Emoji Cards is the newest ? in a box.
From Spicy Doodles Gaming Inc., this party game uses the beloved emojis in a way I haven’t imagined yet—in a fresh, modern twist on classic charades.
To play, at least for players divide up into two teams. Then, place 40 emoji cards face up on a table. The emoji cards are the same ones we all know and love—and I know what you’re thinking. Yes, the the poop emoji is included! Each card has a different colored border to represent the different categories: people, animals/nature, food/drink, celebration, activities, transportation/places, and objects/symbols. The different colors make it easy to visually separate all of the cards as they’re scattered on the table, and recognize the different categories.
One player from each team draws a clue card and announces the category and the hint. The categories include arts and literature, history and places, movies, music, and more. Hints help with the more specific names to guess on the card, such as musicals for the arts and literature category and animated films for the movies category. Each team will have 90 seconds to guess as many cards as they can.
The catch is that players can only use the cards to act out their clues. No talking is allowed except for saying, “Yes,” when the correct word is guessed. Players can make gestures, but only with the card in their hands. However, players can use the Helper Card, a special, oversized card, to use with each turn. It offers the opportunity to give charades-style hints, with images of genders, a globe to represent geography, and an ear for “sounds like.” It also displays numbers for guessing the amount of words.
While sometimes it’s a perfect world (when you need a rainbow emoji and it’s sitting right there on the table), the game becomes more challenging when the emoji you need is not on the table. Some helpful tips is to point at a color, shape, facial feature; move the cards around; and gett creative with emojis, such as using the yellow smiley emoji as the sun. To make the game easier, players can add more emoji cards to the table, or expand the time to guess. To make the game harder, eliminate the Helper Card or shuffle the emojis after each turn.
Even though this game is intended for kids 12 and up, I think younger kids can join in on the fun. Although they may not understand some of the clues, or they might be too young to get all of the pop culture references on the cards (am I dating myself?) and some of the emojis may be used a bit inappropriately (peach emoji, I’m looking at you), this game leaves a lot of room to make it fun for everyone. After all, emojis are the language of kids today.
The rules of Emoji Cards are pretty flexible, and more than two teams can enjoy the game. And, of course, players aren’t limited to the included cards. They can make their own with other references, inside jokes, and more.
Emoji cards will provide rounds of laughter in the way we now know how to communicate best—with emojis.
