Bouba/Kiki Preview

I don’t know about you, but the title of this game instantly grabbed my attention. What does it even mean?! I had never heard of it until I was introduced to this game. It is a psychological effect where people associate sounds with visual shapes, regardless of language or culture. People generally associate the word ‘bouba’ with more rounded shapes, while the word ‘kiki’ is more spiky. Kind of neat, right? But how do you turn that concept into a game? It’s actually pretty clever!

Disclaimer: We were provided with a prototype copy of Bouba/Kiki for the purposes of this preview. What you see pictured below are not finalized components, and could differ from the completed production copies. -L

Bouba/Kiki is a cooperative game in which players are working together to match shapes to nonsense words. Each round, one player will act as the Clue-Giver, tasked with selecting the shape that the remaining players (the Guessers) will have to match to one of the three word choices. Guess correctly and earn points towards victory! But guess incorrectly, and those misses will add up, eventually causing you to lose the game. To setup for a game, place the scoreboard in the center of the table. Take the Hit and Miss tokens and place them on their starting spot, depending on the player count. Deal 3 cards from the deck, word side up, to the spaces numbered 1-3 on the scoreboard – this is the Target Row. Each player gets a set of 4 number tokens in their chosen color and is dealt a hand of 5 cards (looking at the shape side). Choose one player to be the first Clue-Giver and the game is ready to begin! Pictured below is the setup for a 3-player game, playing Mission 1. (I’ll discuss Missions more in a bit.)

Over a series of rounds, players are trying to work cooperatively to correctly match the given shape to the nonsense word. The goal is to earn points, moving the Hit token all the way down to zero on the scoreboard. For every incorrect guess, though, the Miss token moves towards zero. If the Hit token reaches zero, all players win! But if the Miss token reaches zero first, the game is lost. A game round is played as follows: Clue-Giver gives clue, Guessers guess. Very straight-forward. As the Clue-Giver, you will look at the cards in the Target Row, and then examine the cards in your hand. Looking at the shapes, select one card from your hand that you feel connects to/matches one of the words from the Target Row. Place the card down, in view of all players. Place your matching number token (that matches the number slot of your chosen Target Row card), face-down next to your displayed shape card.

As a Guesser, your job is to silently and individually consider the shape chosen by the Clue-Giver, and try to decide which word from the Target Row it is supposed to represent. Once you have made up your mind, place your corresponding number token face-down in front of you. When all players have done so, reveal all number tokens simultaneously. For each player that matched with the Clue-Giver, move the Hit token one space forward on the scoreboard, toward zero. For every incorrect guess, move the Miss token in the same way. Return all number tokens to their appropriate players and discard the cards from the Target Row, as well as the used shape card. The Clue-Giver draws a new card, bringing their hand back up to five, and 3 new cards are dealt to the Target Row. The role of the Clue-Giver passes to the next player, and a new round is ready to begin! The game continues in this fashion until either the Hit or Miss token reaches zero, resulting in a win or loss!

The whole Bouba/Kiki concept is pretty fascinating, and the way that it is utilized in this game is slick. The gameplay is very easy to teach and learn, and you can get right into playing almost immediately after opening the box. Just a quick little rules intro and you’re ready to go! It is considered a party game, which I know turns some people off immediately, but it doesn’t feel like your average party game. Yes, the words and shapes can make for a silly game, but it doesn’t rely on NSFW content/humor which is common in lots of word-based party games. It’s more a game of seeing if everyone is on the same psychological brainwave rather than just trying to get a laugh. Don’t get me wrong, though, you will get laughs in this game. But for more silly, family-friendly reasons as you read these nonsense words out loud.

I mentioned Missions waaaaay above in my setup paragraph, so let me circle back to those. The gameplay I described above is for the basic game. Included in the game as well is a book of Missions, which add some twists and extra challenges to the gameplay. Missions are broken down into scenarios, and each scenario tells a short story, while also including changes to the gameplay. For example, some scenarios may require players to vote together, freely discussing amongst themselves which card from the Target Row to pick, instead of selecting silently as in the basic game. Other scenarios may have a Target Row full of shapes instead of words, and the Clue-Giver provides a word for players to then match to a shape. As you progress through the scenarios in a given Mission, they will gradually increase in difficulty. The Missions are a cool addition to the game, as they can give you some variety if you’re wanting some change.

I’ll touch on components briefly, as the copy we have is a preview/prototype copy of the game. So far, though, the components seem good! The cards are nice and sturdy, and the words/shapes are legible and clear. The scoreboard, number tokens, and Hit/Miss tokens are pretty standard, no complaints here. I expect that, in production, they’ll just fine-tune things a bit, as this game is pretty light on components overall.

I enjoyed Bouba/Kiki quite a bit. It’s a cute and silly little party game, but the concept is intriguing to me. In my plays, it’s been fun to see how people make their guesses and translate these words into shapes and vice versa. Even at 2 players it’s fun, and with a larger group it can be a riot. As someone who is not always a huge fan of party games, I am a fan of this one. It’s a unique and fresh approach to a word-based party game that is unexpected and fun for all players. I can absolutely see myself pulling this game out on many game nights, either as a filler or as a longer game if we choose to play a Mission. If you’re in the market for a party game that offers something different, I would highly recommend Bouba/Kiki. It hits Kickstarter soon, so make sure to save the campaign to see when it goes live! –> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grandgamersguild/bouba-kiki-stroop-reprint