Page 22 - spielbox_0717_EN

REVIEW
Lively Guessing Game – Dream-like Pictures
To promote When I Dream at SPIEL 2017, Repos employees wore pajamas with nightcaps, walking around with pillows – their booth even had a real bed. This kind of stunt might attract attention, but it won’t necessarily speak to every- one; does the game have anything to do with dreaming, or maybe with
the meaning of dreams?
The game box also contains a bed – to place the 110 cards. The dou- ble-sided cards have dream-like illustrations on both sides. Each picture combines two ideas, and the word for each is written on the top and bottom, respectively, of the cards. A head- board-piece covers one of the two words, so that there is no confusion as to which one is being used. When I Dream is a guessing game, and a fairly tame one. Several players give clues while one player guesses. No time for dreaming, the game is on. The dream illustrations are purely decorative. It would have been more useful to print the words twice so that no one has to read upside down, instead of printing the images on the cards.
Turn a card face up to show, for exam- ple, “shark”. Each player in turn contrib- utes a word: “fish”, “danger-
ous”, “triangle”, etc.
The Dreamer has two min-
utes to guess as many
words as possible, but he
only gets one attempt per
card. The Dreamer wears a
sleep mask, the kind that light-sen-
sitive people wear to sleep, so that he can’t read the words that he has to guess.
I Don’t believe everything
So how can the dreamer guess if the other player says, “brown cat” instead of “triangle”? That’s when the Boogeymen stir up trouble. Not everyone at the table is a good Fairy. The roles are secretly assigned each round. Depending on the number of participants, there are usually more Fairies than Boogeymen around, but you never know for sure. A role card is placed face down in the middle of the table.
Then there is the Sandman, which I par- ticularly like. Whoever takes on this role will have to ensure that there are as many guesses as wrong ones.
The dreamer can take as much time as he wants, guessing after the first clue or after a dozen. I would not recommend guessing at an answer after only a few hints, because the risk is too great that the first clues come from the Boogeymen. If you’re worried that the Dreamer has no way of guessing who the Boogeymen and the Fairies are, rest assured it works. The fairies work together towards a specific common goal, while the Boogeymen rarely do. Anyway, they don’t have the
opportunity to coordinate.
Whoever takes on the role of the
Boogeyman for the first time will be
surprised to find out that it is not that easy to master. Many start to stutter when they’re thinking up elaborate fibs to mislead the Dreamer. It won’t do to simply say “table”, “window”, “dog” each time. The guessing player
will immediately notice that something is up. Anyway, as a Boogeyman you will quickly develop the desire to send the Dreamer down the wrong path. When I
Dream is suited for a big group – six or more players – and is great fun. The two minutes are filled with hectic activity as the Dreamer tries to guess words while the other players provide a steady stream of clues. The rule says you have up to five seconds to think up a clue, but that almost never happens in practice. The teammates try to get the slowpoke to say “pass” to keep things moving.
20
When I Dream
spielbox