An Imponderables bluffing game
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In the mid-1990s, I got a call from a reader, Ernie Capobianco. Ernie had the idea of turning my books into a board game in which players bluffed answers to Imponderables. Ernie wasn't aware that I had already recorded a bunch of audiotapes in which I played game show host and wrote bluffs for three actors. Listeners had to decide which actor was offering the correct solution to each Imponderable. I immediately understood what Ernie had in mind. With Ernie's energy and the help of a cool game company, our scheme actually worked. The good folks at Patch Products have distributed Malarky since 1997. The cool part of Malarky is that YOU get to come up with bluffs. After an Imponderable is read aloud, only one player knows the real answer, but all players get to guess which answer is correct and which are, well, Malarky. All of the questions (and answers) are adapted from the Imponderables® books and Who Put the Butter in Butterfly? Good Housekeeping named Malarky best board game of the year in 1997. Zillions, the Consumer Reports magazine for children, named Malarky the top game for kids. And Games Magazine included Malarky in its Games 100. Malarky is available at Toys R Us, Amazon, through the Patch Products website, and many other stores in the U.S. and Canada. Malarky is also available as a card game and a "Game on the Go.". You can check out a simplified version of the game. For more information, including the rules of the games, see the Patch Products website. |