28.12.2007

This toy/game looked so attractive that I just had to open it and play with it as an early Christmas present to myself.It's a simple concept (just like the old twenty questions guessing game), where you think of something - anything - and 20Q asks you a question to which you answer 'yes', 'no', 'sometimes' or 'don't know'. After you've answered 20 times he makes his guess, and wins it if is correct. If he's wrong he gets another 5 questions and guesses again.20Q has a cheeky sense of humour, with comments in between the questions which suggests he's finding this too easy and will always win, and although this adds to the fun and entertainment value, he does actually get it wrong sometimes.

1.2.2006

My friend was watching Top Gear (or one of those equally sophisticated boys' toys programmes) and she told me that the presenter, after giving a lot of silly but convincing examples, concluded that what a chap (that is to say, an adult male) really wants for his birthday or Christmas, is a toy suitable for 7 to 12 year olds. Don't buy him socks or pants or a woolly hat or a bottle of scent. Get him a snazzy toy that he can play with. If you can't afford to buy him a fast car or a motorbike, get something that can still be enjoyed by the kid in him. So she bought her old man this 20Q toy. Now it's sitting on the senior partner's desk in our office, where it gets played with by all the partners,

3.3.2005

This is the ideal toy to keep children quiet on long journies and I include myself in that category. You think of something,it asks you 20 questions(or 25 if it guesses wrong first time),it tells you what you were thinking of and you say "wow".Or if you are my mother-in-law you think of Uncle Frank,it doesn't tell you what you were thinking of and you are unimpressed. I found that it guesses right about 95% of the time which is quite impressive.Especially as the right guesses have included smoke alarm,stapler,magnifying glass,bald eagle and courgette. It just seems unfortunate that the 5% of the times it gets it wrong always seem to be when you've handed it a friend telling them how astounding

2.2.2005

This little beauty is exceptional fun. Who'd think that out of this little piece of plastic you could get so many hours of entertainment? The rule is simple: think of anything, literally anything, and stick to it, answer the questions and over 90% of the time 20Q will guess what you were thinking.This toy seems to have an infinite knowlege inside its transparent blue exterior and this sums up to hours of enjoyment. The equipment has a small-ish LED screen to display questions and several buttons (Yes, No, Maybe, Sometimes) which help to answer the seemigngly irrevelent questions it throws at you. Although small, these are easy to use.

27.11.2005

I first saw this when a teaching colleague showed me his. I was amazed at how it managed to work out what I was thinking. At first I thought of fairly mundane, everyday things but even when I tried to think of more abstract ideas (without being too obscure) it guessed those as well. I was so impressed, I bought one.Anyway, having had my own and played it quite a lot, it still retains the 'wow' factor you get when you are first outwitted. I intend to use it as a teaching aid to help my kids with question structure and improving their vocabulary. I would say that it will certainly be useful and amusing for the age range that I teach (8-10 year olds).I do have a couple of minor quibbles though.

11.8.2006

For as long as I can remember we've always played "20 Questions" in my family so when I saw this whilst looking for a present for my parents I just had to get it. My mum was somewhat skeptical about it at first and was convinced it was never going to guess what she was thinking about but was amazed when it got it spot on. Even my dad, who was never particuarly a fan of "20 Questions" (mainly because he was never any good at it!) found it amazing, possibly because of its gadgety nature.I've nicknamed it "Columbo" because it doesn't always look like it's asking anything relevant to what you're thinking about and you start to wonder if it has the faintest idea at all but it very rarely gets it wrong at the end!

4.4.2005

I bought one of these little gizmos on a whim just before a recent holiday - it captivated our group and hardly an hour passed between someone grabbing it, saying, "I wonder if it can guess..."My feeling is that the questions should be taken in the manner they're intended. If you are absolutely strict, then "Would you find this in a classroom?" could be just about anything - Aarkvarks and Zeppelins (maybe pictures & models respectively); if you read that one as "Are you likely to find this in a classroom?" then it would be "No".So, given a reasonable attitude, it really is quite good at guessing. If it's wide of the mark after 20 questions, it goes on for a further 5 before guessing again.Mine started losing pixels randomly from the display,

13.12.2010

Just happened to buy this toy from a shop as a small gift for our 11 yr old son. He's hardly had a go because i'm always on it LOL. We found it scarily accurate ! we've tried a number of different things to catch it out and it got nearly all of them right, including mirror, dvd player, white tiger, lion, microphone, shirt, christmas tree and many others i can't remember ! if you answer the questions logically it nearly always gets it right - its amazing because the questions it asks seem so random that you can't fathom how it came to the right conclusion, we've only beat it twice so far ("chopsticks" and something else I can't remember).I would usually never buy something like this for an adult

12.7.2006

I got this for my sister for Christmas, as we have an annual competition to get a present for each other that you can't guess what it is. (The ball shape made it ideal!)She was duly stumped, until when squeezing it she hit a button and he started chirping at her."It's a game or something!"Well, she was right.Despite hitting a few buttons whilst trying to guess what he was, she set about seeing if he could guess a traditional Christmas item... Brussel Sprouts!No problem for the little chap.He was passed around the house and everyone, young and old was impressed with his skills. If you come up with something totally obscure you might catch him out,

26.7.2005

This little toy, about the size of a small apple, is completely addictive. It is recommended for ages "8 and up": I exceed that by over 30 years and I can't put it down.No, it doesn't get it right every time (I was thinking of "camera" and it guessed "nose", bizarrely..)but the truly remarkable thing is just how often it DOES get it right after asking apparently irrelevant questions. I reckon it outwits you 3 times out of 5 but, hey, it's just so damn clever even when it's wrong..I agree totally that it is great for children but anyone under 8 might have difficulty answering some of the questions. "Do you bring it with you?" is the weirdest question as even I'm not sure what it is trying to discover with that enquiry.It's handy,

30.11.2005

ok, what can i say that hasnt already been said here, quite simply this item is an ESSENTIAL buy,the fun it generates around people is fantastic, and can bring shy children to the front,who simply can not wait to have a go for themselves.the amount of times it gets thinsg right are amazing,some obscure ones i have thrown at it with it gettng the better of me,"contact lense", cd, wallpaper,but THE ultimate one was one i got off there customer support guy when i had a slight screen failier (got a replacement sent the very next day without having to return other one)and that was "brown river rat", yes you heard right, that really did floor me.just buy one now i ASSURE you,

9.12.2005

I didn't rate this highly on educational value (you have to know the answers to the questions to begin with - so it wouldn't teach your kids anything new) but other than that its a pretty fab toy.it's more accuarate than you'd imagine - which leads to lots of people sitting round trying to beat the game with more and more bizarre objects (my office came up with binding machine - but I guess that is a bit unfair on it) it did manage holepunch..it can be difficult to read the screen - so if you have poor eyesight buy the bigger tabletop version I guess.I dont know how durable it is - we haven't had it long, but it hasn't broken yet - I wouldnt suggest that you drop kick it though!The novelty factor of this game will wear off in the end,

3.6.2006

I love this toy. Give it a chance and It will steal quite a bit of time. Some people don't like it. And it's their own fault.There are two types of people who try this toy.1) The people who think 'This should be fun'. These people enjoy the toy because they think up sane things for it to try and guess. Even when they push it it still surprises them. (It guess Vampire, I was impressed at that one). I'm in this catagory.2) Other people think 'Okay then. Impress me. I bet I can win you'. These people deliberatley conjure up ridiculous and obscure objects to try and throw the poor thing off and when it fails say 'Oh, it's rubbish'.Give it a chance, think of something simple at first and see how far you can push it.

25.4.2005

I came across this great little gadget just before Christmas when I was searching for something original to buy the children of friends of mine. When it arrived, the packageing allowed you to have a go of it. So I did!The thing is fantastic! Like the original game, it asks a series of questions with the aim of determining the item somebody is thinking of. And it gets it right the majority of the time!Its really quite fascinating! I ended up ordering another eight in time for Christmas and had Amazon deliver them direct to the kids of all of my friends. And they went down a storm! I even got email and letters from the kids thanking me!!If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive and original present to buy kids (or even adults actually)

19.3.2005

Having missed the postal delivery, prior to starting my saturday 'chores' I went to the post office to collect my Amazon goods.It was my 20Q and as for my saturday schedule - that flew right out of the window.This little plastic ball of electronics has occupied me constantly for 2 hours.I have no idea how it fathoms it's answers out from the questions it asks - but it does.I did manage to fox it with circular saw but it sort of got close by guessing a katana.And how the hell it worked out electric guitar totally beats me!All in all this is a toy which will keep you amused just trying to beat it. You'll not learn anything but that's not the point.

Mattel 20Q Handheld - Reviews

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