Game Review

Neverending Stories
Discovery Toys, Inc.
Martinez, CA 94553
1-800-426-4777
review by Heather Burtch

I recently played this storytelling game and enjoyed it a lot. It’s worth investigating if you’re looking for alternative kinds of games to play in your family or for your children to play with their friends.

The board is laid out as a hexagon made of hexagons which correspond to the size and shape of the cards which are distributed. Each person receives 8 cards and the youngest player or first to have a "Once upon a time" card goes first. Then the story begins.

Each player puts down a picture card in turn giving a line or two of story to go with it. The last sentence of your part of the story should he left unfinished for the next person to complete. You may only put down a card whose border color corresponds to a hexagon touching the previously played card. The colors are different for persons, places and things or actions. The cards have a combination of modern and classic sorts of pictures. For example:

"One upon a time (card with open book), there was a mysterious island where nobody lived (island). Suddenly . . . a man in a parachute landed on the island because he had been blown off course from where he wanted to go (man in air with parachute on back). As he looked around the island . . . he noticed a cave. The bird perched on a rock there opened its beak and spoke (cave and bird). It said . . . "Go inside and you will find something you need." The man went in afraid of what he might see but also excited. Around a bend he came upon a huge chest of treasure (open treasure chest). As he searched through it he found a ring that he knew his mother had been trying to track down ever since her jewelry had been stolen years ago (ring) She had not been able to find it because . . . obviously, the thieves had hidden it in this unknown place. But also because since his father had died his mother had been working full time as a doctor and had no time for such frivolous searches (female doctor) . . . Then he discovered a key in the chest (key). . .

There are a couple of other minor details about wild cards and action cards but that is basically the game. The object is to get rid of all your cards and be the one to end the story. There are four ending cards and your ending must fit the expression on the card you put down (happy, sad, surprised, or scared). The group playing has to determine how free-wheeling the associations between cards and previous story line can be. The crazier the connection the funnier it is though the integrity of the story sometimes suffers!

The game box says it’s suitable for ages 5 and up—it is, though a 5-year-old may need a little encouragement or prompting to share their ideas. There are 48 cards but 6 are "Once upon a time" and 4 are ending cards which cuts back on the number of cards available when you reach in the bag to get a new one (if your cards don’t match the available spaces). So sometimes we started the game with fewer cards if we had a larger group playing. Also, sometimes the combination of modern and traditional elements is a bit jarring but you can still create a good story!

"Discovery Toys" are not generally sold in stores but through in-home demonstrations.

—published WIP Winter 1999