Synonyms Board Game Review

Our Family games nights are no longer a weekly event, schedules this semester just don’t allow for it. So when I received a board game for review I was excited because I could mandate a game night…for the purpose of this review. The name of the game is Synonyms- The Word Game That Gets Your Mind Racing!

Players race their pawns around the board to be the first to collect all the letters of the word SYNONYMS. A roll of the die and a card is selected. The player has one minute to earn a letter by naming the designated number of synonyms- unless a competitor declares a challenge! Minds race at maximum brainpower as each tries to top the other. Pass and Challenge cards add strategy and equalize the odds for all players.

Each word card has a list of synonyms on the back and you have to name the synonyms to that word. We found we didn’t do very well naming synonyms that were listed but we named several that we all agreed were acceptable synonyms for the given word. The game says it is for ages 10 and up, I would not want to play this with an 8 year old, my 15 year old got frustrated playing Synonyms. This is a very educational game and there are ways to modify it for the group you are playing with. There are 3 different colored sets of word cards and if you are playing with a younger group of kids I would recommend playing with only the green cards as they are the easiest.

An example of a green card is the word powerful. The synonyms listed are: able, almighty, athletic, concentrated, enduring, firm, forceful, hale, hardy, mighty, muscled, potent, robust, strong and tough. An example of a moderate difficult green card is the word thoughtful. Synonyms being:astute, attentive, aware, careful, caring, chivalrous, concerned, considerate, cooperative, courteous, diplomatic, discreet, friendly, gracious, helpful, introspective, kind, meditative, obliging, pensive, polite, prudent, reflective, sensitive. on the most difficult red card is the word adequate= acceptable, all right, capable, comfortable, commensurate, competent, decent, enough, equal, fair, fit, fitting, ok, passable, plenty, satisfactory, sufficient, suitable, tolerable.

This game would be great for homeschoolers or for use in a classroom setting. We did find the directions for using the challenge cards a bit difficult to understand so we chose not to use them at all.

Click the link to purchase Synonyms.