TELESTRATIONS

Designer: Uncredited | Publisher: The Op

Can you draw? If the answer is no then you are perfect for this game. There really is something wonderful in how human beings can twist and bend and distort things simply by shooting them through the chicane of their own perception.

We take a fairly simple set of facts, put them through the ripples of our brain and they come out of the other end stretched like those people in that Junchi Ito story. Rather than distended limbs though, in Telestrations what comes out the other end, if you have friends like mine (and, let’s face it, you do), are crude representations of the kind of things that would make your maiden aunt get the vapours and run from the room.

This is the classic game of telephone but with drawing instead of whispering. You are given a word or phrase, you draw it, pass it to the next player who writes what they think the word is then passes it on, the next player draws it and so on until it’s travelled around the table. Then comes the reveal and you are reminded how, once you reach a certain age, your mind permanently resides in the gutter.

Every time I play it I guffaw, every time I play it our table is the most annoying at game night because we’re all screaming with laughter. This is a game that can be tailored to your group though and if you happen to be people who are more sophisticated than my friends you can play the version that suits your more refined palettes... if you want... it won’t be as funny as ours though.