Disclaimer: This review is from a reviewer’s copy of the game that was provided by Stuff By Bez to Open Seat Gaming, but opinions are our own based on several plays of the game.

Game: Wibbell
Publisher: Stuff By Bez
Designers: Behrooz Shahriari, David Brain, Andrew Dennison, Aaron Reading, and YOU! (That’s what Bez says)
Artist: Behrooz Shahriari
Main Game Mechanisms: Word Game, Party Game
Number of Players: 3 to 7
Game Time: 10 to 30 minutes (depending on player count)

Note: So, this is the first in a series of reviews that are going to be a little bit different. The Wibbell++ system is a really unique system developed by Behrooz Shahriari, better known as “Bez.” The basis of it is this: If you can get a lot of great games to play with a traditional deck of cards, why aren’t we creating more decks of cards that you can utilize to play multiple games?

That’s why she started the Wibbell++ system. And, in the spirit of that innovation, we’re actually going to review several of the games that have been developed by Bez and other Wibbell++ enthusiasts, starting with the namesake, Wibbell. The next edition of the game will be coming to Kickstarter later in the year!

Description: Wibbell is a fast-playing game where you are shouting out words that have at least one letter from each of the two cards that have been placed out on the table. Seriously – if you understand that, then you’ve got a pretty solid handle on how the game goes.

You put the Wibbell++ deck on the table, and then play out 2 cards. You need to be the first to shout out a word that uses at least one letter from each of the two cards that are out there. If you’re the first to do so, you get one of those cards and put it in front of you.

Sounds easy, right? Here’s where it gets challenging. Now, you have to use one of the letters in the card(s) in front of you as well as the cards that are in the center of the table. This “catch-up” mechanism allows people who may not be as quick on the draw to be able to get some cards as well. When someone gets 4 cards, everyone flips their cards into their own scoring pile and the next round begins. Get through the deck, and the game is over. Count up how many cards are in your scoring pile, and whoever has the most, wins!

Review: First off, let me talk about the cards. The cards for this game are a ton of fun and the art is attractive and eye-catching. It’s easy to read the text and to interpret what the cards have on them, from the letters, to the symbols, and everything else that is on there. The cards are “busy,” but distinctive, so there’s no real problem distinguishing anything.

We like goofy games as much as the next person and, because of that, Wibbell really appealed to us. We read the rules for the game and then started playing pretty quickly. The rules were really easy to understand and we only had a couple times where we had to check the rules in order to make sure that we were doing something right.

One of my favorite parts of the game is the catch-up mechanism, which also helps to indicate rounds at the same time. If someone is doing really well, they may have 3 cards in front of them that they have to try and sort out words with, along with those two cards in the middle of the table.

That can get really difficult – one time, Scott yelled out “antidisestablishmentarianism” because he couldn’t figure out what else to say (it was legal, by the way). Even at 3 players, Scott, Sarah, and I were having a ton of fun trying to piece out words from all of the letters that we had to try and deal with.

Wibbell is a great flagship game to have in this system, and we really enjoyed it. We hope to get it back to the table with more people and see how much of a blast that it can be with even more players.

Have you tried any of the games in the Wibbell++ system yet? Which one has been your favorite?

Game On!
Marti – The Fluffy Meeple