Birds of a Feather MacGyver Together: 'Wing It: The Game of Extreme Storytelling'
SITUATION: Adorable Black Lab puppies have hijacked the American government by using their irresistible cuteness to compel politicians to yield to their endless demands (E.G., more chicken flavored treats). You are the head of the CIA, and from your bunker, you are formulating a plan to liberate the nation from these mischievous puppies.
In your possession, you have the following items*:
A jar of tongue-depressors
A grass skirt
A transcript of an inspiring presidential speech
A cage of five hundred canaries
A high school chemistry teacher *Items drawn at random during review planning
You must use exactly three. What is your plan?
It is Spring. The politicians are encumbered by cuteness. The military has FLEAd. The White House has an itch that MUST be scratched. I can reach that itch, and I have come to scratch it. I call together a conference on the White House lawn. While the labs (and their pooper scooper equipped secret service) gather, I unfold my TRANSCRIPT OF AN INSPIRING PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH where I speak dreamily of a land where dogs can roam free, live in harmony, and hike a leg in one of hundreds of trails specifically made for hiking. Then I pull out my CAGE OF FIVE HUNDRED CANARIES, and being spring, I unleash them and they fly north to the land I tell my audience is pronounced "Canine-ada". I implore the dogs to follow suit, and being bird dogs, I expect that these are the only two items that I would need. But, in the event of a necessity of further persuasion, I welcome my HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHER to the stage. In his LAB coat.
Mic drop.
And not a tail was seen in their retreat.
Such are the situations you will find and the responding stories you will completely fabricate in the game Wing It: the Game of Extreme Storytelling by Flying Leap Games. Wing It is a game set in a playing style similar to Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity where a group of players split off into one ruling judge of the round and several individual participants with the goal of the judge presenting an issue and the participants using their hand of cards to respond to that issue. In Wing It, the issue in question is one of 90 unique and interesting Situations. Those responding to the Situation will have a hand of five random Object cards from a deck of 320. They must use exactly three of those cards to solve the Situation. The cards, more often than not, will require some innovative applications of the awkwardly assorted pool of oddball items to actually solve the issue at hand, therefore, individuals will have to Wing It to the best of their ability with what they have available. I imagine it as if MacGyver has somehow come into possession of Mary Poppins' magical handbag, and somebody must've replaced Mary Poppins spoonfuls of sugar with salt or she can no longer whistle or something, because that girl has become a messy hoarder of random junk!
Each participant will go around explaining their solution to the problem while revealing the cards that they used. The judge may comment upon the practicality of their resolution or even ask questions for further elaboration, but after everyone has had a turn, they must then pick their favorite solution. The chosen player is awarded that Situation card, and the role of Judge passes to the next player in attendance. The formal rules of the game state that it continues until three Situation cards are claimed by one player who becomes the winner, but as in many games of this type, players can keep playing until they decide to stop and can then tally up the cards if they so choose.
Wing It is marketed for ages 12 to 112, or really, at any age you feel appropriate for creative problem solving. It is family friendly and would be a great activity for any audience, from a group of gaming friends of varying ages to a school classroom or church youth group even. It can be played with anywhere from 3 players to basically as large of a group as you'd want to handle keeping in mind that basically one player is presenting at a time.
As a reviewer and avid gamer, I have seen my fair share of CAH clones, and in all honesty, many of those fail to get the attention of their more well known counterparts. In fact, there are so many of these types of games out there that many gamers have grown tired of the genre. When Flying Leap Games approached me about this project, however, I wanted to give this one a chance because, content-wise, it sounded like much more fun than a lot of the other games of that type. Who doesn't want to try to fix a zany problem filled scenario with a bunch of crazy objects?
The part that I'm ashamed to admit is that I presented it to my gaming group with a bit of reservations. We play almost every weekend, and we play a varying plethora of games from light card games like The Great Dalmuti all the way to larger games like Scythe and Dead of Winter. Now me.... I'm a former theater kid and occasional creative writer--I enjoy humor and improvisation--but I didn't expect any of them to really want to try this game. I get games in quite often to review, and they help me to test the smaller and larger player amounts required to review them accurately, so we got it to the table, and I am happy we did. We shared a ton of laughs listening to each other's scenarios. As it turned out, on a weekend that I had four games that I had to play through and prep for review, this game turned out to be everyone's favorite. That to me is a testament to the entertainment value of Wing It and a much needed reminder of the well known phrase "never judge a book by it's cover". Yes, there are a lot of games of this type out there, but Wing It 's creatively written Situations and the extreme diversity of the objects involved through which you will try to solve them make it unique in an other wise familiar crowd.
If you are looking for a light, conversational game that requires imagination and wit, that can be played with small or large groups, that can be enjoyed by new or seasoned gamers, and that can appeal to any age, Wing It is a perfect choice. You can find Wing It on Kickstarter now until September 24th, and with over 400 cards at only $20 to back, it is a phenomenal value and will bring a night full of laughter and fun to your table! WYLD Gaming gives Wing It TWO HOOVES UP and adds it to the MANE COLLECTION presiding well above other peers in the genre. You can find it at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/965812484/wing-it-the-game-of-extreme-storytelling/description.
Please note, this is a review of a game that is in pre-production meaning some mechanics, appearances, rules, and other components may change. WYLD Gaming was provided this copy for review purposes but was not otherwise compensated in any manner, nor were their words, results, or review scores influenced in any way by anyone outside of the author's own opinions and perspective. If you've enjoyed this review, we encourage you to share it with others to help WYLD Gaming get similar opportunities in the future while also helping the game being reviewed get more attention for their Kickstarter campaign. Thank you!