The answers are so specific (in this case, 18% and the Dallas Cowboys) that players must make an educated guess - the closest guess wins the point, and the team with the most points wins. Components: gameboard, 6 playing pieces and stands, 461 question cards, category die, movement die, instructions Colourbrain simplifies the trivia format by making every question about colours. Each player holds 11 cards of various hues, and has to place down the correct cards to questions such as “What’s the colour of the lid on a jar of Marmite?” The questions are a mix of general knowledge and pop culture, so kids and adults can play together - there’s even a Disney-themed version of the game. Setting up the Smart Ass board game is very easy. It consists of a board, board movers, two dice and the questions cards.

As the game only takes 30 minutes to play, it keeps players entertained for just the right length of time. Who’s it best suited for? In Smart Ass the aim of the game is to be first around the board working out Who Am I? What Am I? or Where Am I? The first player to reach the end is the ultimate Smart Ass. Before the answer is revealed, you bet on which guess is closest to correct. Feeling confident? Bet on yourself. Think someone else knows better? Bet on them. Points are awarded based on these bets. Then a question is being asked from that category and every player can yell out an answer at any time, but they can do this once. The board game does a good job recreating the four rounds of the TV show. It can feel a bit clunky to play the first few times as each round is very different, but it should get easier the more you play. There’s even a little trophy for the winner to hold at the end of the game.

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It’s visually pleasing, with lots of tokens and chips to play with, and the base game contains over 500 questions, meaning it should last a long time before you have to repeat any cards. When you land on this space, you will skip the next round. If you would have been a guesser, you cannot submit an answer. If you would have been the reader, the player to your left becomes the reader for the next round. The game requires no skill to play other than having the ability to answer trivia questions. It is a basic roll and move kind of game and that gives this game a low complexity level. Set Up – Playing Rules & Instructions Smart Ass is all about showing off if you know the answer. Or even if you just think you do. It’s perfectly acceptable to shout out the answer and totally goes against the way that some kids feel that it’s not right to be seen to be smart. How to play Smart Ass In practice, it’s more of a conversation-starter, as players take turns reading out interesting questions and then discussing the surprising answer - it’s a bit like watching an episode of the comedy panel show QI. It comes in a small box so it can easily be taken to gatherings or the pub. One small criticism is that some of the questions are true or false, meaning answering them is less a shot in the dark and more the flip of a coin.

Designed for 2 to 6 players and for ages 12 to adult, play starts with the oldest Smart Ass player who is the Reader and will read the first question. This first player rolls the Jumbo Category Die to determine which category the first question will be from. This could be one of the following: Hard Ass – there are a separate pile of Hard Ass questions as this is effectively a bonus question space. Only the player who has landed on this space gets to answer the Hard Ass question. If they get it right then they can roll the Jumbo Movement Die again for a bonus move. If they answer incorrectly then play just moves on as if it had never happened! Half Truth A clever spin on trivia games from the creator of Magic: The Gathering and a TV quiz show pro In Half Truth, there are six potential answers to each question: three right, three wrong. Each player chooses a stand and a playing piece, and assembles it. Place your playing piece on the Start space.

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Dumb Ass – this is a penalty space. If you land on this you can’t answer the next questions. Basically, it’s like missing a turn. This casino-style mechanic adds a fun element, as you try to work out who knows the most about a topic. One potential gripe is that the questions are very America-centric, so if you have no idea about US sports or culture you’ll be making more blind guesses than educated ones. Once someone gets the right answer that player (the one who got it right) rolls the Jumbo Movement Die and it tells them how many places to move their playing piece around the board. This leads to some interesting tactical decisions. Do you wait to hear all four questions to work out the connection, or do you take a stab after two or three questions in the hope of guessing the link before the other players? You can only make one guess - if you’re wrong, you might help an opponent solve the link.