Review¦ Whether I’m gathering with friends or family at Christmas, we all enjoy playing a good board game! Now, Beat That! is a little different. Whilst it doesn’t have a board, you do need a large flat space like a dining table. You also need to prepare to make a fool of yourself and laugh a lot while doing all sorts of odd challenges! It’s advertised as 11+ but you could easily modify it so that younger children can play. Our 3 year old loved having a go at some of the challenges.
What’s in the box?
It’s probably best to start with what you get in the box:
- 160 challenge cards
- 80 betting tokens
- 10 playing cups
- 5 plastic balls
- 4 dice
- Chopsticks
- Memo pad
- Tape measure
- Sand timer
- Game rules
A pretty random assortment of things, right?
How do I play?
Unlike most games, you don’t have to read through lots of instructions and take ages getting your head around the rules. You need 2-8 players, so it’s great for date nights as well as larger gatherings of family and friends.
There are 3 colours of tokens, all worth a different number of points. Each player is given 10 of these at the start. Then someone picks a challenge card and reads the challenge aloud. Each player than bets a counter on how confident they are with completing the challenge. Going round in a circle, each person attempts the challenge and those who are successful get to bank their points!
What are the challenges?
There are 4 categories of challenges:
- Solo (where you do challenges on your own)
- Battle Royale (where you all compete against each other)
- Buddy up (where you work with a partner)
- Duel (where you go head-to-head with another player)
The challenges are very varied and can be carried out by old and young. They vary from things like stacking a pyramid of cups with your eyes closed, or turning around with a die on your head without it falling off, to bouncing 3 balls off of the table into 3 cups before the sand timer runs out! One of the hardest challenges I’ve had was having cups on my hands and trying to stack several dice within 30 seconds. It’s much harder than it sounds – especially when you can’t stop laughing!
The winner is the person who at the end of 10 rounds has banked the most points.
Playing the game
Apart from Cards Against Humanity, which let’s face it, isn’t really suitable for playing at the dining table with family on a Sunday, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at a game. It’s so funny watching people attempting their challenges. Furthermore, it’s really interesting to see how people do on each challenge as you often can’t guess it! I’ve often fallen into the trap of betting 3 points as I’m confident I’ll complete a challenge, then failing miserably, and vice versa.
It was hilarious with family, with us ranging in age from early 20’s to mid 70’s. 3 year old Autumn even chipped in and tried some challenges too. I’ve also played this just with my husband, which was good fun too (although I think the more people you have the more fun it makes it). If alcohol is added to the mix, I can only imagine it becomes even funnier!
Due to its versatility, quickness to set up and funniness, I think if you’re planning on getting a new game for the family to play this Christmas, THIS is the one to go for!
You can find Beat That! on Amazon.
Disclosure: I received this game free of charge for the purpose of this review. As always, all views and opinions are honest and my own.