My family loves games. We love to clear the table, rush through the dinner dishes, and unwind with each other as we laugh over a fun game. Some of us love competition more than others, but we all enjoy the time spent together. North Star Games recently released a Family Edition of the game Say Anything, and it is our hands-down favorite game at the moment. The game is designed to be played by 2-6 players, aged 8 and up. Our two daughters are too young to play on their own, but they still join us by teaming up with their brothers to share ideas for answers.

The game is like a cross between Wits & Wagers and Apples to Apples. To play, everyone takes a turn being the judge. The judge draws a card and chooses a question to read. There are no wrong answers to these questions, only opinions. Players write their unique answers on their mini whiteboards. The judge secretly decides which answer is his favorite and then the players cast their votes for which answer they think will be chosen by the judge. Players receive points each round based on whether or not their answer was chosen and on whether or not the voted for the winning answer.

For an example: I was a judge for a round and I asked, "If you were running a race, what would be the hardest thing to carry?" My husband wrote, "A soda," explaining that it would get very messy as it fizzed over while you ran. My 14-year-old son wrote, "The Star Wars Deathstar." This led to an interesting conversation about the potential benefits of running with your own gravitational field. My 11-year-old son won the round. To the question, "What would be the hardest thing to carry while running?" he wrote, "All the guilt in the world." We laughed for hours.

I love that it takes only a minute to explain the rules to anyone who wants to play. I love that the entire game lasts only 30 minutes. It is an easy game to take to play at a dinner party. All ages enjoy it, and no one ever has needed to feel embarrassed or on the spot. It's a game that seems to put everyone at ease and able to enjoy some fun.

Say Anything Family Edition is very inexpensive, coming in under $14. It can be purchased at specialty game stores, Target, and Amazon.com.

Product review by Jennifer Harrison, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2011