it knows that our minds are always thinking about something. What are you thinking about right now? I bet you're thinking about nothing now that I've made you ACTUALLY question yourself. But that's the thing, you are still thinking of something, even if not subconsciously. I know. The brain is a powerful thing. A Wild Card displays two different symbols. If those two symbols are in play (i.e. if they appear on the top of any two player's Play Piles) then those two players must Face-Off. We knew we wanted to play this game with at least some of our kids, too. We did expect there to be some difficulties with domain knowledge across generations. Any disagreements about the winner of a Face-Off, or the correctness of an answer, shall be decided by a group vote called by the loser. If necessary, you may use dictionaries, magazines, the internet, etc..., to help settle disputes.

A few more important things..

There are also wild cards that may flip out; so rather than a player’s play pile, put those in a central area near the draw piles so everyone can see. You’ll cover up any previous wild cards, as well. There may be a fewww more things to think about, but you will need to give the game a play for yourself to find those out! I hope you enjoy getting your brain working, more than usual.

According to the game designers, the definitions for Anomia are: “1) A problem with word finding or recall. 2) Chaos. 3) The game where common knowledge becomes uncommonly fun!” Linebaugh, C. W., Shisler, R. J., & Lehner, L. (2005). CAC classics: Cueing hierarchies and word retrieval: A therapy program. Aphasiology, 19(1), 77–92. But if two symbols around the table do match, or they match through a wild card, it’s time for a face-off! Anomia Face-Off When a match occurs, the players with the matching cards must attempt to come up with a word or phrase that is reflected on their opponent’s card.

Components

Not to mention there’s a lot of screaming in the game as players try to spew out some answer. And if a youngster’s on the other end of that adult frantically pointing their way shouting out crazy stuff, it can be pretty intimidating.