You're Pulling My Leg: A Party Game in a Book

What is something daring that you’ve done? Or something that scared you in the middle the night? Give your answer, but you might just have to lie about it.

You’re Pulling My Leg is a party game packed into a single book. All you need is one copy and a coin. Players take turns telling stories, and their opponents have to guess whether they’re true or false.

Gameplay

Each player starts the game with seven points. The first player to reach twenty-one points wins the game. Players take turn being the storyteller.

Every question page in the book has three sets of two-to-three questions. You choose a question set and the storyteller chooses one of the questions in the set (alternatively, players may also take turns being the asker, in which case the asker chooses which question of the three the storyteller will answer). Some question sets are also wild cards whose instructions must be carried out before the question is answered. These will often award points to a player for things such as being the one who most recently saw a play or finished a book.

The storyteller then flips a coin (or uses an app or website to do so) and keeps the result secret from the other players. If the result is heads, the storyteller will give a true answer to the question, if the result is tails he must make up a false story. The other players then vote simultaneously whether they believe the story to be true or false and if they are betting one, two, or three points. The storyteller then reveals the answer, and the other players win or lose points based on whether they were correct. The storyteller also wins one point (up to a maximum of three points) for each player they fooled.

It is now the next player’s turn to be the storyteller. If a player ever runs out of points another player may choose to give him three of their points, or the game ends and the player who currently has the most points wins the game.

Review

The book format makes You’re Pulling My Leg a truly unique party game. It pares the gameplay down into something simple, accessible, and extremely portable. There are even extra pages in the back that can be used to track points if you want to use those.

There is a wide variety in the types of questions in the book. Some are more open to funny answers, some more personal, and each set of questions tends to offer a range of serious and non-serious questions, so you can choose something you’re comfortable with. Of course, since you choose the question before you flip the coin, you also want to consider how easily you can come up with a fib for the question as well. The questions also tend to takes multiple types of experiences into account. For example, one question specifies: "A time you got in trouble at school or homeschool". Little additions like this aren’t huge, but it’s still nice to encounter while playing.

The wild effects sometimes feel a little unfair or unsatisfying (for example, losing three points if you happen to be wearing white socks), but You’re Pulling My Leg is very much a game where the joy is in the gameplay and getting to know each other better, than it is about who wins.

A nice addition is that opposite to each page of questions there is a game highlights page where you can write down the best stories players come up with as you play.  Over time this can turn the book into a great memento of fun gameplay sessions you’ve had with different groups.

The book format is clever and makes this a really easy game to play, whether you’re stuck at home and gaming online, traveling, or anywhere you can carry a book (which is almost everywhere!). There is also a junior’s edition with questions designed for a younger audience as well as players who are in the same household. The gameplay of You’re Pulling My Leg may not be anything hugely new, but it’s a good fit if you’re looking for a low-key party game.

Pros: Extremely portable format, game highlight pages, range of questions

Cons: Wild abilities can be too random

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