Pyramid Review
Are You Phrazy?
Published by Gotta Laff Games
Created by Dave Rockenbaugh
200 color cards, rules for four to eight players; $19.95
Any game is going to see a lot of table talk, but Are You Phrazy? from Gotta Laff Games has the chatter built right in. The object of the game is to have the lowest score when the last hand is played.
Cards come in red, yellow, and green. Green cards start a conversation, the yellow cards continue the conversation, and the red ones end it. Each card bears a phrase, born of pop culture, thematically suggestive of their place in the conversation. For example, the green cards that get things rolling are things like "Wassup?" and "How you doin'?" (The cards might be forgiven for slight duplications, like "What's up, Doc?") Yellow cards are a bit more generic, with sayings like "I've fallen and I can't get up" or "Isn't that special?" The red conversation stoppers include appropriate bits like "Talk to the Hand" and "Hasta la vista, baby!"
Each player starts with a hand of cards, and the rest are left as a draw pile. The dealer flips the top card over, and play begins. If this initial card is green, chatter is underway and you can play yellow or red cards on it. If it's not green, however, someone needs to play a conversation starter. If it's your turn and you haven't a green card to lay down, you must draw from the deck. If that card is green, you can play it; otherwise play passes to the next person until someone gets things started.
Once underway, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 4, 2005
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