Tension is an iconic trivia game that, somehow, we haven’t played with our local tabletop group. We did previously have a family game night with Tension Junior, which is the child-focused version of the board game, but now it was time to take on the full thing.
It’s an incredibly easy to set up and play trivia game, which is a major part of its charm. There are four decks of cards, so plenty of different categories, and each one is double sided. Half are red cards, which are more challenging, and half are blue cards which are easier. There is a board in the middle of the table, a meeple for each of the two teams, and a little device that allows you to hold the card that’s currently being worked on.
The device is arguably the novelty element for Tension. This device isn’t electronic – you just place the card onto it and then there are these little tabs on either side that you can push to indicate the other team has guessed the word that they’re next to. This is very easy to use, makes keeping track of the words that have been said easy, and even features finger holds on the back that make it quite comfortable to hold! There is also a one-minute timer in the box.
In Tension, you divide into two teams. One team will be holding the device with the card that matches the place on the board and the timer, while the other team will get ready to guess. After hearing the category, the timer gets flipped and the team guessing shouts out as many of the items that could fit into that category as possible. If they get a word on the card, the tab gets pushed. At the end of the timer, the team gets to move that many spaces before the other team gets a turn.
On the board, in this latest version, there are red and blue dots you can land on which then to indicate the card your team will need to play, but there are also some wild spots. The Question Mark spot challenges the counting team to pick the color, then the players need to hear the category and declare the minimum number of items they will guess correctly. If they do not meet this number, they need to go back the number of spaces they have got correctly! The swirly points on the other hand, double points if landed on, allowing that team to surge forward.
Tension is a simple trivia game that has been distilled down to an incredibly simple format, however with so many cards and the handy scoring device, it remains memorable enough to stand out. It’s iconic for a reason and still works as a great, low-thinking trivia game that can be good for a variety of different ages.
Tension is available now on Amazon.
