If you’ve been reading long enough you’ve probably figured out that my family is really into playing games. While we were in SC, my cousin’s fiancée, Sarah, taught us to play Quelf. Now, on the box it says the game is for players 12 and older, but really it works much better as a drinking game.

Played choose a game piece, roll the die, land on a colored square and then draw a card corresponding with that color. sounds pretty generic right? Then we started reading the cards…

The red cards are Scatter Brainz – you choose between two suggestions like “Ways to attach a chicken to your forehead” or “Ways to get your leg out of a spring-loaded bear trap” and then take turns naming things that apply. (duck tape, staple gun, genetic modification…light saber, time machine) The first person to get stuck for an answer drinks.

The green cards are Quizzle, which are a bunch of lsilly questions, except when you get one wrong and have to do something ridiculous as punishment.

Then come the dreaded yellow, blue and purple cards, which immediately yank you out of your comfort zone and have you singing, dancing and hailing Chinese cheese buscuits.

The yellow cards are Stuntz. “You have until your next turn to use whatever you can find to make a snorkle” cue my aunt taking off for the kitchen and them coming back a couple minutes later with a flyswatter taped to her head, which she had to wear for the rest of the game. She was also unfortunately forced to smell my sister’s foot.

My sister dropped at least 5 ice cubes down her pants and kept them there until she rolled a six.

The blue cards are Roolz, such as “You may not band your arms or legs when it is not your turn” or “Anytime anyone stands up, everyone else must stand as well”…last person drinks of course :) My brother ended up sitting under the table for a while and I had to refer to myself in the third person for the entirety of the game. And if you break your rule and someone catches you…drink!

The purple cards are Showbiz. Talk like a preacher for the rest of the game, write a haiku about your armpit, or perhaps you should stick your finger up your nose and yodel…

Sometimes the cards a classified, so you read them to yourself and then do what is says while everyone tries to figure out what’s going on. My cousin drew a card which told him to excuse himself, take the card to the bathroom, and stay in there until someone came and got him. Lucky for him we figured it out not too long after. Sarah drew a card which told her to set it on the table, flip the timer and then go and hide. When the timer ran out we read the card and then took off running down the stairs to find her. She was a good hider – all the way out on the beach in the middle of the night!

The best part of the game is watching people reading their chosen card. Their facial expressions usually go from WTF? to laughter and then OMG…

As a board game connoisseur I recommend this game 100 percent. With or without the drinking it’s hilarious and a guarantee of a good time. Go forth and Quelf!