This is a party game where you are quite literally playing for laughs! The 2-8 players each have a sand timed one minute to concoct an advertisement for a product which they pitch to the other players. If a player laughs, they have to pay from the small stack of dollar cards they start the game with. The dollars function as victory points, with the win awarded to the player who has the most dollar cards after five rounds of pitches.
Players draw three cards that tell them what they 'gotta sell', give 'an object' that has to be used in the ad and 'what's happening' to set the scene. The idea is that you then use these cards as improv prompts: great for budding and wannabe standup comedians but a prospect that could fall flat with some prospective players. But that of course is the issue with most storytelling and pitching games - you have to play with the right crowd and they have to be in the right mood. We found Bad Ads was at its best as an 'after dinner' game, usually when players had had a couple of drinks.
If you play with the recommended maximum of eight players, five rounds would mean a lot of pitches and you could well find interest waning. From our Board's Eye View plays, Bad Ad was at its best with four or five players, preferably as a 15-20 minute filler. Tho' the publishers, Cold Pizza, suggest Bad Ad is playable with two, we found that a two-player game simply became a contest to determine who was the most straight-faced.
Stefan Olofsson's rules are refreshingly short and uncomplicated, so Bad Ad is a game that can be taught in seconds. There are some variants suggested in the rulebook and we especially liked the idea of everyone pitching ads for the same 'gotta sell' item (ie: deal one 'gotta sell' item to the table for all players to use with their individual 'object' and 'what's happening' cards).
If you enjoy storytelling games then Bad Ad should be an easy sell! We're looking forward to seeing a good ad campaign for Bad Ad when it launches on Kickstarter. Click here to check out the KS campaign.