What Came First

Big Potato Games have a bulging back catalogue of light-hearted, fun games including Herd Mentality and The Chameleon to name but a few. Most are ideal for family gatherings or to break the ice at the start of a game’s night. What Came First? is a low-stakes game where often the person who is a “know-it-all” will get their comeuppance.

The concept is a simple choice to try to date two events, people, inventions or ideas. Often these will be related, but the question is “What Came First?” Players or teams need to make a decision and can wager up to three poker style chips of their choice. Get the answer correct and that player will advance by the number wagered, but make an incorrect guess and you go back that distance. Most players will have to guess some of the answers. Some question pairs may be separated by just one day. Who knew that Colin Firth and Hugh Grant were born just a day apart? So unless a player knows the biography of two actors from Love Actually then this will be a round determined by guessing. Other pairs could be deduced with a little thought – the wheel or glue!

Going All In

For the particularly knowledgeable a team might know the specific year for one of the questions. They can claim that spot on the board with their token and before the “big reveal” will state their answer. Get it right and they advance an additional five spaces. This can be used to great effect to jump to the front of the pack and perhaps steal the game.

Jeopardy

Players and teams are given a single time token. These discs are placed face down on the board and might be traps for those who land on them. Some may add benefits such as advancing three spaces, or the ability to double your winnings (or losses) for the next two rounds. One or two are not so friendly. On the whole most of these time tokens will have a positive benefit so it pays to bet tactically in the way to hope to land on the tokens ahead.

In It To Win It

I was given What Came First? by my daughter at Christmas. It is a perfect game that spans the generations in a family. My father-in-law who is of a particular vintage was able to correctly bet on Chuck Berry versus the electric guitar. My daughter was able to know her Tinder from her Snapchat, and my wife – Sainsbury’s from Tesco’s (other supermarket shops are available). There was plenty of laughter with each answer being revealed. As the card is flipped there was inevitably cheering from some teams and groans and “I don’t believe it” from those who needed to move backwards. The game lasts about 20 minutes. This is perfect for the post-Christmas lunch hiatus whilst waiting for the King’s Christmas message. With a maximum of three poker chips to bet each round, no one falls too far behind. Indeed, the random nature of some of the questions meant that I was wrong as often as I was right, so bounced around the starting position quite a lot.

A One-Trick Pony?

What Came First? comes with 400 question cards. We would use about 20 per game. There is a risk that for those of a particular mindset they will recall answers from previous rounds. What Came First? has a risk that in later plays those earlier cards will return and some players will have an advantage. However with so many cards there is unlikely to be too much risk of duplication or repetition. There is plenty of replayability and there is no reason why players could not add their own additional question cards. In the past Big Potato have created extra unique cards for Zatu games customers. Who knows what might be available in the future .

Final Thoughts

This game was a big surprise. Often games with a simple concept that are so easy to explain and play are ones that will be grabbed off the shelf more readily than heavyweight titles. What Came First? fits that category. Alongside other Big Potato Games titles this family game can come out at any social event and not just at Christmas.