Video of Session: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8txL58q9AsXYCrZa9
For this class, we decided to play Wits & Wagers (The Party Version)
Here’s the link on BoardGameGeek if you would like to play it for yourself. The mechanics of this game were betting and wagering. Overall, the game was fun and I’m looking to acquire a copy of my own soon. Betting games are particularly fun only when there are stakes involved, so the chips as a form of currency are important if one doesn’t want to involve real money.
(As a notetaker, I would have liked more time actually playing the game myself.)
Session Report:
Pre-Game
- Figuring out the rules
- First name introduction
- The ones who had played the games before began explaining the values of the chips and how the betting mechanic works
- The group wasn’t sure how to win the game, so we made up an arbitrary rule: deciding who the “first to one thousand” was. However, we re-checked rules and the winning rule is whichever team has the most money after the 7th round.
- Team with the youngest player? Not sure what specific rule modifier this was so we ignored it
- Started with a practice round
- Split into four teams of two players each
- Blue team
- Red team
- Pink team
- Purple team
Round 1
Question: “On average how many greeting cards does a us household purchase each year”
Answer: 30
Each group began debating the answers among themselves after hearing the question. After the teams decided, everyone put their whiteboard cards (upside-down) in the center. One person organized the cards in order of numerical size, starting from the “Double” card (value of 1). After the cards were in order, people started figuring out how to bet and how much to bet. Internally, teams had to debate on how much to bet. Someone asked to confirm if that was everyone’s “best bet” to finalize the round.
One team member read the answer
Blue team guessed 18, blue team won that round by getting $300
Pink team got $200
At this point in the game, we were still learning how to take notes to create session reports.
Round 1.5 (Mistake)
Question: What percent of American adults volunteered at least once in the past year
Answer: 26.3%
Question reader wasn’t sure which question on the chart to ask, as there were two. We just decided to go with the question on top. Pink team decided their answer first and everyone subsequently put out their answer cards. However, someone accidentally read the answer, so we moved on to the next question and counted that round as practice
Round 2
As there was a little bit of confusion after that round, people were debating about the rules a bit until the question was read.
Question: in what year was the very first email sent
Answer: 1971
It was clarified that chip colors that were bet corresponded to the team colors. The standard procedures were followed—everyone put out their answer placards and flipped/organized the answers. The Purple team decided to put their money on the “1” card, so they got a double payout after the answer was revealed.
Round 3
Question:
Teams debated between themselves as usual. Flipped and ordered cards. 3 chips on pink team’s guess—(Pink team decided to put a chip on the doubles placard)
The answer was $284.48
Team Score Summary
Round 4
Team Score Summary
Blue 3 chips
Pink 2 chips
Purple 5 chips
Red 0 chips
Question: In what year was a smiley face first used to express emotion on a computer screen?
Answer: 1982
As usual, the teams debated a bit amongst themselves and then put their placards into the center after deliberating.
The cards were flipped and arranged. Blue Team put their bets on their own cards. The answer was revealed.
Updated chip count:
Red team +2
Pink team +1
Round 5
Team Score Summary
Question: What was the estimated population of the United States in July of 1776?
Answer: 2.5 Million
There was some debate on the question and specifics such as whether the boardgame was counting specific ethnic groups as “population” during that specified time. We judged that the questions were a bit ambiguous and could be more precise. Teams debated technicalities among themselves and were surprised at the other teams answers when the placards were flipped. Once again, the placards were arranged into numerical order.
Score changes:
Blue +3
Purple +1
Round 6
Team Score Summary
We counted how many rounds we were at to determine if we were playing the final round, (discounting the broken round).
Question: In feet, what is the height of the tallest living tree?
Answer: 379.33 Feet
After putting down their cards, the teams doubted their own answers. When flipped, it was revealed that we had another double-up answer from teams blue and pink.
Blue +1 chip for card
+2 for answer
Pink +1 chip for card
+2 for answer
Purple +2 chips for answer
Red +2 chips for answer
Teams collected cards and reset their placards and confirmed that they could bet their chips.
(Once again clarified that the 7th round is the final round)
Round 7 (FINAL)
Question: What percent of Americans went to the beach in the past year?
Answer: 25.1%
Blue team asked what year the boardgame was made in to make a better guess and asked which country’s population that the question was referring to. (It was American).
As usual, the cards were flipped and organized. As this was the last round, Blue team bet and went all-in.
FINAL SCORES:
Blue total cash: $2,600
Red total cash $900
Purple total cash $2,000
Pink total cash $0
Blue team won, and the game took about 30 minutes to play.
Level 1 