That Was Actually Kind Of Nice AKA Game: 'Fake Artist In New York'

It's nice to get out of your groove and play a few games from time to time. Yes, there are vital projects, but we have to be able to relax, right?

This time, it was 'Small World', a home brewed version of 'Fake Artist In New York' and some observation of 'King of Tokyo'. Three radically different games for three different locations. 'Small World' was more tricky to play than I remembered from the last playing, but good, and 'King Of Tokyo' was excellent as always. 'Fake Artist' was a nice surprise, however, that everyone easily 'got'. It's a shoe-in for the next students' games afternoon, which is supposed to be coming soon. It involves drawing, so it's a natural!

'Fake Artist' is a simple implementation of the 'hidden traitor' breed of social deduction games, which are typically far too stressful to be fun. This one, however, is actually very nice, mainly because it ditches most of the arguments and interrogations in favour of... drawing! Hurrah! It's a hidden fraud tricky pictionary game! Nyahahahahha! Much better than 'The Resistance' or 'Spyfall' might be for more sensitive people.

Each round, one player takes the role of question master and declares a category. They then write their chosen word on some cards, one for each player, excepting one card which has an 'X' written on it. The person who gets the 'X' card is the fake artist, who has to get by without anyone suspecting. Everyone gets to make a mark on the paper in turn with their unique colour, without giving any hints as to the real subject of the drawing. At the end, if the fake artist evades suspicion, or if he's spotted but guesses the word anyway, the fake artist and question master win two points each. If the fake artist isn't spotted, or if he is spotted but can't work out what was being drawn, then the real artists get one point each. The target is five points, but that can be changed easily. That's it. It's actually very good, and light. It's the epitome of drawing games with a twist, acting as a nice complement to 'Pictionary' perhaps.

Good. Relaxation? Ha! Oh, and Project Wood has completed assembly. Only a few rounds of painting to go now.

O.