HANDS ON: F--k the Game will mess with your mind (but just don't say fuck)

For the past few years when covering PAX, we’ve never really ventured outside the video games section and covered the tabletop gaming section. Well, given the fact that PAX has now given it more prominence at this year’s event – we decided to take a look at what’s available.

And one of the games that caught my eye was F–k the Game. It was probably the provocative title, but I am glad that I actually went up and played a round at their booth.

The game is similar to Cheat and Uno, where the aim of the game is to get rid of all your cards in your hand. Players are not allowed to look at their cards and take turns to flip a card and shout out what they see – depending on the card. It sounds easy, but you will find you will struggle.

The game takes advantage of the Stroop effect to mess with the competitors minds. As such, it only has four basic rules:

1. If you see a word written in black text, you say the background colour
2. If you see a word written in coloured text, you say the colour of the text
3. If you see a swear word, you say the swear word regardless of colour
4. You never say the word F**K. If you see it, revert to the first two rules.

If someone screws up or takes too long,  the first person who puts their hand on the pile of cards gets to decide who gets the top two cards in the pile (they can give it all to one person or they can split it between two people). The rest of the deck goes to the loser.

Speaking to the creator, Béla Inkster, the game was heavily inspired by a segment featured on Stephen Fry’s documentary on language called Fry’s Planet Word, where he and Brian Blessed were doing the Stroop Test. However, instead of words being displayed, they were swear words. Inkster said the game took about five months to perfect, getting family and friends to test the game.

But what’s also interesting is the fact that the community can create their own rules and their own games. Inkster likened this to playing cards, where you can play many games with the same deck of 52 cards. Some are featured on the website.

You can purchase the game at PAX Australia for $25 (or two for $40). If you cannot make it or missed out, you can purchase it online.