Wicked Uncle are a gift website that makes it easy to find the perfect thing to give for any child, giving ideas and suggestions based on age, gender and interests. Recently, they sent us the Pass the Pen game for review. This is a fun and speedy drawing game that’s ideal for older kids of 7 or 8+
The game contains a special pen with an inbuilt timer, which retracts the nib once your time is up. It also has a dice, word cards with categories, a drawing pad and of course the rules and instructions booklet.
The concept and rules of the game are really simple. Each player takes it in turns to roll the dice and then find out what word they need to draw. The cards are marked with words in different colours, so when you pick a card if you’ve rolled purple then you need to draw the purple word for example.
The drawing player mustn’t tell the word to any other players, as they will all need to guess. If they guess correctly, then the drawer and the guesser both get the maximum amount of points, but if not then the drawer needs to pass the pen to the person next to them and let them see the word, so that they can continue the drawing for the remaining player or players to guess.
There are 500 words in total, which gives you a great variety of things to draw. Some are harder than others. My kids easily guessed the simpler ones like Batman and skull, but had a harder time drawing and guessing some tricky ones like life jacket and nail file!
It’s not easy to draw something really accurate in 15 seconds so you have to just try to get the basic shape down as quick as possible and hope for the best! We had lots of laughs drawing and guessing. Here are some of our pictures – I wonder if you would have been able to guess these!
The game is concluded after drawing 10 cards, then you add up the points and see which player has the most. You can keep going for longer than 10 though if you want to, and really can continue for as long as you like since there are so many cards available.
To play the game,you’ll need a minimum of three players but it will work really well with an even larger group, for example in family gatherings, as the more people there are the more laughs you’ll have and the more people there are to have a guess at each drawing.
I played with my boys aged 8, nearly 7, and 5. Although the game is suggested for 8+, all of the boys managed to take part and enjoyed the game. As long as they’re able to read the words on the cards then they will be able to play, as even my 5 year old didn’t have any trouble with the concept and rules of the game.
The timer pen adds a fun twist to the traditional concept of drawing and guessing games, and Pass the Pen would be a great addition to any family board game collection.
Pass The Pen is available for 21.95 at Wicked Uncle – visit their site for more information on the game.
We were sent a copy of the game in order to review
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.