This time of year is usually synonymous with board games, as everyone gathers round to make noise and get silly with some classic party favourites. However, there’s no denying that the festive season is going to be a little different this year. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, many people won’t be seeing their friends and family in the flesh in the coming weeks. Obviously, this is going to make playing board games rather difficult. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean people can’t find other ways to make merry with a hilarity-inducing bit of social gaming this December.
Thanks to the availability of video streaming software like Zoom and Google Meet, players have been finding ways of connecting with their loved ones for some tabletop fun all year. Whilst some games are more easily adapted to be played over webcam than others – I certainly wouldn’t recommend trying Jenga – party games are one of the better choices when it comes to playing online. The simplicity of their rules and the focus on social interaction makes many a perfect fit for video calls, but none more so than Monikers.
Charades may be a holiday tradition for many people, but it tends to get boring pretty quickly. Monikers solves this particular problem by shaking up the classic guess-who/what formula with some unique little twists. Capable of supporting up to 16 players, Monikers has its players attempting to describe various peoples, places and things without using their actual names. This concept is nothing new in the tabletop world, considering the popularity of games such as Taboo and Articulate, but Monikers brings something new to the table.
Monikers feels modern in a way that a lot of the older and stuffier variations of classic party games don’t. Many of the cards featured in the core box, as well as the subsequent expansions, list characters and concepts that people on social media might be familiar with: “Drunk Jeff Goldblum” and “Doge” both make an appearance. Whilst this might make it a bit trickier to play with people who do not regularly use the internet – like my parents – it does provide plenty of potential for referencing your favourite memes.