Awkward Moment
3-8
12+
20+
Prepare for awkwardness.
Each round puts 3-8 players in terrifically awkward social situations! Take turns being the Decider. Draw a Moment Card to reveal a hysterical, embarrassing, or stressful situation. Use the Decider Card to determine the basis for a winning Reaction. Impress the Decider by submitting the best response from your hand!
Awkward Moment is a 20 minute game for middle and high school students.
images © Tiltfactor
User Reviews (1)
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Gameplay
3-10 players each get a hand of 5 reaction cards. These are ways that people could react to awkward moments, like: “Pretend your shoe is untied,” or “An eye for an eye.”
One player is chosen to start as “the decider.” The decider flips over a moment card and reads it out loud. These are awkward situations to which the rest of the players have to respond. My favorite example is: “You think you see your best friend walking down the street and wave at her, but it turns out to be somebody else.”
The decider flips over a decider card as well. This card says how the decider should pick the best answer. If the decider flips over the card that says “bravest,” then each of the players (except for the decider) contributes one reaction card face down, and each wants their own answer to be the bravest. Reactions are shuffled and read aloud, then the decider chooses his or her favorite one, and whoever submitted that gets to keep the moment card (worth one point).
Everyone fills up their hand to 5 reaction cards, and the next player becomes the decider. Play continues until players run out of time or cards, whichever comes first.
Message
As with all Tiltfactor games, Awkward Moment has a goal; it was made as part of a project to make board games and card games that decrease gender bias in Science Technology Math and Engineering (STEM) fields. Some of the moments are tangentially related to gender bias in STEM (although I’ve never see anyone notice this fact). Through these, the game has been shown to decrease gender bias. Studies done reveal that middle-school girls and boys are more open to pairing women with non-stereotypic professions after playing the game even once.
Thoughts
While the gameplay is not extremely exciting or innovative, the content is. The moments and reactions are hilarious, and especially so for a younger audience. Kids 10-15 just love this game, and I’ve even seen them choose it over better known ones such as Uno and Battleship.
The game can be played with 3-10 players, and is super easy to learn. This flexibility, coupled with the game’s effectiveness at decreasing bias makes it a great choice to play with kids or to entertain young teenagers with!
Ratings for various types of gamers:
Strategy Gamers – 4
Power Gamers – 4
Avid Gamers – 5
Casual Gamers – 7
Social Gamers – 9
Family Gamers – 9