Totally Gross, The Game of Science

Subject: Science
Category: General
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 60 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Trivia

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 2
Aesthetic value: 2
Price value: 3
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 2

My comments: Science games are hard to come by, so given the scope of what is available, this game is pretty good. Based on the "gross" theme that has been in vogue for the past few years (as if our children won't be interested in science otherwise,) the game does have a good amount of trivia covering both physical and life sciences.

You roll and move around the board and either answer a trivia question or complete a "totally gross" challenge in order to stretch a piece of "slime" 10 spaces (more about the slime later.) The challenges are as simple as showing your "abs" to as gross as making the noise of peeing, burping, and farting (I got that one and my 3 boys were literally rolling on the floor with laughter. I suppose I could have passed on that one.) Once you do that, you get to the lab so you can perform an experiment in order to answer the winning question. If you don't happen to have the materials needed for the experiment (though you most likely will) then you can just pick another experiment.

Like most educational games, the components are flimsy for the price. The board is nice, but that's all. The "slime" doesn't really stick or stretch well enough so we use other markers instead. The playing pawns are small standard pieces; nothing with a fun science theme. The cards maybe have the thickness of an index card. Really, for the $20+ price tag these companies should be able to put better components in their games. The game does provide a good amount of trivia, challenges, and experiments to make this game playable for awhile.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14705