How to make a board game like Bullroar the new funny board game by Don Drew

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How to make a board game like Bullroar the new funny board game
by Don Drew

SO YOU WANT TO CREATE A FUNNY NEW HIT GAME…

I remember back when I was a kid of seven or so… My parents would have a few couples over to the house to play a game they called “The Dictionary Game”. They would simply pass out a blank page to all of their guests, and a dictionary to one person. The person taking the turn with the dictionary, would look up a bizarre word that they thought nobody would know—the weirder, the better. They would spell the word they picked for the group to write down. The groups task then became to think of, and write down, a phony definition for the word that might be mistaken for the real definition. The person with the dictionary would write down the real definition in their own words.

All the papers were then collected by the ‘dictionary person’, who would mix up the order of the answers, and then read each one aloud. I remember as a child, sneaking down from bed and sitting on the stairs to listen. I was always amazed at the wonderful and creative definition answers from the group. But what I was really waiting to hear, was that one person in the group who always seemed to write down a crazy joke definition— which when read aloud, would cause an explosion of laughter from the group! I could never get enough back then, or now, of hearing people laughing uproariously. It’s my favorite sound!

In the old dictionary game, to score points, each person would vote for the definition they thought was the real one. If you guessed right, you received a point—if you guessed wrong, the person who fooled you with their phony definition, would receive a point… The joker in the crowd, who provided the hilarity, would unfortunately never get points because everyone would know that their definition was obviously not the real one.

I often wished as a child, that there were many more of the funny answers to laugh at. Why couldn’t there be a game where the hilarious answers that made everyone laugh, were the rule, rather than the exception—AND there was still a point system that fit in to make the game even more fun…

It wasn’t until many years later, that unexplainably, while playing the old Dictionary Game with my own friends, that I suddenly had a great idea that incorporated that childhood wish (The game was eventually called “Bullroar!”). My idea was a game where each person would take their turn being the person everyone focused on (the “It- person”). Their friends playing the game would have an opportunity to be wicked and creative finishing outrageously aimed sentences and statements (filling in the blanks) on behalf of the It-person—ANY WAY THEY WANTED TO! The best part of the game would be where the It-person would mix up the answers and have to read them out loud to the group.

If you have friends like I do, when it’s your turn on the hot-seat, you can hardly make it through reading what has been written for you (about you) without everyone bursting into endless laughter. I made sure that every statement card was as ‘leading’ as possible, in subject and in wording, towards the most bizarre and funny answers being created by all… Once in a while a celebrity name is chosen to be the butt of the fun for a round… Just picture those possibilities...

To complete the Bullroar! game, the final decision to be made was how to score points, and avoid penalizing the funny answers. To me, laughing uncontrollably with your friends or family until your belly or your face hurts, is the greatest entertainment a game could provide—BUT, there also had to be a fun and fitting scoring system to tie the game together and keep with the great mood of the game. I decided that each person would write down who they thought wrote each of the answers. After everyone had finished guessing, each person would reveal which answer they wrote, and points would be rewarded for correct guesses. And the rest, I guess, is history! I am thrilled that “Bullroar!” has been making people laugh ever since.

My advice to game makers: The greatest creations occur when you ask: “What if…?” and “Why not…?”

Author's Biography:

Written by Don Drew, inventor, and creator of the hit underground game:

Posted on: October 15,2008

Email: dondrew@rogers.com
Website: http://bullroar.net