The Chameleon

The Chameleon

There are times when you, dear gamer, will enter a social situation where the query “anyone fancy playing a game?” will be met by the response, “Oooh, Monopoly?” Let me assure you that this response need not result in the senseless waste of human lives or a lengthy term in prison, because there is an alternative: the party game.

Okay, I realise that you are well aware of this, but I just wanted to get in another unsubtle dig at Monopoly – they’re big boys, they can take it. The thing that party games and Monopoly have in common though is that they are both very accessible – either due to familiarity or a simple rule set and a relatively quick play time (guess which one is which?) – and when it comes to party games, you can’t beat Big Potato Games.

Big Potato’s ethos is all about games that people can get into PDQ, from quizzes like Blockbuster (fantastic for film buffs) to rhyming miming games like Obama Llama. They’re silly; they’re colourful; they’re fun; but most of all, they’re for everyone.

Spot the Difference

The Chameleon is a similarly colourful, silly game which takes the classic gaming trope of hidden identity/spot the imposter and gives it a spuddy spin. As few as 3 or as many as 8 players have to describe a word on a theme sheet – only problem is that one of the player’s only way of knowing what the word is based on how the other players describe it. The object of the game for those who know the word is to unmask the imposter; for the imposter it is to blend in, chameleon like. Hence the name.

Each player is given a card which may have a code sheet on it or the phrase ‘you are the chameleon’. Whoever dealt the cards then rolls two dice, which corresponds to a set of co-ordinates on the code card which corresponds to a word or name on the theme card, which everyone can see. The themes range from famous historical figures to favourite desserts and all points between, so you can adjust your theme according to your group.

The players then take it in turns to say one word that they believe relates to the chosen word or name on the card, but here’s where they have to be careful – too vague and they will look like an imposter; too specific and they will give it away to the chameleon (of course, the chameleon will have to guess anyway).

Once everyone has said their word, everyone discusses who they think the chameleon is. If they get it wrong, the chameleon has escaped; if they get it right, they have captured the chameleon, but there is a chance for the chameleon to escape; if she can correctly deduce the chosen word or name, she wriggles out of their clutches and lives to play another day (no lives were lost during the playing of this game).

There are ways you can score this game if you want to play it over a number of rounds, but if you just want to start again… you can do that too.

A Hiding in Plain Sight

Like all Big Potato Games games, production values are very high on this – the cards are good stock and laminated, the box has a possible head-ache inducing yellow and green colour scheme, there is even a wipe clean write-your-own theme card if you want to make something a bit more bespoke (mutual friends, things you find in your living room, favourite characters from Dad’s Army, that sort of things). There are plenty of themes out of the box as well, and the method of choosing the word or name is ingenious and nearly cheat proof (there are even two sets of code cards, green and blue, so even if you do have a player with a didactic memory, it’s gonna be tricky for them to memorise two sets of code cards) and the play is fast and fairly easy to grasp.

The only real issue is that it can be a bit too fast – once the roll is made, the words are said and the discussion had then the game is essentially over; this is absolutely perfect for breaking the ice and will make a change from Coup, Resistance or Cards Against Humanity (The Chameleon is certainly more family friendly in this instance), but there is a bit more play to be had out of those, and I haven’t even mentioned a Fake Artist in New York, which has a very similar theme.

There is another issue that might be considered a cardinal sin for gamers – there is a theme card with board games and one, not one of them is a Big Potato Game and two, they are all games like snakes and ladders, ludo and yes, you guessed it, Monopoly. However, seeing as this is a game mainly aimed at new or would be gamers… ah well, if you can’t beat them, join them. Steer clear of the brown properties – they’re mine…