CDSK
WBG Score: 7
Player Count: 2-16
You’ll like this if you like: Any trivia game
Published by: Randolph
Designed by: Vincent Burger
This is a free review copy. See our review policy here
A game about trivia you say? Where some questions ask you to list things in order to gain points? Ok then! Welcome to the first ever (I’m assuming, please don’t look it up and burst my bubble) board game review challenge game. How many quiz shows do I “expertly” shoehorn into this review 1 point for each answer at the end, let me know how well you did in the comments. Let’s hope you don’t draw a Blankety Blank. Answers at the end
How to quiz
Open out the box and reveal the scoring track, get together in teams (as many as you want) and then find something to use as scoring tokens for each team and you're all set up.
On your team's turn, look at the space you're currently on and get another team to pick a card of that type. There are four types:
Curious - precise or bizarre subjects.
Delightful - Music, movies and sports.
Seasoned - Grown up type stuff (not that type of grown up, it’s not that sort of game) Knowledge - science, nature, geography and history.
Regardless of the type each card will ask “on a scale of 1 to 10 how well do you know……..” for example! Blockbusters. The team then has to determine how well they think they know that subject and pick a number between 1 and 10. Each card will have 10 questions on it and they'll get asked a question based on the number they picked with one being the easiest and ten being the hardest. If they get it right they score that many points and move that far round the track. If not then you go Pointless for that turn. If a team starts on a challenge space (it looks like a ticket) they answer a challenge card. These could be to answer some questions and get a point for each correct answer or they could be, name as many…….Family Fortunes hosts in 30 seconds style questions. Teams on the last space need to answer a “hurry up and win” card. These will have a variety of question types as well. Get this one right and you win the game. Get it wrong and you get to panic as you watch opponents ride that big old Wheel of Fortune to try and catch up to you.
Become the Oracle.
The problem with a lot of trivia games is you either know the answer to a question or you don’t. Some you can guess at, but for the most part if the questions aren’t going your way then you’re not gonna have a great time and it can be so easy to feel stupid as you see other players storm ahead to victory with no way of you getting the points to catch up. CDSK is a trivia game that does its best to try to alleviate that and give everyone a chance to feel like they’ve not just gone the quiz equivalent of going toe to toe with one of the chasers from The Chase. Not least because you’ll be in teams….unless you decide to go head to head which could be Quite Interesting.
In terms of difficulty the questions range from, you should easily get this, think the first question from Who Wants to be a Millionaire to, yes, you have just accidentally walked on to the set of University Challenge….. well maybe not quite that hard.
Depending on your team there can be a really nice dynamic as you try and gauge how far you want to push your knowledge of each subject. At some point some will say, “I reckon we go 5 on this one” and without fail someone will say “nah, at least a 7.” It’s then you’ve got to decide how much you trust this Mastermind's knowledge of that subject, It’s a genuine gamble. You want to go as high as you can, but you also don’t want to go too far above your means because it’s always best to get a question right and move somewhere than to get too ambitious and not move at all, especially if you're in a category where your team isn’t the strongest. It might even be a good strategy to go for the questions that would move you and Bullseye you onto your preferred subjects.
The challenge spaces change things up and add a bit more of a group dynamic, especially the timed challenges. For example, name as many yellow characters that don’t come from the Simpsons in 45 seconds and get a point for each correct answer. At which point everyone will be shouting out answers and it all descends into chaotic fun.
When it comes to game length you’ve got a classic and an express starting space for a shorter game. Definitely use the shorter game if you’ve got a few teams because it could be a loooong one but other than that go with your gut. I think the shorter game is perfect for an end of the night game but if you’ve got a few smarty pants on a team then it could be quick enough that you could reset and start again.
If you like it then you’d better put a band on it.
So production wise I’m kinda torn on this one. On the one hand I love the fact that the board opens out from the box and it sets up in seconds. On the other hand the magnetic clasp on the box (on my copy at least, I can’t speak for anyone else’s ) isn’t that strong and takes no effort for it to get nudged open. I had an incident where the box got flipped on its side in a bag and the box opened and there were cards everywhere. My worry is that if all the boxes are the same then anyone who stores their games vertically could have the same thing happen when pulling the game off the shelf and a bit of weight pushes the lid open.
I’m also not sure on the decision to not provide score markers and have teams pick their own. Again on the one hand it keeps the cost down and makes for a bit of a creative flair for the players. Seeing a Lego minifig run round the board after a little superman toy is fun and is definitely in keeping with the spirit of the game (the rules and some of the cards themselves can be pretty amusing) But I do worry what will happen in the situations where you don’t have anything to hand that’s small enough to use. Of course there’s nothing stopping you throwing a couple of odd nick knacks in the box just in case. There’s enough room in there but because of the potential clasp problem I wouldn’t make it anything too heavy that’s gonna put your box in Jeopardy
We’ve had fun with CDSK (the name doesn’t do it any favours though), there’s laughter to be had for a quick end of the night game or as an addition to an evening of party games. I’d happily throw this in my bag to be put into the mix. Maybe not throw, more, gently place, with maybe a band around it.
So did you get all 12? I’ll put the answers in the comments.