Be the First To Solve Real-Time Puzzles in Smart Smack

How quickly can you solve each puzzle? Race to answer the questions before your opponents, but be careful — three wrong answers and you’re out of the game.

Published by Zygomatic, Smart Smack is a 15-minute party game designed for 2-6 players.

Gameplay

The deck is shuffled and placed in the center of the table face-down. The back of each card says what type of challenge card it is. When each player has seen the type of challenge coming up next, the card is flipped over.

Players race to solve the challenge. When a player believes he has the answer for the card, he slaps the card with his hand. The first player to do so gives his answer (keeping his hand over the card while answering). He then places the card in front of himself face-up if he was correct, or face-down if he was incorrect. There are six types of challenge cards. If a player manages to successfully answer one of each type, or eight in total, he wins the game. If a player incorrectly answers three challenge cards, he is eliminated.

The maze challenge requires the player to say how many coins are on the correct path of the maze. The constellation challenge requires the player to say which constellation on the card has the most stars. The singleton challenge requires the player to say which pictured object only appears on the card once. The rock paper scissors challenge shows a number of hand gestures, but only one of them is a traditional rock paper scissors gesture – the answering player must make the gesture that will defeat the one on the card. The magic spell challenge has four types of bottles, each associated with a syllable. It also shows the bottles in a unique order. The answering player must say the syllables in the order the bottles appear.

Finally, there is the tactile challenge. This one is a little different. The player who last answered a question chooses who answers it (they may choose themselves). The player answering it does not flip over the card, but instead picks it up and uses touch to try to deduce which of the eight objects shown on the back of the card is on it. He has ten seconds to give his answer.

Review

Smart Smack is a fun real-time party game. Each challenge type feels pleasantly unique from one another, so your brain is constantly trying to keep up with what it’s supposed to be doing next. Different players will also find different challenges easier or harder than others, so it’s fun to find the one that just clicks in your brain.

While in theory none of the puzzles are that difficult, the real-time speed aspects also ensure there’s plenty of times when you just goof. You’re racing to have the right answer, you think you got it, only to realize you’ve acted too fast.

The tactile challenge was the only one we didn’t enjoy as much. We felt these interrupted the flow of the game, and selecting who was going to answer it didn’t feel well-designed. People almost always chose themselves, and there seldom felt like a reason to choose someone else.

Overall, it’s a fun, speedy game that is nicely designed. The challenges are fun little brain teasers that each feels unique from one another. It packs light, in a fairly small box, making this a great travel game with a flexible player count that’s good for parties.

Pros: Each challenge type feels different from the others, fun game speed

Cons: The tactile challenges aren’t as much fun as the rest of the game

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.