We all need to keep track of the time for various different reasons, but instead of just watching the clock did you know that you can play with it? Well, not a real clock anyway – but the game of Clock It! from John Adams. The fun family game where you say it, mime it or draw it in a race against time.
Clock It! is a tabletop game for two or more players, aged 8 and above with a playing time of around 20-30 minutes. If you have ever played games such as Pictionary, Charades, Taboo or Articulate then you will love Clock It! It is a combination of them all and is a clock-themed, fast and frantic combination – say, draw or mime… it’s a race against time!
In the box:
- Light-up Alarm Clock (requires 3x AAA Batteries, not supplied)
- Clock Board
- Wipe Clean Drawing Board
- Pen
- 80x Double-sided Game Cards
- Instructions
The tabletop game of Clock It! is a game that revolves around a clock face. The clock face is the game board, and the game uses an alarm clock as a task selector and timer. Clock It! is a game that can be played in teams, with a minimum of 4 players, or individually with 2-3 players.
The aim of the game is easy, players must try to win as many game cards as they can by answering questions that are mimed, described or drawn by your teammate or the opposing players. Simple? Well, not really. You are up against the clock and as easy as it might sound, it is surprising how quickly your mind can draw a blank, especially when mimes and descriptors are completely wild and only mean something obscure to the describer.
Before you can play, 3x AAA batteries need to installed in the alarm clock – these are not supplied so make sure that you have some handy (or be prepared to raid the remote controls) – you will need a crosshead screwdriver to open/close the battery compartment.
To set up the game to play, the clock game board is placed in the middle on the table, within reaching distance for all players. Place a game card at each number point around the clock face (12 cards in total) – the cards are double-sided with a picture or word on them and you can place them any way you choose (all words, all pictures or a combination). Decide on how many rounds you want to play and you are ready to go.
To start the game, the clock key needs to be removed from the back of the alarm clock. This is then inserted into the clock and turned to the game mode that you want to play. The clock has four modes:
- SAY IT: the Describer can only use words to describe what is on the game card
- DRAW IT: the Describer must use the drawing board and pen to draw what is on the game card, without saying anything
- MIME IT: the Describer must use actions to mime what is on the game card, without saying anything
- COMBO: this is a combination of Say It, Draw It and Mime It modes
We have played the game in all four modes and found that the one we liked playing the best was the COMBO MODE. We thought that COMBO was the most fun as it gives more variety to the game and brings all skill levels into line as you require other ways to describe something rather than just sticking to either talking, drawing or miming.
Anyway, back to the game play. After turning the key in the clock and selecting your favourite mode, in our case COMBO, we were ready to play. The fast, frantic fun was about to begin. The player who begins the game, known as the Describer, has the clock and pushes the bell on top to start. The clock face will illuminate either the say it, draw it, or mime it icon as well as a number. The Describer then has to pick a card at that number and either say, draw or mime (depending on what the option is on the clock) and the other players must try and guess what it is, continuing around the board before the clock alarm goes off. Used cards are replaced with new ones from the pile and the other team takes their turn. When the number of rounds decided before the start of the game has been played, the team who has amassed the greatest number of cards are the winners.
Overall, we have loved playing Clock It! It is such as simple game to play even if some of the mimes have been truly bizarre (but hilarious and frustrating at times for your teammate with completely off-the-wall mimes). The speed of the game is fantastic, it puts your mind to work with fast thinking skills as well as language skills, acting skills and drawing skills. Some of the mimes are descriptors that were used within our games created some hilarious fits of laughter as they really did take some of the items on the cards to new extremes that clearly meant something to the Describer, but sadly to no one else (even after the answer was disclosed).
We found this to be an excellent family game with lots of fun and laughter to be had. Trying to describe things with drawings, mimes or language shouldn’t be that difficult but the time pressure makes it so and creates some wonderful, funny results, especially when dealing with people’s different interpretations of things.
I think that Clock It! is an excellent, fun family game for family game nights. It is fast, frantic fun for all age groups. All ages can join in and play without any one player having more of an advantage over another (your talking, drawing or miming skills may be perfect, but can your partner decipher the clues in time).
It is a simple game to setup, quick and easy to play and leaves all players, winners or losers, with a smile on their face – and time just flies by.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £22.99 (currently £9.99 on Amazon)
For more information visit, www.johnadams.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
