Overview: Whirled Peas is a game that mashes up some of the most popular party game styles. It's one part charades and one part trivia tied together by an offbeat vegetable mascot. As the first entry from new company Peas-Corp, Whirled Peas aims to build a franchise that will make peas a household name.
Players: 4+ (2 teams)
Ages: 13 to adult
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Retail:$34.99
Rating: An enjoyable yet generic party game that struggles to separate itself from the pack.
Who Will Like It? Party game buffs who are tired of the "you be the judge" formula popularized by Apples to Apples.
Components:
- 5 decks of challenge cards
- 2 drawing pads
- 1 Pea King spinner
- 2 pea pod score trackers
- 14 scoring peas
Let's be honest, peas are an odd theme, but the components here do add some charm to the game. The scoring peas and pods are one of the best and most original score-tracking components I've ever seen. The pods are pliable and can be peeled back, allowing you to pop your plastic marble peas in or out. Their soft silicone construction gives them a good feel.
The Pea King himself is a pretty cool dude sitting in the middle of your table. He's about the size of your fist, sports Chuck Taylors, and wears a crown on his head that doubles as a spinner. It's vegetable monarchy on a scale that has not been seen since Princess Tomato and the Salad Kingdom! The Pea King does lead to one gripe, though. His spinner has quite the resistance on it, and players will often fail to even spin that crown an entire 360 degrees. The spinner stops on a dime as soon as your finger is done flicking, leaving most players with an odd unsatisfactory feeling that makes them want to disrupt the game by spinning it again and again to "get it right." OCD gamers be warned, the Pea King is not your friend.
Gameplay:
In Whirled Peas, teams take turns playing one of five types of challenges, as determined by a flick of the Pea King's spinner. All of the challenges are different types of guessing games where both teams participate. If the active player's team guesses correctly, they will score two points (in the form of peas). However, the opposing team can steal one point instead by guessing first. Play continues until one of the teams fills their pod with seven peas.
The five types of challenges are as follows:
- Putty Pal: A player from the opposing team is chosen to act as a mannequin. The active player manipulates this person's body to act out the hidden word.
- Back Tracks: One player from each team is allowed to peek at the secret word. They then stand behind a partner and can only communicate by drawing on their back using a finger. The partner's job is to transcribe what they feel onto a pad of paper, hopefully creating an image that will help in guessing the secret word.
- Zip Your Lip: The secret word must be communicated through a round of charades where the active player is allowed to speak, so long as their lips never separate.
- Sketch Coach: The active player gives drawing instructions to players on both teams using shape descriptions and artistic terms, in hopes that they will be able to create a drawing of the secret word.
- Clap Trap: A trivia question with many correct answers is read aloud, and two players from opposing teams then take turns each giving one answer. The first player to incorrectly answer loses the round.
Conclusion: Whirled Peas was enjoyable, and it sought to bring a change of pace to a party game market flush with Apples to Apples clones. However, in light of games that truly innovate on the guessing game concept (Reverse Charades) and modern classics (Cranium), it is hard to recommend Whirled Peas to anyone but the most fervent of party game fans.
Its core problem is that some of the challenge types themselves are clunkers. For instance, the "Zip Your Lip" challenges can be brutally hard and the "Clap Trap" challenges are an odd change of pace that slows the game down. The other three were almost always fun to play, but did not do enough to buoy the game above its middle-of-the-pack status. Whirled Peas will never be the best game in the room, even with its original and charming offbeat theme, so it will not often find itself at the table among the aforementioned titles unless your group has already played those out.
Wired: Great aesthetic, near-constant player interaction.
Tired: Uncooperative spinner, Clap Trap challenges drag pace of game.
Disclosure: GeekDad received a review copy of this game.
