Zero

I just got done playing a pretty cool new board game, one that I had something of a stake in. Well, maybe not a stake, but I was certainly involved. That game would be Zero by University Games.

To create this rather unique trivia game, the good folks at University Games surveyed around 500 people (I was one of them; so was my brother-in-law) to see who answered what and how often. For example, "Name countries that start with the letter 'I.'" So they asked those 500 people and saw how many answered what. The trick is, you want to pick the one people said least often. For every ten percentage points on the answer card, you move forward one space (i.e. if an answer rated a 50, you move forward five spaces). The object is to not cross the finish line, to be the final player on the board. There are ways to "rewind" and go backwards.

All in all, it's pretty fun. I worry that it's possible to run out of cards eventually; people with a good memory might start filing away the best answers pretty quickly. But it's certainly worth the play.