2.10.2016

America markets itself as a party game and that's an accurate description. But the question is, how good of party game is it, especially compared to other trivia games?America is a trivia game that copies the mechanics of two previous games, Fauna (the animal world) and Terra (world geography). If you've played either of those two games then you'll have a good idea of how America plays.In America you play 6 rounds which consist of a single subject card each round. On each card there will be three questions about the subject. Those three questions will follow the same pattern every single time: What year did something happen, where, and how many.You answer those questions by placing your colored pawns on the three regions of the board - a map of the US for where, a timeline that is broken up into multi-year segments, and a number line. If you get the exact answer you score 7 points and you get 3 points for each answer that's adjacent to the correct answer. So if the answer is California you also score if you placed a pawn on Arizona. If the answer was between 1900 and 1909 (the space on the board is 1900 and it covers all dates up to the next year shown) and you placed your pawn on 1910 you also score. And so on. You can also score points if you place your pawn on the spot for "no exact answer is correct" and "no exact or adjacent." Each player is given 5 pawns to play on their first turn which you can lose by answering completely wrong, but you can get them back on following turns.The two trivia games that most people probably know about are Trivial Pursuit and, to a lesser extent, Wits and Wagers. Those games will help give you an idea of how America plays and if it's right for your group or family.Trivial Pursuit was a horrible game that just kept going and going. It rewarded people with special knowledge and left everyone else out of the fun. If you've only played Trivial Pursuit then don't let that cloud your judgment of this game or Wits and Wagers. I know the game has its fans, but I'm not one of them. I think it's safe to say the game is loathed by many.Wits and Wagers is a more recent game and it really changed the whole idea of playing a trivia game. Like America, it's based on only a few questions. Unlike Trivial Pursuit, you know the game is only going to last so long. Also unlike Trivial Pursuit, that game brought betting into the mix. You don't need to know the answer to the questions in Wits and Wagers. In fact, you can answer the questions incorrectly every single time and you still have a chance of winning. That's because you place bets on who you think did play the correct answer. So if you trust that someone across you knows more about the topic than you bet on their answer. It was ingenious. It's the perfect game for people who might not be good at trivia, but have a good read on the knowledge of other people at the table.America is similar to Wits with the limited number of questions. That alone makes it superior to Trivial Pursuit. And also like Wits you can get points even if you don't know the answer, but think someone else at the table does. But America doesn't have any betting. If you piggyback on someone else at the table in America you're still going to get fewer points. What that means is, America, like Trivial Pursuit, rewards knowledge which can be a bit of bummer if you don't know the answer to the questions. However, the game addresses this by the questions you get. How many people know the year Pizza Hut first opened? How many would know how many pizzas are eaten in a year? There are questions in which people will know the answer - like how many flavors Baskin Robbins has in their stores. That can be a generational or regional thing which means some people might not have a clue. However, there appear to be enough silly questions to handicap the best read person at the table.One of the criticisms I've seen of America is that there aren't that many questions. The game comes with 160 double sided cards. That equals 53 games (and a third - why the game didn't come with 162 cards is odd) which means a lot of replayability despite appearances. The box comes with quite a bit of empty space and it looks as if the publisher plans on selling expansions. I don't know this for sure, of course.I've given America five stars because I loved playing it and I want to play it again. But I'm also aware of its flaws. In the game I lost it was obvious that there was no way I could win by the end of 5th turn and maybe even by the 4th. That would almost never happen in a Wits and Wagers game. But I had a lot of fun playing. America is a less forgiving game than Wits, but that doesn't make a it a bad game. It's short enough that you could easily play it multiple times in an evening which should give most people a chance at winning if not at least doing well.If you like trivia party games then most definitely give America a try. If you're not a fan of trivia and just want a party game then I'd say Wits and Wagers is the better choice. If you're a serious gamer and would like a trivia game in your collection then I'd say America is worthy of being in your collection. I own both this and Wagers and have no intention of getting rid either. I believe most serious gamers are going to like America more than Wits. One of the reasons I say this is because America is actually playable with just 2 people. It's not super fun, but it works and it's interesting. You can't play Wits and Wagers with 2. For me personally, Wits is going to be the game I pull out for non-gamers who might not be interested in playing a trivia game while America is the one I'll pull out with slightly more serious folks who want a little bit more of a challenge.

1.1.2017

So first up, where I'm coming from in reviewing this:I'm a board game fan, plain and simple. At last count, I have about 200 varying from the 4-hour brainburner strategy games down to the 10-minute party games. This game definitely falls at the simpler/shorter end of the scale, but it's also the most fun I've gotten out of a new game in the last several months. I also tend to enjoy games published by Bezier. Suburbia, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and One Night Ultimate Werewolf all see frequent play, but this is a very different style of game from any of those so I was cautiously optimistic when I purchased this.America plays in about a half hour (maybe a little longer with more players or players who take a long time to make decisions,but I can't see it going much over 45-60 minutes). Each turn, one player chooses one of two categories (for example, the first options we had were "Pizza" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and reads out the three questions for that category. Each card has a question calling for a year, a question calling for a state, and a question calling for a number. For instance, under "Pizza", we had "The year Pizza Hut was founded", "The state with the most pizzerias", and "The number of pizzas consumed annually". Each player then, in order, places markers one at a time on the board for their guesses (years and numbers are in ranges, so you don't have to be exact), continuing until everyone is either out of markers (each player starts with 5) or passes. Players score points for being correct, for being adjacent to the correct answer, or for correctly guessing that NO ONE is correct.There is so much to love about this game.1) The questions are incredibly varied. In one evening we got questions about Niagara Falls, the Toy Story movies, the World Series, the space shuttle program, and The Walking Dead.2) Even if you end up with a category you don't know anything about, if you know which of your friends does, you can use that to guess in the same area as them and get the "adjacent" points. OR, if you know NO ONE knows and is just guessing wildly, you can guess that no one will be right and take all the points!3) It is very fast. We played three games in under 2 hours and would have kept playing had two players not needed to leave.4) Component quality and design. The cards are very sturdy, the map and number/year tracks are clear, and the wooden cubes are without defect. The best part of the component design is this: the question box has a tall central divider. Once you finish a card, you put it on the other side of the divider, so it will now cycle through the other side with a different set of questions on the reverse. That way, there are always two options, and you will never see a card you have seen before until you have gone through the entire deck of questions (or very close to it, assuming you choose roughly evenly from both sides.)All in all, a great game from a great game company.

11.10.2016

This is a fun trivia game focused on the USA. People who are more knowledgeable don't necessarily have an advantage because the questions are typically not things you learn in school. All the answers are a date, a number, or a state, though, so you can often use common sense to make a fair guess. There's also a wide range -- your state guess is correct if your state is adjacent to the correct state, for example, same for your numbers and dates, and 1 billion is the correct answer for any number over 1 billion. You get more points for exact answers, but you can be off by decades and still get some points. You also have multiple guesses. And since the guesses are public,

5.12.2016

I have now played the game about 7 times with different groups of people and it has been a success each time.Gameplay: One person reads a topic that has three questions associated with it.For example: Jaws: When was the book released, In what state would you find the town of Amity shown in the Jaws movie, how many people were killed by sharks in the movie.As the example shows, One question relates to a year, one to a state, and one is a number.You then go around answering the questions as best you can (the exact rules for this are too long to include)Pros:1. Everyone answers the questions: eliminates that frustrating moment in other trivia games where you think "I would have gotten that"2.

3.11.2016

I needed something to "refresh" the old game staples like Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly. This one is actually pretty interesting and fun. It's trivia (more history) of the USA and it's pretty hard because you really have to think about the questions and make guesses based on the information you might have available (in your head). Most of the questions require guessing the state or the year or date something happened but they give you leeway in the answers if you guess wrong. For example, if you get a question and you think the answer is New York, but the answer is really New Jersey, you will still get credit for being close (you selected an attached state)

23.10.2016

My family played the game over the weekend. It rocks it on many levels. My wife and I played with our son and his wife. A generation of 50s and of 80s playing a game that feels like an updated Trivial Pursuit. I think it is better than Trivial Pursuit as it requires more skill and maybe less actual knowledge. I mean that it will appeal to persons of different generations. The board will flip over. One side has a map of the USA with NO state labels on them.....you have to know what state is what state. The flip side has the state 2 letter ID.....so you have to know something about state IDs to recall. We played without the state ID and it can be challenging when you are trying to make a smart decision.

22.5.2018

This game has been a surprising hit. I bought myself a copy after hearing a short review on a podcast and stumbling onto a single copy at my flgs (plus I'd be willing to try out any game with Freidman Friesse's name on it). I was not disappointed.It's a bit of a party game. The worker-placement element of the game turns trivia kind of on it's head and for most questions that you don't know, it becomes a game of trying to figure out which opponent knows the answer rather than trying to figure it out yourself.I'd almost prefer if the questions were a little harder. The real fun is when one or none of the players know the answer.

27.4.2017

This is a nice game if you have tons of American trivia packed away in your brain, or if you'd like lots of it. The homeschool mama part of me likes that there's educational types of facts/questions included, like when was The Star Spangled Banner written and when the United States Senate first convened. There's also tons of "bubblegum" trivia, too, though, like the debut of Gilmore Girls and questions about Simcity. Those types are more abundant.Each card will center around 3 topics: Year, State, and Number. For example, the card labeled Orange Julius will ask what year the first restaurant opened, what state has it as the World's Fair official beverage, and how many teaspoons of sugar are in a small orange julius.

19.10.2016

America is a terrific game to play at a game night or small party. The components are of outstanding quality; the map-game-board is double sided, (and reasonably water-resistant) and very well organized. The only difference in the two sides is that while one has the names of the states; the other just their outline. The actual game cards are superbly printed and unlike in many other games, large, attractive, and easy to read. The game comes with 160 double-sided cards, and as each ‘game’ uses six cards, so there are enough for fifty-three games.While the game is heavily in to pop culture, there are also questions on history and geography. Each card asks a team to choose the state,

25.10.2016

Testing this as a free product from the Amazon Vine program.I love trivia, trivia games, books and also some of the newer style games like Wits n Wagers and Telestrations.More importantly than that, I like games where the whole family gets together, without ANY electronic devices!Biggest drawback with the classic Trivial Pursuit is the time it takes to play, not so here, much quicker and more fun.Test your knowledge of states, and fun facts about America, over 6 competitive rounds, where you can get by with a guess, or even points for a being close!I agree completely with another reviewer that 12-13 years and up is probably best for this game, younger players WILL get bored.My 12 and 13 year old (who play a lot of games)

15.11.2016

America is a fun trivia game where you don't have to have the exact answer. While it took us a little while to figure out how to play, after we learned, we've had lots of fun playing. This game will be great for long winter nights! Another plus is that we learn stuff! Somethings some folks will know but a lot of the questions are going to be guesses and that's an interesting part of the game-if you have a general idea of the question, you can get ahead. This game doesn't last too long-you work through 6 question cards so it depends on how many people are playing, but even if you have four or five, this isn't a Monopoly rally.All in all we like this game because it's fun to play, it's interesting,

9.11.2016

Usually, “close” doesn’t count except in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear warfare. But now, thanks to this “America" board game it also counts in trivia games.One of the major problems with trivia games in general is that not everybody shares the same level of accumulated knowledge so once it becomes clear who the trivia stars are, it’s no fun to play anymore. And just try dragging mom in to play another round of Trivial Pursuit when she doesn’t have a lot of first-hand knowledge of Gunsmoke. This game has turned that problem into an opportunity because now your answer can be merely close and you still get points. (More points for exact answers though). Similarly,

29.10.2016

We found this a fun, original game.My favorite "angle" on this game is that it engages people who might not know American trivia but are interested nonetheless. This includes probably half of our friend,who are immigrants.You don't have to know the answers in order to guess. You can "piggy back" on other players' responses (assuming they have played ahead of you, of course). You will get only half the number of points, but half is better than nothing. It also adds an extra element of strategy to the game.Even though native-born, I had fun learning new tidbits, such as the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. I grew up in Memphis, on the river, and had never heard of it.The various approaches to the answers—years,

8.10.2016

I love games like this. Beside the competition of any game, there's the element of sharing laughs and conversation as you play-- not to mention nostalgia, memories, stories. Even if no one knows the answer to a particular question it's great fun to speculate about what the answer might be, or talk about why you don't know, or how you almost know. Plus you almost always learn something-- bits of trivia, of course, but also things about your friends that may not have previously come up in conversation.Questions include a wide range of topics: history, geography, food, pop culture. Answers will be either: a state, a year, or a number. Theoretically you could just enjoy quizzing one another with the cards,

27.12.2016

This is an interesting game. It's a trivia game that give you credit for getting close to the right score. So every round there are three questions on the same topic. Each question uses a different part of the game board. You make your guesses for each then look at the answers. You move your chit based on the scoring. The game took about 40 minutes for me and my family to play (5 players). We played a slightly simpler version of the game (without the multiple bets) and with the state names showing (you can flip the board to show the US without the names for more challenge) because we have four kids playing. It's a fun game. But after more than a month, the family hasn't asked to pull it out again so it may not have been for us.

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