Just One Game Review

Recently I was asked to be part of the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club and we have already reviewed Confident.  The second game that we were sent is the Just One game. This is a game that won the 2019 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) so we had high expectations.

Just One is described as being a cooperative party game as you play together with one another to try to discover as many mystery words as possible. You use one word clues to help your teammates to solve the mystery words and the aim is to score as close to 13 as possible as you play 13 cards in each round. Before we played I immediately liked the idea of that as I won’t lie there have been arguments caused by board games in this house in the past! Read on to find out what happened when we played this ASMODEE GAME

How many players is Just One Game for?

Just One can be played with 3-7 players so is a great option for a family or for a party (once we are allowed to have them again!) I think it would also work well over zoom if you were able to give half of the cards and boards to the other household (handling these over in socially distanced way of course)

Just One is aimed at ages 8 and over so we have only played it with 3 people so far, but having played I do think that our 7 year old would be able to play as well especially as it is a cooperative game rather than a highly competitive one.  So the point is to help your guesser get the word rather than make it super tricky.  

What we love about Just One Game

As a mum I love that it gets the kids thinking about what words mean and gets them using synonyms.  I do love it when things sneak in some learning without the kids noticing.  I am even thinking I could get away with this being a home school option one afternoon…  Don’t think that it feels like learning though as it totally doesn’t it is really good fun.

What I really like about Just One is the cooperative nature of play.  This is so good when you are playing as a family especially with younger children.  There is the element of competition in that you are trying to get as many right as possible, but this is a collaborative effort so it works and takes the pressure off.  I know this will also be a great friendly after dinner game once we are allowed to have guests again.  It will make a great party game.

Where can you buy Just One?

This game is available from many online retailers and typically retails for under £20  

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How do you play Just One?

Firstly you choose someone to be the guesser they are called the Active Player

Next they pick up the top card from the pile and place it on their easel so that the other players can see it, but they can’t

They then pick a number between 1-5 so that everyone knows which one they are working with

Now all the players (except the person guessing) write down a clue to the mystery word.   That clue must be composed of a single word and in this game a digit, a number, an acronym, an onomatopoeia, or a special character are all considered to be words.

Once everyone has written down a clue then they check if any are duplicates and they are eliminated so that the guesser doesn’t get to see them.  So as a player you need to be careful to not write the most obvious thing.

Finally the guesser is shown the clues and they have to try and guess the mystery word.  They only get one guess!

If they guess correctly the team scores 1 point and the card is placed face up on the table but if they get it wrong then they lose that point and also have remove the top card so there are less chances to score.  You keep going until all 13 cards have either been played or lost as guesses were made incorrectly.

Just One Game Review – Final Verdict

Overall we really liked this game.  It took a minute for us to get the hang of it just as I was confused by the process of what happened if you got a clue wrong, but that is potentially just me!  As soon as I got that sussed it was easy to play and it is a quick moving game which is great both for playing with a family and when you are with friends.  I always think a party game should be fast moving so that guests can stay entertained.  

As I said I love the fact that it is cooperative and as a mum I love that it will help the kids develop their vocabulary whilst we are still able to help them with the words since we aren’t in a competitive game.  

I am looking forward to when we can play this game again with friends as it will definitely be a hit.