Preview: Make Wild Excuses to Your Boss in Per My Last Email

How far will you go to get out of a work event? Would you tell your boss that you’ve just been arrested? That you’re stuck in a tree? There’s a hitman out after you?

Per My Last Email is a party game about making wild excuses in response to your boss’s emails, currently on Kickstarter.

Gameplay

Each player is dealt a hand of ten reply cards. Every round, a different player takes on the role of sender. The sender draws an email card and reads it aloud. All the other players then choose a reply card from their hand. These will be various forms of excuses to get out of whatever event the email is asking them to come to. The goal of the game is to come up with the worst excuses.

The sender shuffles all the reply cards that the players hand to him then reveals them and reads them aloud one at a time. Next, the sender chooses which reply he considers to be the worst. The player who gave this reply takes the current round’s email card and puts it in their score pile. Everyone draws back up to ten reply cards, a new player becomes the sender, and another round begins.

There are also HR cards in the reply draw deck. During a round a player can use one of these instead of a reply card, in which case it goes straight into her score pile (the sender will still choose a winning card this round that will go into another player's score pile).

Players can either play until the email draw pile runs out or until they have reached a pre-determined number of rounds. The player with the most cards in their score pile wins.

Review

Per My Last Email is easy to teach, fast to set up, and has a flexible player count; all the elements you want from a party game of this nature. The gameplay is obviously quite similar to judging games like Apples to Apples or its many clones, but the theme of work emails gives it a unique identity.

There’s a lot of humor in the game, and we enjoyed seeing what the next cards would say. The cards themselves get quite creative and there’s a huge range of different excuses. A few of the cards are (ironically) not safe for work. If you have children nearby or this isn't your thing, these cards can be easily removed without affecting the gameplay. Aside from these cards, the game will likely only appeal to adults anyway — especially those who want to let off some steam after a bad day at work.

The components are all well made. We liked the quality of the cards, and each one has been designed to have an email header along the top, which is a nice touch. As with most party games, the experience is the main point rather than winning, so the HR cards don’t feel like they add a huge amount to the game — but there are only a few of them and you can easily play without them if you choose.

Per My Last Email will feel familiar to many party game fans, yet is also its own unique game. It has a fun theme, some great jokes, and a flexible game time which allows you to adapt the game to your group and event. Check it out on Kickstarter and see for yourself.

Pros: Creative theme, fun sense of humor, adaptable play time

Cons: For adults only, HR cards are not necessary

Disclosure: this preview is based on our evaluation of an unpublished prototype of the game, which is subject to change prior to publication. While a modest payment was received to expedite the review process, our thoughts and opinions expressed here are honest and accurate.