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Writer's pictureBoard's Eye View

Two Faced

We often come across games that are described as 'party games' but which you wouldn't dream of playing at a party. Codenames (Czech Games Edition) is a case in point: it's a very good game but for most folk it's too cerebral to break out at an actual party. You'll have no such qualms with Two Faced, which describes itself as a party game 'for 4-99 players'.



That upper limit is somewahat optimistic, but you could comfortably include well over a dozen players. Two Faced is a team game where you divide the players into at least two teams. There are two decks of cards: an 'action' and an 'emotion' deck. You lay out four of each. One team (we suggest a designated team leader for this purpose) chooses the action and emotion card that the 'actor' for the other team has to communicate to their teammates. The game envisages that the 'actor' is handed their task on a piece of paper - and the game comes generously supplied with notepads and pencils for that very purpose.


Tho' this may sound as if it's a version of Charades, the difference is in the name of the game and the corresponding strict prohibitions on the 'actor' because they are required to communicate their paired action and emotion using only their face, head, neck and shoulders. You're communicating with your team pretty much through gurning. You're obviously not allowed to make any sounds, you're forbidden from deploying any hand gestures or using any part of your lower body, and there's an express prohibition on nodding or shaking your head to indicate whether or not your team guesses are on the right track.



From our plays at Board's Eye View we can attest to the fact that it's surprisingly difficult for most people to stop themselves using their hands or giving some feedback to team members' guesses; and any time anyone does this, it's nil points and your turn over. Finally then we have a game where quadriplegic players are at a distinct advantage!


You'll probably mostly play Two Faced for the silly face fun of it rather than mithering overly about keeping score, but for the competitively minded, your team scores 1 point for each correctly guessed word. That means if you can avoid getting disqualified for nodding, shaking your head or using your hands, it's fairly easy to score a point but tougher to get both. If we were looking to play a seriously competitive game of Two Faced we'd be minded to vary the scoring so that getting both the action and emotion scored 3 points but going for both should be a push-your-luck decision, in that you only score a point for getting just one right if you bank that rather than going for both. It's a variant players might want to experiment with.


The version of Two Faced shown here on Board's Eye View is family friendly and there's nothing here to cause offence to anyone. The same can't be said for the red-boxed Adult Edition of the game, which is probably NSFW (Not Safe For Work). If you can't find Two Faced at a local stockist, both versions are available direct from Two Faced Game Ltd.



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