Bonkers

"Bonkers," you ask? Yes, say I, Bonkers, the game. A word game, actually. Not, as you might think from all that trivia-sized box of little cards, a trivia game. But a word game, in deed. And a funny one, too.

First, let's look at a card. Any card will do. This one has the word "HOUSE" on the top. Below that are four answers, marked "A", "B", "C", etc. The answers here are, no, wait. I'll tell you in a minute. First you tell me. Four words. Each beginning with HOUSE. I'll get back to explaining the card in a minute.

Then there's a racetrack board. There are also 4 spots on the board, marked A, B, C, and so forth. Now, somebody, or some team, gets together and decides how likely it is that the otherbody or team will guess which. And then distribute playing chips on the 4 spots, appropriately - most chips on the word that the person/team thinks the other/s will least likely say.

Oh. The words on the HOUSE card? Housefly, for example.

There are different kinds of question cards. Some ask you to list 4 things, like countries, beginning with a letter, like H, or maybe two letters, like ME. Some ask you for words that rhymewith something. Some for words that end or start with other words (as in the above example of the HOUSE card.)

Did you figure out the HOUSE word? Housewarming? Which one did you think was the hardest to guess? Housebroken? I dunno. Housewife, maybe.

When you're the person or team reading the question, you've got to listen very, very hard. Because answers come as fast as the other person/team can think of them, and if you say that they didn't say what they said they said, well, things can border on the less-light-hearted. This requires the maturity, minimally, of a 12-year old.

But a party game it is. And it's not trivia. And it's Major FUN.