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4.5
Based on experience with family & friends, plus a review of the game itself, Bezzerwizzer is a fine, swift-paced, and engaging game for many---but not all--kinds of minds. Among the pluses is that as few as two and as many as 16 are able to play comfortably; the game itself is sturdily made and well-produced; and the interpretation of the rules can accommodate a variety of ages and stages.In its simplest form, a player (and his or her team) can decide to stick with the four (out of 20) categories drawn by chance. So do the other three teams, and the race is to the fastest, most confident, best informed team. This works well if you have three or four persons on a team whose minds are sticky-traps for factoids and have diverse ages and interests. We/I once had a killer team of a sports-obsessed 13 year-old, a science and literature whiz of 15, and an 80 year-old who'd remembered a lot of history. The 15 year old was a decisive team leader; it is a game giving opportunities like this to all ages.Bezzerwizzer is well, but intricately designed, and the 10 to 15 year old age group suggested may over-estimate younger players' skills. It is probably best for those with flash access to the memory banks, warp speed in responding, and possessors of many factoids common & arcane. It is, however, still fun even when the strategy options available to all teams are not used.However, Bezzerwizzer is even more engaging when all the strategy options come boldly into play. For example, suppose your team drew four topics or areas that are winners for you but your opponents could run all around you with one of their categories. Do you stick with your four or pre-emptively get their strongest area by trading in your weakest, to block 'em? How sure are you where their strengths and weaknesses may be? Are they likely to be assertive? Slower on the draw? What's your best strategy? When, if at all,during the game as it develops, do you want to use your Bezzerwizzer and ZWAP tiles?These and other considerations add to the complexity of the game. It probably takes three or four dry-runs for everyone to get the hang og it or decide they are likely to be terminally bored. In general, the more strategy games such as chess they play, they better. Putting in this learning time adds much to Bezzerwizzer's interest and moves it farther (much farther) from Trivia.Bezzerwizzer has proved a great friends and family game for people fast on the draw and richly endowed with sticky-tape minds for trivia, use of strategy tiles, and so on. We've found the trivia-type questions to be intriguingly varied from pretty simple (hey, we all like a few sure wins) to quite arcane to a few that are somewhat debatable. This can lead to checking things out on the net, debates, and considerable cortical enrichment. Although one can never discount knowledge. That 13 year old came up with the abbreviation for lead, and fast!Bottom line: An excellent value at Amazon's price for the wild-minded, competitive, and ready to roll group. Up to four on a team seems to work well, though three is even better for maximum opportunity for involvement.Any cons or reservations? As noted, one almost always needs to match the characteristics of a game with the mix of players. Bezzerwizzer is great for many, but not all, players. And eventually, one does want more question cards! Also, to keep things moving, the group should decide on a time maximum per turn & have a timer. We use 1 minute and a simple egg-timer.
