Easy to learn, you can play almost instantly and no age group or ability gets an advantage... it's a truly level playing field, so it's perfect for families to play together.
The box itself becomes your Story Chest and is decorated inside and out. Inside are the pieces to make a very nifty Tilting Deck, 42 Tokens (6 each in 7 colours), 3 Base Tiles and rules. You'll need a minute or two before the first game to press out tokens and assemble the Tilting Deck, but otherwise play can be instant.
Also included are 100 Story Cards. They are amazing. There is so much detail that I could look at these for hours. Modern and old, real life and fantasy, each card has several different aspects you can focus on.
Players take turns to have the active role. 1 card is drawn from the top of the Story Card deck. A player chooses a detail from it which has to be included in the first story, and tells everyone before placing it at the bottom of the deck.
Two new cards are taken from the top of the deck and the active player has to secretly choose a card to create a story - remembering to include the detail chosen earlier. Don't tell anyone. The other players have to guess individually which card you picked, and place tokens accordingly.
Tokens worth 1,2 or 3 are put onto the Tilting Deck depending on how confident you are. The player then relates their story and the deck is tilted towards the side corresponding to the correct card. This makes all of the wrong answer tokens fall into the middle slot, where they aren't counted at the end.
The card which was chosen is placed in front of the storyteller and the other left where it is. Play continues with each storyteller using a detail given to them, plus their secret choice between two cards - a new card from the top of the stack or the card which wasn't used last round.
The aim of the game is to have the highest score at the end by correctly predicting your opponents choice of card.
We had an amazing amount of fun playing this. The Tilting Deck works incredibly well and the Story Chest prevents the storyteller having any idea who has guessed which card. Making up a little tale including the card and the detail is super easy and often hilarious.
Every card is full of many things to spot and amazing elements to add to your story. It's so gorgeous and inspiring that it's never hard to create a tale, even for players who find choices more difficult, The sky is never the limit.
As well as being part of the gameplay, the box is also designed for easy storage of your game afterwards and the Tilting Deck lifts apart in a second, so tidying up is super quick - as is getting the game out. Each game lasts only around 20 minutes, although you can play for as long as you want because the scores add up, so it's a brilliant game to for a spare half hour, or to wind down at the end of a games night.
Once you start to get into the swing of making up quick stories, you can play a bit and create stories which could be either card, or which take bizarre details and put them together, or you can try to continue your story through the game. You can also use more cards each time and include extra elements. This is a game which you will never 'use up'.
Story Chest is recommended for players aged around 7+ and I think that's about right. Some more confident youngsters will be able to join in earlier. It's a relatively calm game and ideal for before bedtime because it fills your head with stories. We really love this one.
Story Chest is made by Tactic and available to buy now priced at the incredibly reasonable £22.99rrp (Amazon affiliate link below). I will also have a fantastic Tactic Games Bundle to give away in my Christmas Present Giveaways in November. You can find all of my current UK giveaways here...
We were sent our copy of Story Chest Game by Tactic for review. Amazon links are affiliate, which earns me a few pence if you buy through my link, but never costs you a penny. One day I may make enough to buy some magic beans... or just baked beans... I just thought of a story...
How do you actually play the game? I chose the card with the rat king, marionette and girl in the white dress kneeling. I chose the marionette as the detail. Then I picked two cards and neither of them had anything remotely like a rat, or a king or a marionette or a girl in a dress. How does one make a story like that when the cards are all different? As for choosing which card someone used, that's just 50/50 chance. One could walk away and come back, without having heard the story, and get it right 50% of the time
ReplyDeleteHiya, and sorry for the delayed reply - I had an operation and a lot of time in hospital. I think I explained gameplay okay there. The pictures don't have to be linked in any way. You just make up a story and often the juxtaposition is what results in genuinely funny tales. You are absolutely right, the choice is a 50/50 gamble which relies more on luck and prior knowledge than skill. This is more of a tool to have a good evening and make up some daft stories together, than it is a serious competitive game. I don't think that actually lessens it's usefulness at all though, it is fun, and it will give you hints about the personality of other players, which will not only be interesting for 'life', but also future other gameplay.
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