PLAYED FOR YOU

Contrario

Possible course / Mission impossible

Contrario is a word game on phrases and sayings and on their „opposites“. You deal with a term that has been changed and is called a Contrario; you are meant to find the original term with the help of maximum two clues. The changes to the original can be done in three ways: Using opposites or contradictions like dousing water / lighting fire or using synonyms like crocodile tears / alligator drops or you use similar words from the same group, for instance Little Black / Big Blue.

Cards in the game each feature five Contrarios, the respective originals and two clues or hints. Depending on the number of players you are dealt a certain number of cards. The active player reads out a Contrario - you all have agreed on the number you want to use at the start of the game. When after a period of 30 to 60 seconds nobody has come up with the solution, the first hint is given, and, if necessary, the second one after the same period of time. You can give as many guesses as you want, there is no penalty for wrong guesses, and if you find the correct answer first, you get the card. A simple example would be Westminster Abbey / Canterbury Cathedral, a more complicated one House of Commons / Noble Palace. When all cards have been won, you win the game if you won most of them.

A rather tricky game, mainly for specialists and fans of the genre and basically only for someone with a good command of French, because you need a good basis in the language to get the allusions and transformation - but it is fun to think on untrodden paths and if you want to train your vocabulary and idiomatic French and acquire an insight into French culture you cannot go wrong with Contrario.

Players: 3-10

Age: 12+

Time: 20+

Designer: Matthieu d’Epenoux, Odette l’Homer, Roberto Fraga

Artist: Stéphane Gantiez

Price: ca. 21 Euro

Publisher: Cocktail Games 2013

Web: www.cocktailgames.com

Genre: Language game

Users: With friends

Special: Many players

Version: fr

Rules: en fr

In-game text: yes

Comments:

In French

Good knowledge of the language is necessary

Good for practicing the language

Only for fans of the genre

English edition from Foxmind Games

Compares to:

All language games using definitions and synonyms

Other editions:

Foxmind, USA

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 0

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 3

Knowledge (yellow): 2

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0