Do you need a great party game? Or do you want to encourage more creative thinking in your kids? Mad Gab may be just the game you need! It works best with bigger groups and people that are familiar with pop culture.
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How to Play
The game is small; just a single deck of smaller-than-normal cards. Each card has four phrases; two on each side (facing opposite directions). Answers are on the opposite side of the card as the clue. Mad Gab claims it’s for four or more people (two teams of at least two people), but we have the easiest time playing it when we all work together. It would probably be great for eight people to play.
Each team requires one “coach” – the person who reads the answers. The coach can help guide their guessers. They aren’t supposed to give hints or tell what the pictures are (though they can say that it’s another word for the thing).
Guessers read the words and pictures in order, trying to make sense. Cards are common phrases, movies, celebrities, songs, bands, and other references from popular culture. Guessers are only supposed to get thirty seconds.
Mad Gab Challenges my Family
Just six of the cards; purple on one side, orange on the other. Answer is in small print on the opposite side.
As a family of four, we struggle when we try to play this game according to the rules. The only one of us who can guess within the time limit is my husband (and he’s usually the only one to get it at all). However, when we have just one team, so three guessers, we have a much easier time. It’s a lot easier when you can hear someone else saying the sounds.
The other area we struggle with are some of the references to pop culture. Mad Gab came out in 1996, so it has a lot of references from the ’90s, something my kids haven’t experienced. (If you’re doing the math, I was born in the ’80s, my kids in the 2010s … the ’90s are a foreign concept to them.) Add in that my kids have always been homeschooled, spent the first several years living on a somewhat-isolated farm and now travel full-time (which can be isolating) … pop culture is not their strong suit.
However, as we play the game more (and pre-screen to make sure it’s something our kids have a chance of getting), we’re getting better at it. It certainly stretches our brain and encourages us to think in different ways!