Category Game, published in 1996 by Editrice Giochi, is a very simple party game based on a classic concept: finding words that can be associated to some categories, beginning with a specific letter. In the game you choose randomly 5 categories between more than 200, drawing 5 cards from a deck and than 5 different letters. You place this cards and tiles on the game board, creating a 5x5 grid. In the 25 intersections of this grid there are 25 holes where 25 marbles of 3 different colours are randomly placed. The picture on the left shows a typical game situation.
The player in turn must find as many words he/she can starting with one of the 5 letters and belonging to one of the 5 categories. Every time the player find a valid word, he takes the marble in the appropriate intersection and place it in his own marble holder.
The player in turn must find as many words he/she can starting with one of the 5 letters and belonging to one of the 5 categories. Every time the player find a valid word, he takes the marble in the appropriate intersection and place it in his own marble holder.
The blue marbles are worth 3 points, the yellow ones 2 and the white ones just 1. The marbles collected by the player in turn are not placed back on the board, so as the game progresses there are less marbles available. The round ends when all the marbles have been taken out of the board or when all the player are not able to find any new valid word. Each player scores as many points as the sum of the value of the marbles collected. After scoring, the marbles are placed back on the board, randomly, and a new set of 5 category and 5 letters is drawn.
The game is really fast and finding a valid word can be difficult. The different scoring value of the marbles and their totally random position on the board creates millions of different combinations. Sometimes the best strategy is to collect many marbles of less value instead of loosing time in search of the most valuable combinations. Quick thinking is always needed.
The game is really fast and finding a valid word can be difficult. The different scoring value of the marbles and their totally random position on the board creates millions of different combinations. Sometimes the best strategy is to collect many marbles of less value instead of loosing time in search of the most valuable combinations. Quick thinking is always needed.
Only one word for each combination is allowed. The player in turn has
15 seconds to find as many words he/she can in order to collect as many
marbles as possible. The marbles have a different scoring value depending on their colour.
15 seconds to find as many words he/she can in order to collect as many
marbles as possible. The marbles have a different scoring value depending on their colour.
The game has been published in Italian, German and French.
In 1996, Category Game awarded the French As d'Or as the best party game published that year.
In 1996, Category Game awarded the French As d'Or as the best party game published that year.
