Game Review: One Round?

Who doesn’t love a good party game? What if we could all work together to solve clues and see if we can win as a team for our next game? Well, I have just the game for you in this new release from Devir that will bring everyone around the table asking if it really is just one round that we can get through this in!

One Round? is a new release from Devir designed by Tobias Tesar with art from Kinetic, Leon Schiffer and Daniel Muller. It plays 2-12 players in approximately 15 mins.

Overview

In One Round? Players will work together to determine what words fit in a space between two other words on a grid. Work together to guess what the clue being given is and place it in if it fits. Work together to find all 12 and win as a team!

Gameplay

You start with the three starting cards 100/0, 33, 66 in the middle so that they form a circle. Write a starting word on each and shuffle the other cards and draw out 12 blind. Take three life tokens, the sandtimer and choose a starting player.

The person with the clue is the Tipster and they give a single clue based on the number and where it will fit between the two numbers in the grid. State the clue and then everyone else has to guess where it goes. If they find the gap, write it out and place it where it goes. Otherwise you lose a life token. Lose three and you go to overtime where you could still win.

If you place the last card correctly, you win the game as a team! There’s also a team variant you can play that will give each team life tokens and they drop a clue to their team only.

Impressions

I love a good party game, one that gives everyone a the table a chance to learn and explore a game together or keeps everyone in the game involved with lost of shouts of excitement and joy. Games that bring people together are a hit in my house and One Round? is exactly that type of game. It gives all players input to jump in as much or as little as they want as we work towards a common goal.

There are parts that feel like a game of Codenames and Timeline smashed together, and I especially love how tight the game gets as you add more and more words to the grid. This makes it harder to find just the right word that will work. Knowing the people you are playing with can make it easier but also it’s a blast to try this with ones you don’t know and see how well you can all connect on the words!

There is a book of challenges to change up gameplay and have specific starting words which presents its own unique challenges and ways to play. Overall this game is a blast and in the running for one of my favorites of the year. So grab a few friends and get your game on as you ask the question “can we finish this in One Round?”