LogFAQs > #977209714

32. Hues and Cues
Expansions Played: N/A

There's not much to this game and, as its placement in this tier implies, I wouldn't want to see it on the table more than once in a blue moon. That being said, the few times I've played it, I've always had more fun than I expected to. I guess it would technically still fall in the "party game" category, but it's on the fringes - my delineating factor is essentially whether a moderately inebriated person could still semi-competently participate.

Super straightforward. You've got a board in front of you displaying 480 colors. One player draws a card with a few of those colors on it and picks one to give a one-word identifying hint for. All other players place a marker on a board color to make their guess, and then the clue giver has the option to also give a two-word hint; if so, players can make an additional guess. Once done, you place a little 3x3 box on the board with the original color at its center, in which the guessers get points for how close they were and the clue giver gets points for every guess within that box.

The idea that makes this game work is that describing colors is hard, and basically impossible without using something as a reference. If you're like me (i.e. horrible with anything artsy), you'd usually start off by using another color as that relative point, then use words like "lighter" or "darker" or some such, and then in frustration move on to something like "It's like Barney the dinosaur."

Hues and Cues's restrictions force you into that third, funny step immediately, which makes a tough task even tougher while keeping it as something that literally everyone can do to some extent. It makes for just a nice little game that's likely to lead to a laugh or two, like when my group realized that my color-oriented painter wife was the only one of us who has any idea what chartreuse is or when you get a quote like "What the hell color do you think Pikachu is?!" It does a good job of encouraging that post-round argument between players that make party games enjoyable while avoiding making the game itself feel like it's just an ancillary vehicle for that goal.

It's quick, simple, and easy to teach. Has a really nice niche as a night-ender where everyone's kind of tired of thinking hard and just feels like chatting or keeping one eye on Sunday Night Football or something, but still wants to also have a game on the table. It's also easily the best game on the list so far for families, in my opinion.

Collection Status and Future Outlook: Owned by no one right now - only played at board game cafes a few times. I expect I'll find a used copy for $5 somewhere eventually and buy it just for the sake of messing with my color-blind friend one day.

Actually, in all seriousness, this is a game I could see rising a bit in the distant future when my wife and I have kids. I imagine a lot of potential humor in a young child using their limited frames of reference in the world for colors and getting frustrated when no one understands their clues.