The Game of the Month series highlights one of the many games in our libraries at Ravenwood Castle and The Malted Meeple. We will briefly describe the game, how to play it, and why we like it. This month’s Game of the Month is written by The Malted Meeple’s Head Game Master – and former Ravenwood Innkeeper – Karington Hess.

Game: Concept

March’s Game of the Month is all about communication, association, and guessing. Published by Repos Production in 2013, Concept has been nominated for several awards including the coveted Spiel des Jahres (Board Game of the Year).

Concept challenges teams of players to guess a word or phrase. The trick is that players may only communicate using the game board and available tokens.  Perhaps the easiest way to describe Concept is that it is Charades: The Board Game. But it is so much more than that!

As a player, your goal is to get other players to guess the concept on your card. One team of two players chooses a word, phrase, person, place, or thing from their card for other players to guess. They then place the game pieces available to them on the board in order to give other players clues.

For example, if I wanted to get my players to guess “Chainsaw,” I would place my question mark piece on the tool icon (to signify the main concept) then on the mechanical icon, the ‘separate’ icon, and finally the wood icon. So all together it would appear to be a mechanical tool that separates wood. Obviously a chainsaw!

If there is a concept that is more complicated, such as an author or famous actor, you can use sub-concept pieces to help communicate with the other players. These can be useful to separate an idea from the main concept, for example if you wish to describe the films or books related to the author or actor.

When someone correctly guesses your concept they get two points and each member of your team gets one point.  When all of the double point markers are gone, the game is over. Whoever has the most point markers wins!

We see a lot of our guests enjoying Concept with their friends and family at both Ravenwood Castle and the Malted Meeple. I would go as far as to say that it is currently one of our most played party games.

The next time you visit Ravenwood Castle, grab a drink, some friends, and let the guessing begin!

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.