Clock It! Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

As the winter nights start to draw in a bit and we are finding ourselves spending more time indoors, we have been realising just how easy it is to spend the whole evening in the company of your nearest and dearest without uttering a single word to one another! This is something that we have been trying to get out of the habit of doing and have been making a real effort to switch off the TV, put our phones down and actually interact with each other. We have been lucky enough over the past few weeks to try out a number of board games and tabletop games, and all four of us have thoroughly enjoyed spending the time together. Most evenings, after tea, we have set aside some time to sit around the table and the difference it is making to us is marked, and we all very much look forward to doing it!

Last week, we were sent Clock It! to try out, a game for 2+ players, aged 8+. I suppose the best way to describe the game is a clock-themed frantic and fast combination of charades and Pictionary. The game is centred around two clock faces – one on an alarm clock, which acts as a timer and also chooses the tasks, and another which sits flat on the table and acts as the board. Clock It! has two game play modes; it can either be played in teams, with a minimum of 4 players, or individually with 2-3 players. Contained in the box is:

• Battery powered ‘alarm’ clock for randomising the challenges
• 80 x double-sided challenge cards
• Clock board
• Drawing board
• Dry-wipe pen with eraser
• Instruction guide

The board is placed on the table and you need to deal 12 of the circular challenge cards around the clock so that each one is placed adjacent to a number. These cards are double-sided, one side featuring a picture and the other featuring a word. You can decide to play with all words, all pictures or a combination. Once this is set up, you need to decide whether to play the game in mime mode, talking mode or drawing mode, or combo mode which uses all three. The back of the clock has a winder with a key, so you can select the mode you want to play in.

The idea of the game is that once you have selected your mode (we liked combo), in your teams, you will pick a ‘describer’. The rest of the team are guessers. The describer presses the bell on the top of the clock, and the clock will start ticking and indicate a number and a description method. The describer then looks at the corresponding card on the clock board and has to communicate what the card says to the rest of their team, using mime, talking or drawing, as indicated on the alarm clock. Once your team has guessed the answer, the team takes that card, you press the clock again and complete another challenge. This continues until the time is up and alarm sounds. The team then takes their cards and counts them up, before the board is reset and the other teams all have a go, the winning team being the one with the most cards after an agreed number of rounds or length of time.

We played this mostly in teams, and organised ourselves so that there was one adult and one child in each team. The game really is superb fun, and the kids found it hilarious. The recommended age is 8+, but my 7-year-old managed with it very well and we didn’t think that she was at a disadvantage compared to her 10-year-old sister. It did work very well ensuring that there were adults and kids in both teams, and I think if it has been adults vs kids, it wouldn’t have worked as well. That being said, we have also played it a few times as an adults’ only game, and it is superb fun on that basis too.

The ticking clock adds a massive sense of fun into the game as well as adding to the tension as you can literally feel the time ticking away, rather like the Countdown clock of old! It actually isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, and some of them do make you think quite hard (how do you mime a pie?), but it is superb fun. In particular, we liked it because it got the kids brains working, but in a really fun way and they had to think quickly on their feet and work co-operatively. They have also got it out a few times on their own and played the two-player version, where everyone is on the same team and takes it in turns to be the describer.

Clock-It! is perfect for cosy evenings in as a family to spend time together, and it would also make a superb Christmas present. I can imagine that ours will be got out a lot over the Christmas holidays – it’s perfect for after Christmas dinner or Boxing Day night.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £22.99

Available to buy from Amazon here.