Pencil Nose Board Game Review

Reviewed by Amanda Hayes

If you are looking for a fun game for half term or a Christmas gift then look no further than Pencil Nose from Ideal games. Great for family or groups of friends the game is best played with three players or more. Pencil nose is like charades in that you need to guess what the other persons word/object is but with two hilarious differences, you draw not act the word, and you draw it with your nose!

The box comes complete with a pair of plastic glasses, a large pack of double-sided word cards, an erasable drawing board, marker pen, whiteboard style eraser and an instruction leaflet. The game was simple to understand and easy to start playing, the object is to guess your opponents word based on their drawing of it. Each correct answer gets one point, the point awarded to both the correct guesser and the person drawing. Each card has five words on each size and in their turn the drawer draws all five objects before their turn is over, so a maximum of five points per turn.
Instructions read, we were ready to play the game, so we assembled the special pencil nose glasses. The headband connects to the back and the marker pen fits into the nose piece, my son put them on as it was his turn first. He turned around and I immediately collapsed into a fit of giggles, he looked, well anyone that puts the glasses, on looks completely ridiculous. Being huge and yellow they certainly are an ice breaker!

Drawing the objects with your nose is much harder than it sounds, its extremely hard to keep your head still enough to keep the pen firmly on the board so we had a few practice runs before we started the game properly. You hold the board, which is clear plastic, in both hands as you draw so you need your hands to be as steady as your head. The card sticks in a slot at the top of the board so you can see it as you draw, it’s a lot easier than looking down to read it with your pencil nose on. Once you get the feeling of how much pressure you need it becomes easier and we were soon guessing each other’s words albeit some taking rather a long time to guess based on how squiggly our lines were! Some objects where much harder than others, a boomerang for instance looks much like a banana when drawn with your nose whereas an elephant was a bit easier as the trunk is a bit of a giveaway. We played the game with the minimum three people and had good fun playing but it would be even better with either a few more people or a lot more split into teams as per the alternative game instructions. It’s a similar game but you draw as many objects as you can in 60 seconds while your team members guess. You then pass on to the next team and the highest score wins.

Pencil Nose is simple yet effective and deceptively difficult. Its brilliant fun and will make even the most serious of people laugh. Suitable for anyone over the age of 8 the game is great for parties, rainy days, Christmas or Birthdays. Recommended for a light hearted, fun loving and entertaining time.

Rating: 4.5/5

RRP: £14.99

This product can be purchased from any good toy retailer.