Solve Highly Unusual Problems in Wing It: The Game of Extreme Storytelling

You seek to join King Arthur’s round table, but how will you do so with only an anxious flight attendant, a world-class food critic, and a Polaroid camera to help you on your way?

Wing It: The Game of Extreme Storytelling is a party game that asks you to get creative as you come up with extreme solutions to unusual problems.

Gameplay

There are two decks of cards, the resource deck and the situation deck. Everyone draws a hand of five resource cards. Each round a different player is the judge and everyone else are the storytellers.

The judge draws a card from the situation deck and reads it aloud. This will present a scenario in which there is some problem that needs solving. These scenarios tend to be several sentences long and detailed. Each storyteller then selects three of their resource cards, each of which lists a type of object or being. The storytellers then take turns explaining how they would solve the problem on the situation card with the use of their three resources. The judge may set a ninety second time limit for each story if he chooses.

After each player has told their solution, the judge selects her favorite. The judge’s decision may be based on any criteria she desires (most effective solution, funniest, most creative, etc.). The winner takes the situation card. Each storyteller draws back up to five resource cards, a new judge is selected, and another round begins.

You keep playing until one player collects three situation cards and is the winner, or each player has been the judge twice (in which case the player with the most situation cards is the winner).

Review

Wing It doesn’t just ask you to be creative in your storytelling; it’s quite creative as well. The scenarios are detailed and unusual, and finding out what the game will come up with next is a lot of fun. There is also a wide selection of resource cards, ranging from the ordinary (a set of snow tires) to the much more random (a mule who won’t make eye contact with strangers).

Between 89 situation cards and 330 resource cards, the game offers a lot of variety, and you’re not going to run into the same cards any time soon. Blank cards for both decks are also included, so that players can come up with their own, which is a neat way to customize your game.

There are also several rule variants that add an extra fun twist or further test your storytelling abilities. You can have each player pass an opponent a resource that must be included in their solution, the judge can come up with the situation on the fly, or players can be randomly dealt three resource cards and, revealing them one at a time, must fit them into their solution. It’s fun to play around with all of these, and each brings out a different aspect of the game.

The cards are family friendly, but a lot of the humor is more likely to be appreciated by adults or possibly teenagers. The rules are simple enough that you can easily teach it at parties to people who haven’t played many games in the past. However, some of the scenarios can get quite detailed and become a bit hard to follow for players with a short attention span.

While there are a lot of games out there that follow a similar mold of a judge choosing their favorite reponse, Wing It is a solid alternative to some of the more well known games. It’s fun, clever, and has some great storytelling moments. It asks you to be both creative and silly, and the two blend together nicely.

Pros: Creative and good sense of humor, plenty of cards, fun rule variants

Cons: The humor is for an older audience, scenarios can get too detailed

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.