Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader board game review

Hey there, we received a copy of the game for review purposes, all thoughts are our own. My wife and I have game night in the house. Sometimes it’s chess, really, occasionally we’ll play chess, it’s not just some snooty thing I’m saying to increase my SAT score. Recently we played the Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader board game. While it took us a couple of games to find our footing, it’s a fun game that anyone eight and older can play with ease and enjoy.

It took us a while to get our groove. We hadn’t seen the show in a while and the concept of ‘copy’, ‘peek’ and ‘save’ took us a moment to remember it. ‘Peek’ is where you can look at a person’s answer and have the option to copy. If you have the same answer and it’s correct, then you pay them $1,000. If you have different answers and yours is correct, then no money for them and you move one. If it’s the other way around then you are out of the running for $1,000,000 and your game stops, sad panda.

If you choose ‘copy’ then you’re committed to their answer.  The person is correct and you move your player to the next amount and paid said smart person $1,000. Should they be incorrect you are out of the running for the $1,000,000 and your game stops.

The ‘save’ is awesome because it does exactly that, it saves you! If your answer is incorrect then you’re saved, even if you’ve used a ‘peek’ or ‘copy’. Granted that would also eliminate two of your lifelines, but then we’re mixing our games up aren’t we?

I mention the rules of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader board game to drive home the point that it is a fun game, but it’s even more fun when you can play it fluently.  We spent the first game refreshing ourselves on the rules and the following times really having fun.

It’s #HasbroGameNight I am the green one…. And smarter than a 5th grader I might add @HasbroNews @HasbroGameNight pic.twitter.com/gTtGJwk3N4

— Trey Burley (@Daddymojo) June 28, 2015

This is a game that really takes off when four people, the maximum, play it. That way you can find a groove, not feel rushed and encourage your friends to answer quickly so that you can ultimately win. I kid. But seriously the more people play the easier it is to remind yourself of the rules.

The game pieces are simple enough. The questions are displayed using the secret decoder red slider thing that lots of games use. I have the hardest time reading these questions, so my wife had to read them to me. Thankfully that prompted me to go to the eye doctor where they told me that I needed bifocals, sad panda, again.

For two people a round of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader takes about 20 minutes, if you make it all the way to the $1,000,000 question, which I did, thank you very much. It’s also a game of luck. I drew easier questions than my wife, but did manage to win several times. It was about the questions that I drew….of course.  It would be nice if they sold another package of questions, because after 10 or so games you’ll start to recall the answers to them. Aside from that, it’s a fun board game that will get the family playing and talking.