Tension by Cheatwell Games Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS…
Reviewed by Melody
As a family we love playing games together and, with Christmas fast approaching, we’ll soon be starting the annual search for new games to add to our collection, so being asked to review Tension by Cheatwell Games couldn’t have come at a better time!
Cheatwell games is a British company founded in 1986, they sell a huge range of toys, games and puzzles appealing to both adults and children which can be purchased from their website https://cheatwell.com/ and other retailers.
Tension, otherwise known as “The Top 10 Naming Game” is a board game for ages 8 years and over. Two teams play against each other (and the clock) to name specific words matching a given subject, with the aim of moving around the game board to be the first to reach the finish.
Once ordered, Tension was delivered very quickly by courier in a sturdy cardboard box. The game itself comes in a very bright and colourful box, which is good quality and appealing to the eye showing examples of the different topics that might be encountered during the game. Inside the box were 240 Tension Cards, divided into red and blue topics; a Tension card scorer which is made of good quality plastic; a game board; a sand timer; two playing counters and a rule book.
We split into two teams of two; one adult and one child per team and got stuck in. It was easy to get started as the supplied rule book was very easy to follow. The object of the game is for teams to take it in turns to guess as many of the ten listed answers to a given topic within 60 seconds. The topics are on the playing cards, which are divided into red cards and blue cards. The blue cards are easier to answer and suggested for younger children, and there is the option to use only blue cards when playing with children if desired. Or adults (red cards) vs children (blue cards). We decided to play with both red and blue cards which seemed to work well and we were able to find some answers to most of the cards. If we came across a topic that none of us knew answers to (in our case Star Wars planets!) we opted to pick a different topic.
The game progresses by each team moving their playing counter forward the number of spaces to match the number of correct words given on each turn. Play then moves to the other team. The winner is the first team to get their counter to the finish space. There are also a couple of special spaces on the game board, which impact on play. “Whirlwind Spaces” allow the team landing on it to double their score and move forward double the number of spaces on their turn. “Nomination spaces” ask the team to predict how many answers they will guess, if they guess that amount of words then they move the playing counter forward the number of spaces. The catch is that if they fail to achieve the target then they move their counter backwards by the corresponding number of spaces. This caused a few arguments whilst we were playing, fortunately there are only five of these spaces on the board!
We all really enjoyed playing Tension, we played with small teams which was fun but did inhibit the number of correct answers we could get for the wide range of topics. There is no upper limit to the number of players who can play Tension, other than the amount of people you can fit in the room so it will be a great game to play with extended family and friends over Christmas. We are definitely going to take this along to our family gathering on Christmas Day so we can all enjoy playing together.
I was really impressed with the quality of the game, it feels like a quality product. Initially when I saw that Tension was a naming game I was worried that it would have a limited lifespan due to there being a finite number of topics, however with 480 different topics we will enjoy playing it for a while to come yet. I also noticed that there are different topic specific editions of Tension available on the Cheatwell Games website for example foodies; sport; television and movies. These can be purchased as add-ons to the original game or played as standalone games. I would definitely consider purchasing these in the future.
If you are looking for a fun game to play with family and friends over Christmas then I would highly recommend trying Tension, you won’t be disappointed!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £20 (currently on sale for £13.50)
This product can be purchased from: https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/games-puzzles-and-books/board-games/family-board-games/tension-the-top-10-naming-game/p/240998?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9KX3xazIiQMV54lQBh21tzuFEAQYAiABEgKftvD_BwE