iMAgiNiff is one of the favorite party games among me and my friends. It’s great because it’s so easy to play and there really isn’t any learning curve. You basically just have to know how to read.

The iMAgiNiff Game

The game starts out by writing the names of players or other communally-known people around the edge of the board (normally we like to stick to the names of the people playing the game, but if there aren’t enough players we try to choose names of people whom everyone knows fairly well). These names will be the subjects of the questions to come.

Next, players take turns drawing a card from the deck. Each card asks a question such as, “Imagine if __________ were an explosive device, which would he/she be?” A die is used to determine which of the names around the edge of the board will be used with the question. The die is rolled and a marker token is moved that number of places in either direction at the player’s choice. Normally, I like to choose a name that hasn’t been used for a while. That name is inserted into the question and it is read aloud to the rest of the players. Some answers for that question could be: a firecracker, TNT, a nuclear bomb, a dud, etc.

All the players then decide which they think is the best answer and place an accordingly-numbered card face-down on the table. Once everyone is ready, the cards are turned over and the number that shows up the most wins! (Sometimes, more than one number can win if they each have the same count show up). Those players move their tokens one space closer to the finish. It’s really funny when someone turns out to be the “dud” by popular demand. Questions can range from asking about types of dwelling, cartoon characters, and super heroes to food and vegetables, books, clothes and more.

Consider this: If the question asked which fruit Amber would be and Amber chose kiwi, she would still lose if the majority of everyone else though she would be a melon. So, to win this game you have to think, “What would everyone else think Amber is?” and not just “What would Amber herself think she is?” This can be tricky at first since you may know right off what the person herself would think, but you have to imagine what everyone else would think she is. This strategy is harder since you have to take into consideration the perspectives of everyone in the group. For me, that’s one of the most enjoyable things about iMAgiNiff.

Another really fun thing about iMAgiNiff is the CHALLENGE space. When the marker token is being moved to select which name will be used for this question, sometimes the choice to choose CHALLENGE may come up. A challenge question is only between the player whose turn it is and a second player of their choice. A player may choose whether or not to take the challenge question. If he or she does, they choose the player that must then participate with them and the die is then rolled again to determine who the challenge question will be about.

A card is then drawn and the question is posed to the two challenge question players. (Usually, everyone else likes to play along with this question too, even though their votes don’t count. Only the two challenge players’ votes actually matter). If both of the challenge players come up with the same answer, they both get to move their piece TWO spaces closer to the finish. If the two players chose different numbers, they must both move their token back two spaces.

One of the sneaky things that my group of friends likes to do when playing the iMAgiNiff game is that if someone is far ahead of everyone else, another player will challenge this player and try to purposely lose in order to make that player move their token back two spaces (of course, he or she would also have to move back also, but sometimes it’s more fun to make the other guy lose).

The iMAgiNiff game is a barrel of laughs and it’s always surprising to find out what other people think of you and about themselves.

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