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“This is the short and the long of it”
This is a game to delight your inner (or outer!) theatre kid. If I’m being honest, I love Shakespeare but haven’t studied his plays since school, so I was worried I might embarrass myself playing this one with my Shakespeare-loving grandparents. As it turns out, The Shakespeare Game is very playable, even when you may have forgotten most of GCSE English Literature… The vibrant, detailed design of the game added to the experience, and the ‘performance’ element is good fun, too.
“But thou art fair”
The Shakespeare Game was illustrated by Adam Simpson, the artist behind the gorgeous ‘World of’ literary-themed jigsaw puzzles and card games, so, naturally, the artwork is beautiful. The typeface gives a period flavour while still being easy to read, and the colour-coding of the plays and theatres helps locations stand out on a busy board. The many visual references to Shakespeare’s life and characters from his plays are great fun for Shakespeare fans to spot while playing.
The style and care taken with the artwork are reflected in the rule booklet, which is printed on good-quality, parchment-looking paper and includes lots of complementary illustrations. The game cards have a classic playing card-style back design featuring Shakespeare’s portrait, colour-coded according to card type, which is a lovely touch. However, the aesthetics of this game is let down somewhat by the game counters, standees, and tuckbox, which are made of quite thin, plain cardboard. Thicker pieces and a more robust, printed tuckbox would have finished the game components off in the same style as the board, cards, game box and manual. This detail didn’t prevent me from enjoying playing, but is noticeable in a game based so heavily on its style and illustrations.
“The [game]play’s the thing”
Players travel around the board, from Stratford-upon-Avon to London, putting on plays, earning money, and trying to avoid being made Fortune’s fool! There are two ways to win: gather £120 to buy The New Place (Shakespeare’s home in Stratford), or pay £70 to invest in The Globe Theatre and put on a 7-card variety performance there.
You can focus on collecting Performance cards for your own shows, or use the Fortune deck to mess with your theatre competitors. The mixture of intrigue and showbiz excitement makes it feel very much like a board game version of Shakespeare in Love (pearl eardrops and one-shoulder capes optional!). When putting on a show, the rules suggest a player reads the quotes from the play on each card they place. We chose to do this as theatrically as possible, which was a fun extra interactive element, but could definitely be skipped for a shyer group.
Putting on a performance doesn’t require the player to have any Shakespeare knowledge at all, since the Performance cards are all colour-coded by the play they belong to. Characters and Props are coloured for their own plays, and Theme cards function as a wild card, marked with the colour of each play it covers.
However, if you want to sabotage your opponents’ performances, you will need to know a little bit about the Bard. Fortune cards allow players to take money and Performance cards from others, or alter the outcomes of their performances. Each card shows its outcome at the top, and the question the player must answer to play it at the bottom, and the questions are thankfully quite general. This element really made it feel like I had ‘earnt’ my sabotage of the other players when I got a question right and was able to use the card. If only it came with a gold star sticker, too!
The fantastic artwork and novelty factor of this game easily carried the first few plays, but to have more replayability, you would probably need to be a bigger Shakespeare fan/expert than me. Not always having access to the full strategy of the Fortune cards could become a little frustrating on repeat plays, but for a few rounds, the casual Shakespeare-enjoyer can still tread the boards. Naturally, it’s not for everyone, but The Shakespeare Game knows its niche, and fills it very well.
“The game is up”
With a good mixture of collection, competition and trivia, The Shakespeare Game is an interactive experience for casual and serious theatre fans alike. Those with a lot of Shakespeare knowledge could focus on a more competitive strategy, using Fortune cards and looking out for Performance cards they knew would fit their needs, whilst less-knowledgeable players could use the helpful colour-coding to collect Performance cards and have fun gambling on the questions from the Fortune cards if they didn’t know all the answers. Adam Simpson’s artwork was stunning as usual, and definitely made the game more atmospheric and enjoyable. Being more of an experience and novelty-based game, I’m not sure how replayable it would be with the same players. However, the novelty factor means it would be great fun to crack out with new players and Bardaholics.
Note: If you’re a curious nerd like me and want to know where these quotes came from, your wish is my command!
“This is the short and the long of it” - The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Scene 2
“But thou art fair” - King John, Act 3, Scene 1
“The play’s the thing” - Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
“Oh, I am fortune’s fool” - Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1
“The game is up” - Cymbeline, Act 3, Scene 3