Robert Austin 'Hintegers' Review
Number Cards
In the past, the genre of party games always seemed to be for people who were not really interested in “hobby” board games. They were for families or persons not into games that could be considered heavier or “too complicated.” Some friends would get together on a Friday night, maybe enjoy some adult beverages, play and laugh their way through such a game. The last few years have seen more of these party games seemingly starting to bridge the gap. The genre has become very popular with gamers of all varieties and party games are big, sold everywhere from your FLGS to big box stores.
Hintegers (also stylized H1integers) by Zafty Games offers an experience that is not really laugh out loud, but more deep thinking gameplay. Hintegers is about getting into the heads of players and using clues they give, much like Codenames. Gameplay is simple and takes place in short turns. All players have cards numbered 1-10. The starting player will be the first Hint Giver and all other players this turn will be the Guessers. The Hint Giver draws two cards from the Category pile, chooses one category and passes the unused card to the player on the left (that player will only draw one category next turn and choose from the two.) The Hint Giver now gives a one word clue based on the category chosen. Also, a number card of the Hint Givers choice is placed face down on the table. The number must somehow be related to the category and clue. Then, all Guessers choose a number card and place it face down on the table, attempting to choose the same number as the Hint Giver.
Example: The Hint Giver chooses the Category “Sports”, gives the clue “Baseball” and places a number card facedown on the table. Guessers now try to guess the number. Maybe “4” for the number of bases, or “9” for innings.
After all guesses are placed on the table, all number cards are revealed. The Hint Giver needs at least one person to correctly guess the number. If the number is correctly guessed, the Hint Giver and all correct Guessers discard that number. All incorrect guesses are returned to their players' hands. The player to the left of the Hint Giver becomes the new Hint Giver, takes the category they were passed, draws one category card, chooses and passes one, gives their clue and play continues in the same manner.
Hintegers (also stylized H1integers) by Zafty Games offers an experience that is not really laugh out loud, but more deep thinking gameplay. Hintegers is about getting into the heads of players and using clues they give, much like Codenames. Gameplay is simple and takes place in short turns. All players have cards numbered 1-10. The starting player will be the first Hint Giver and all other players this turn will be the Guessers. The Hint Giver draws two cards from the Category pile, chooses one category and passes the unused card to the player on the left (that player will only draw one category next turn and choose from the two.) The Hint Giver now gives a one word clue based on the category chosen. Also, a number card of the Hint Givers choice is placed face down on the table. The number must somehow be related to the category and clue. Then, all Guessers choose a number card and place it face down on the table, attempting to choose the same number as the Hint Giver.
Example: The Hint Giver chooses the Category “Sports”, gives the clue “Baseball” and places a number card facedown on the table. Guessers now try to guess the number. Maybe “4” for the number of bases, or “9” for innings.
After all guesses are placed on the table, all number cards are revealed. The Hint Giver needs at least one person to correctly guess the number. If the number is correctly guessed, the Hint Giver and all correct Guessers discard that number. All incorrect guesses are returned to their players' hands. The player to the left of the Hint Giver becomes the new Hint Giver, takes the category they were passed, draws one category card, chooses and passes one, gives their clue and play continues in the same manner.
Lifeline Cards
Guessers, not sure of your guess? Missing the number you think was chosen? Fret not, for each Guesser starts with three Lifeline cards! All players have identical Lifeline cards that help fudge your numbers, so to speak. The cards allow you to add or subtract 1 from your guess or allow you to copy another player's guess. No matter what Lifeline you choose, your card always counts as the original card played in addition to the modified number. These Lifelines are always discarded, whether or not they were used successfully. The game continues until one or more players have three Number cards left. All tying players win.
Hintegers plays from 5 to 10 players, though, as with most party games, the more players the better. More than 5 players helps this game, in my opinion. Also, the key to the game really seems to be trying to play your clues to one or two Guessers. You only need one correct guess to discard your card and you want to keep the number of correct guesses as low as possible to keep people from advancing. Because of this, use of inside jokes or clues that would be harder for more than one or two people to get is pretty necessary. It feels like you almost have to play with close friends or the game becomes too easy or hard for everyone. Card art is simple, using solid, bold colors for each player's hand. The game comes with a rules card as well as a card with some example hints. One thing that I found particularly troublesome was the Category cards are also printed with two or so example hints. My players found it hard to think of their own clues because they kept gravitating to what is printed on the Category cards. While probably helpful to some, it seemed to lock our brains down and we found it more difficult to come up with imaginative, personal clues at times.
Category Cards
As stated earlier, this game may not have your group rolling on the ground but, if you enjoy playing with a large group of close friends, giving cryptic clues or the challenge of piecing together hints, Hintegers may be a hit with your group. At just $15 USD (plus shipping) it is a good buy for party game lovers. Hintegers can be purchased directly from Zafty Games. Though the game is currently sold out at the time of this writing, Dice at Dusk has been informed it is soon being reprinted.
Robert Austin - Husband. Gamer. Musician and music lover. Car enthusiast. Spider collector.