Articulate! is a board game from Drumond Park, for 4 to 20+ players aged 12 and up with original concept by Andrew Bryceson. Articulate! players describe words from six different categories to their team as quickly as possible. The teams move round the board based on the number of words correctly guessed, and occasional spinner bonuses. The object of the game is to be the first team to get around the board to the finish space. There is also a children's version called Articulate for Kids and a new version was released in 2010 called Articulate Your Life.
Gameplay
The game is played by the teams taking turns to play. When a team is playing a 30 second timer is started and the describer will describe as many words from the relevant category to the guesser in this time. The describer can gesticulate and act but can't say the word itself, the length, the starting letter, any derivative or what it rhymes with or sounds like. The team's piece moves forwards how many words were correctly guessed and unless the piece lands on the on red, orange or white space the next team will take their turn:
If the piece lands on a red or orange space the team will spin the spinner in the centre. Depending on what space is landed on the team will be able to take a different action. A wide green segment will result in a movement forward of two steps for your piece or backwards two steps for another team. A narrow green segment will be the same as the wide but three spaces and an orange or red space results in no action. Then pass the turn on as normal.
If the piece lands on a white space a control turn is played where the describer from that team describes a word to all teams and the first team to guess correctly has their turn regardless of the order.
When a team reaches or passes finish space they will trigger a control turn and if they win that then they win the game. If they lose then they end their turn and will trigger another control turn on their next turn if they are still at the finish space.
Board
The game contains a circular board, 500 cards with 3,000 words, a spinner, timer, 4 playing pieces and instructions. An extra set of questions is available in the Articulate! Extra Pack No. 1, which contains 500 new cards. The children's version only contains 336 cards.
History
The world record holders for the board game was set in 2017 against four other teams with a score of 411 cards won. This is an official Guinness world record recognised award. The players awarded are chess Grandmasters James Kendrick and Chris Ager. Originally released in 1992, Articulate! has been in the UK adult game top 10 each year. It was one of the three top selling UK games in 2009 and overtook Trivial Pursuit as the top property in UK adult games. An un-verified world record score of 11 correct answers for a single round of the game, was recorded by Weaver & Brand in 2011, in Dorset, UK Articulate Your Life was voted as one of the best new games for 2010 by a panel of expert toy retailers at the 2010 Toy Fair.
