Wits and Wagers Party is another big hit
North Star Games has just released another great game in the Wits & Wagers party game line. And this time they aptly named it Wits & Wagers Party!
You may wonder if the world needs another Wits & Wagers game. After all, there’s already the original Wits & Wagers, Wits & Wagers Expansion Pack 1, and Wits & Wagers Family Edition.
But we say “Bring on the Party!”
Wits & Wagers Party is true to it’s roots. It still maintains the wonderful same game play that has made its predecessors such wonderful games – where you don’t need to know the trivia to win the game. It’s a trivia game that’s fun for everyone, not just Ken Jennings.
How to Play Wits & Wagers Party
The game play formula for all the Wits & Wagers games is simple. One player reads a trivia question and everyone (including the person who read the question) writes what they think the answer is on their cool player board with an included dry erase marker. Once every player has written an answer/guess, the boards are all turned face-up and arranged from smallest to largest. (Easy to do since the answers to every question are numerical). Then everyone places their wager on the answer they think is the closest to the correct answer without going over.
In that regard Wits & Wagers Party is just like the rest of the games in the Wits & Wagers line. The difference however, is in the way you wager and score points.
In Wits & Wagers Party players have two wagering tokens that match the color of their player board. When it’s time to wager, they simply choose where to place each of their tokens. They can place them on two different answers or double up on the same answer. (And players don’t have to choose their own answer either.)
When the answer is revealed, every correct wager token earns a scoring chip. And the person who wrote the correct answer also earns a scoring chip. Then play continues with the next question.
After 7 rounds, the person with the most scoring chips wins. But the cool thing in Wits & Wagers Party is that on the 7th question players can place any scoring chips they’ve earned through the game with their wager tokens to increase their odds. Each token and chip on the correct answer will earn a scoring chip.
The great benefits of Wits & Wagers Party scoring
When compared with the other Wits & Wagers games, we really like the scoring in Wits & Wagers Party. First because it’s so simple. And because it’s so simple to tally scores the game plays along at a great pace. In the original Wits & Wagers game, every answer is placed on a board that pay out different odds (2 to 1, 3 to 1, etc.). So figuring out the payouts after each question takes some calculation and delays the game play a bit. This can also lead to a runaway leader if they’re getting lucky.
In Wits & Wagers Family the scoring is also simple and players have 1 big and 1 little Meeple to place their bets. The big one is with 2 points and the little one is worth 1 point – simple scoring that’s truly great for families. The only downside to scoring in Wits & Wagers Family is that near the end of the game players can tell if they’ll have a chance to win or not. If they’re too far behind in scoring, their interest may wane.
But in Wits & Wagers Party the twist in the final round gives all players a chance to make it interesting. So even if they’re behind up to that point they can make aggressive wagers on the last question and pull out a win.
Which makes Wits & Wagers Party the best of both worlds of the previous Wits & Wagers games.
Of course, each games has its strong points depending on who you’re playing it with. For example, the questions in Wits & Wagers Family Edition are great for kids and adults alike.
With 3 Wits & Wagers games on our shelf to choose from, the real question now is which of the 3 would we pull out to play on any given night?
I asked each member of our family to rank the games in their preferred choice and here are the results:
| Family Member | 1st Choice | 2nd Choice | 3rd Choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caleb | Party | Family | Original |
| Brooke | Family | Party | Original |
| Jaden | Party | Family | Original |
| Trevor | Family | Party | Original |
| Mom | Family | Party | Original |
| Dad | Party | Family | Original |
As you can see, we’re pretty evenly split for our first choice between the Family Edition and the Party Edition.
But who says we can’t mix and match all the games anyway? We can simply pick the set of questions that we like and the scoring method we like depending on the gang we’re with that particular day and we’ll have fun.
More great things about Wits & Wagers Party
One of the other great things we like at Wits & Wagers Party is that it comes with 6 player boards! So if we all want to write our own answers and make our own wagers, we can. We don’t have to team up if we don’t want to.
Another positive note about Wits & Wagers Party is that the 6 dry erase markers included in the game also have erasers on the cap so we don’t need to break out tissues for wiping the boards.
And the last great note is that you can also buy Wits & Wagers Party at Wal-Mart! It should be hitting those store shelves this very weekend!
It looks like the gang at North Star Games continues to revise Wits & Wagers in great ways.
If you haven’t tried any of the Wits & Wagers games yet, we’d highly recommend you don’t wait any longer.
| The Board Game Family Game Ratings | |
 |
Caleb |
 |
Brooke |
 |
Jaden |
 |
Trevor |
 |
Mom |
 |
Dad |
 |
Average |
I already have Wits and Wagers and the family edition, I wonder if I “need” another edition? I like the scoring of this one though- much easier.
Heather – It’s simple enough to just use the questions you have and try the new way of scoring.
I purchased Wits and Wagers Party Edition from Target but there were no instuctions included. We have never played this game, so I am going to return it to Target unless I can download instructions.
Judy – That’s very strange Judy to not have the instructions in the game box. Target is pretty good on returns. You may want to try an exchange first and check another box. Or you can download the instructions in pdf form from this link: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/77945/rules-english
Is this a game that can be played with a large group of 15? Would I need to purchase two games?
Sheryl – You don’t have to get two copies. We’ve played with larger groups by playing in teams. The dry erase boards are great, but you could really use pieces of paper for people to write their answers as well. (You’ll just go through more paper.)