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I Immediately Regret This Decision
The film Anchorman represented my first real introduction to the genius of Will Ferrell. I love Will Ferrell. Even in films which cannot in anyway be described as good, Ferrell always makes me laugh. Regardless of this there does seem to be a fair few people who join me in enjoying the silly humour of Anchorman, at least enough to warrant a board game conversion.
Interestingly the Anchorman we ended up with is not the Anchorman that was originally filmed. On one of the DVD editions of the film they included the original cut. It is a travesty so terrible that not even a Ferrell fan should be subjected to it. Will Anchorman The Game be a genius recut? Or the original poorly scripted sham?
I Miss Your Musk
In my board game snobbery I would usually dismiss a game such as Anchorman. I’ve played enough Cards Against Humanity and the various takes on it to know that they are usually one play wonders for me - funny the first time and yet not quite funny enough to cover the inadequacies. The trouble was Anchorman was offering an included timer in the shape of the Sex Panther cologne.
I do have to say that this attention to detail of the IP is pretty spot on through out the game. Open up the box are you are presented with components that scream a love of the film. From the timer itself to metal player trays that are all unique with different quotes on them, it’s done well and with great graphic design… mostly.
I say mostly because the other components are weird and poor, in choice and execution. Player trays are metal because during the game each player will be using magnets! Which in reality is not as exciting as it sounds on paper. I say paper because you will be using magnetic words to fill in gaps on sentences on paper sheets. I know the reason for the paper is so the magnets stick, but paper is not the hardiest of substances and it’s use here is silly at best.
You Pooped In The Fridge?
Then we come to the magnets themselves. Which are small strips which words or phrases are on. They came in sheets that needed separating which was a time consuming job but allowed me to see the range of phrases employed in the game. Let’s just say that they went far beyond the Anchorman inspiration. While some quotes and insults from the film were used, most of the suggestions are far more smutty than the 12 rated source material. In fact Anchorman the Game has a 17+ rating.
The game play is basic and probably what you can guess… all players bar one (the leader anchor) take a tray and a paper sheet with a story headline on. Magnets are split into nouns, verbs and plural nouns, thankfully by colour too. Because they are small and magnetic splitting them into the suggested groupings and numbers is far too much trouble so you will usually end up dumping them in colour groups and not worrying if they are all the right way up.
This makes trying to construct something that makes sense, let alone is humorous a task in itself. Added to this take you have only 60 seconds to do so, timed of course by the Sex Panther. Speaking of which it is a little disappointing to find that when the timer completes it’s loop it rings rather than growling weakly.
During this waning time players will fill in the blanks in their headlines and place them in the odd cardboard holder (that needs taking apart to put back in the box). When the timer runs out the lead anchor takes each story and reads them out trying not to laugh. Except often they won’t need to try because what results is rarely funny. Points are awarded for… well doing things like laughing, or not. It’s all very wishy washy and forgettable.
Even The Idiot Can Say Something
So unfortunately what we have here is more milk was a bad choice than jazz flute. It’s a shame the attention to detail in some of the graphic design didn’t translate to the gameplay. As it is for shock humour you’d be better of sticking to Cards Against Humanity or Incohearent. For a proper laugh out loud party game Telestrations or Secret Identity are so much more than this poor excuse for a game.
Anchorman fanatics may like to keep the Sex Panther timer on a shelf or make a display from the metal trays, but there is little else to recommend here. I had hoped for something a little more but unfortunately it seems I should have known better.
