Dad
always said, “Honesty is the best policy.”
Yeah, right! It’s time to take
off those rose-colored glasses and
break out a game that represents what advertisers, politicians, and car
salesmen know really spins the world
on its axis: a good, old-fashioned
lie! I’m not just talking about
stretching the truth or telling a little white fib. No, I mean spinning an incredible
doozy of a tall tale. When your parents
are on the prowl accusing you of all manner of shenanigans, you need a story
and you need to stick to it!
[Ed. note: This is a preview of a non-final, non-production
prototype of the game. Our opinions reflect that of the game at the time we
played it; the final product may feature some slight variation in game play,
art, and components.]
How it
Plays
Lie
Your Face Off is a press-your-luck style, tableau-esque, climbing card game with a “take that” element tossed in for interactive measure!
All
cards in Lie Your Face Off are either a "Lie" or an "Embellishment." Individual Lies are worth anywhere from 3 to
20 points. You want to play several Lies
in a collection, which is called a "Story." Embellishments can add or subtract to a story’s
current value, but incur a penalty at the end of the game. Many cards also allow you special actions. To win, you need to lie a lot; but the most
incredible yarns earn the most points.
Creating
big lies will take several rounds. On
your turn, you first draw a new card. Then you take one action. You may place a Lie in your tableau to begin a new story (you can have as many
individual stories as you want and have table space for). You can also add a Lie or Embellishment to an
existing story. When adding to a story, the
next Lie must be of greater value than the topmost existing Lie (+/- any Embellishments)
on that story. But it can’t be too much
bigger (no greater than 3) – even these tall tales have their limits, it appears! An Embellishment may never reduce a
story’s value below zero. A third
possible action is to discard a card from your hand and draw a new one. Finally, you may simply pass and do nothing.
While
placing cards in increasing value sounds overly simplistic, the real meat and
potatoes in Lie Your Face Off are chaining and interaction. The special abilities let you draw extra
cards, play extra cards, force everyone to trash the highest value card from
their tableau, or a combination of two of those. Not all cards have special abilities, but
those that do offer a chance to chain some nice runs together or hit your
opponents at frustrating moments.
 |
| This card lets you draw 1 card and play 1 card. |
The
frustration stems from the fact that you must have five Lies to complete a
story at the beginning of your turn. So even if you’re ready to score a set of
Lies, another player can force you to discard the topmost value before your
next turn comes around. There are a
couple of ways to protect your stories, mainly by placing embellishments of
your own on top so that those get trashed instead of Lies. But often even that strategy falls short.
If you are
able to make up a story and stick to it when your turn comes around, then you
have successfully lied your face off!
Turn that story over. All players
now bid for a new turn order by laying down a Lie of their choice to start
another story – the highest Lie goes first and play continues.
The
game ends when one player has perjured enough – that means completing two
lies in a 2-player game, or three in a 3-4 player session. Otherwise, the game will end when the draw
deck is exhausted and you've all run out of options and have been caught red-handed. At either point,
players discard their remaining hands, scoring only completed stories and those
Lies played to their tableau. You get to
count the full value of your highest Lie from any completed stories, then add 1 point for
every other Lie you played and deduct 1 point for every embellishment.
The winner may immediately run for public office.
The winner may immediately run for public office.
 |
| This story will be worth 16 + 4 at the end of the game. |
Whopper
of a Story or Little White Lie?
Some
games can provide a warm, golden, teaching moment. And then there’s Lie Your Face Off! Well, okay, so this quick, silly card game isn’t
going to turn your kid into the next Richard Nixon. Keeping things in perspective, the “lying”
theme is really pasted on in this abstract design for a humorous flavor only. The stories tacked on to each other don’t
even logically relate. But that’s not
the point.
Lie
Your Face Off is a light card game for family and casual gamers. It might work as a filler for more serious
gamers, as long as they’re aware that it is, indeed, really light.
The
rules are very simple. As long as you
know how to count, the concept of adding greater Lies on top of a ladder of
progressively larger untruths is easy enough to grasp. The special abilities are not cumbersome at
all, yet still add a bit of depth and variety.
It’s still a card game at the mercy of the draw, as are most traditional
and commercial designs within the genre.
But the additional actions give you a feeling of some control.
There
is an interesting tension in the push-your-luck aspect. As your stories get bigger, they become
likelier targets for attack from your opponents’ Embellishments. So you have to decide whether or not to play
your own Embellishments on top to protect your biggest lies, but then risk getting
stuck with them for negative points at the end of the game. Or
you can play a single, high-value Lie in its own separate story that will be
removed in the event of a reproach.
However, even if it survives, it will only be worth 1 point at the end of the game - you're unlikely able to earn its full value, because it’s more difficult to play enough higher Lies above it in
order to complete it as a story.
The
spite element is actually the strongest aspect to Lie Your Face Off. Generally, it is effective without being overly
brutal or harsh. For a light,
filler-style game, it’s an appropriate level of interaction. One way to soften the blows against you is to
have multiple stories going at the same time.
Therefore, it’s not totally irreparable when having to trash a card or
two. Then also, the number of attacks is
mitigated by the usual "one play" rule. If
you concentrate too often on targeting others, none of your own stories are
growing in the meantime.
The
flip side to being spiteful and playing your own attack cards is that they come
with a slight cost. You have to discard your highest value Lie just like everyone else
– although the story to which you just played such an Embellishment is immune
for that action. Plus, those attack
cards are a point penalty if they remain.
Sometimes you can get rid of one that you play to your own tableau by tactfully placing it on top of your biggest story, waiting for another player to attack so that you may conveniently remove it! Thoughtful
planning will behoove you before using one.
 |
| Embellishing your stores can give powerful abilities (left) or force players to discard lies (right). |
Lie
Your Face Off is highly accessible and pleasingly quick. If you’re a fan of lighter, commercial card
games with a traditional feel – or looking for something in that vein – this
design should be a good choice. It is on
the humorous side with some charming artwork and would also be a good option to
acclimate kids and casual gamers to interaction and spite. Just make sure they keep their lying in the
game!
Lie
Your Face Off will run on Kickstarter through November 7. If you're
interested, head on over to the campaign page to pick up a copy. You can get the basic game for a $20.00
contribution, which includes all the terrific fibbing you need to spin a
whopper of a story, with other perks possible at higher funding levels – and
that’s no lie!
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