Pyramid Review
Relationship Tightrope
Published by Uberplay
Designed by Reiner Knizia
Art by Alvin Madden
61 cards (nine relationship, two instant forgiveness, 50 bidding), 50 balancing sticks (25 each of blue and pink), & rulebook; three to five players, full-color, boxed; $19.95
Ah, romance. Flowery. Delightful. Fulfilling. A lethal minefield. Make one wrong move and you find yourself listening to Bob Dylan albums and gorging yourself on junk food. The trick lies in making sure you're no more or less annoying than your partner in learning to navigate the Relationship Tightrope.
The object of the game is to have the most balanced relationship by the end of the game, represented by the lowest score.
The game is played over as many rounds as there are players, so for example with three players there are three rounds. (It would seem poetic that a game like this would be played with partners or couples, but it's for three to five players, so that torpedoes that theory.) Everyone is dealt nine bidding cards (valued one through 50), and the relationship deck is placed in the middle of the table, along with a pile of pink and blue balancing sticks.
The dealer goes first, and flips over the top relationship card. The upper half of each has the man's sin in blue; at the bottom, the woman's transgression appears in pink. He plays golf or forgets an anniversary, and she can't kill a spider or bother to tell him her mother's coming to visit. Their offenses . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 17, 2006
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