Everyone in our house has a soft spot for the Toy Story franchise. When my eldest son turned two, we gave him a talking Woody doll, and now we have a tote box full of toys that get pulled out on a regular rotation. From five to eleven, all the kids still enjoy playing with Woody and the gang. And so imagine our delight when we got to compete in a fairground style talent show with all our favorite characters. In the Toy Story Talent Show game from Funko, players compete in a game of friendly challenges and cards to collect prize tickets. Be it balancing, playing mini golf, or using your Lasso skills you collect tickets by performing Talents and playing out your cards. This is an energetic and often wild game for the whole family.
Components
- 100 Talent Cards
- 18 Show Time Cards
- 55 Prize Tickets (25 Single, 5 Double, 25 Triple)
- Sand Timer
- Alien Blindfold
- 6 Army Men Movers
- Jessie’s Lasso
- Bo Peep’s Staff
- Buzz’s Flying Disc
- Pixar Ball (This should be sold separately; it is awesome)
- Woody’s Lucky Coin
- Bullseye’s Horseshoe
Game Setup
Each player begins the game with a variety of cards. Three talent cards and two Show Time cards make up your hand, which you do not reveal to the other players. The remaining Talent cards form a draw deck, while the remaining Show Time cards are not used for this particular game. The number of prize tickets available in their three separate piles will vary according to how many people are playing. The number of double prize tickets available determines the number of rounds in the game.
How Do You Play Toy Story Talent Show?
The game is played in rounds with the youngest player taking the first turn. On your turn you may do one of three things:
- Play a Talent card
- Play a Show Time card
- Pass
To play a card, it must match either the number or color displayed on the face up card in the discard pile. When you play a Show Time card you get to attempt a talent, and completed or not, this will end your turn. After you play a card you do not refill your hand as you earn prize tickets for running out of cards. It’s worth holding on to your Show Time cards. Even if you don’t like your Talent cards and want something random, it’s a bummer to have to pass if you’ve run out of Show Time cards and can’t play a Talent card. Since each Show Time card has two colors and a number, it’s easier to get a shot at something.
If you cannot play a card, or do not want to play a card you can pass, but are not taken out of the round. When play comes back round to you, you get to choose again.
If it isn’t your turn and someone plays a Show Time card, you can block them in order to attempt the talent yourself by playing any card of the same color.
When you play a Show Time card that isn’t blocked you get to flip over the top Talent Card from the deck and attempt it. The card will tell you how many attempts you get, or if you get a timer and as many attempts as you can do in that time period. Playing with a pre-teen and a Kindergartner, we appreciated the rule that “you can change the Talents to make them easier or more challenging for your group.” When we made allowances for the littlest Pinault, the crankiest one couldn’t protest because it’s right there in the rules. Some of the talents are simply hilarious, and depending on who you play with you will have a very different kind of game each time. Everyone enjoyed Dad’s jumping jacks, while I came up with what was considered an unusual way to carry the sand timer with Bo Peep’s crook.
If you succeed at your talent, you get a triple prize ticket. If you fail, you get a single prize ticket. You do not look at the point value of your prize tickets until the end of the game.
Each round can end in one of two ways. Either by a player using their last card, or by all players passing in a row. If there are double tickets left, you start a new round. If there are no double tickets left then you tally up your points.
Talent Cards
There’s such a wide variety of Talent cards it would be impossible to list them all. It’s a great mix of old and new characters from all four movies. While there are not many bad guys, the ventriloquist dummies are pictured, and there is a random Lotso here and there. No sign of Gabby Gabby or Zurg.
How Do You Win Toy Story Talent Show?
The game is over when the last double prize ticket has been taken. All prize tickets are flipped over and the player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, then the player with the most number of physical tickets wins.
Should You Buy Toy Story Talent Show?
Well, that depends. If you were addicted to the game Cranium in the early 2000s, or have a high energy family, then this is definitely the game for you. If you are a lover of Toy Story, I wouldn’t say that was enough of a motive to buy the game, though it’s certainly a consideration. It is a very active game. Exceptionally active.
The instructions show a 30-minute play time. I have no idea who play-tested this to get to that number, but it is deceptive. We played with two adults and three kids, and were not even done with round one by the time we hit 30 minutes, and there were still two rounds to go. We cut our first game short, and though in subsequent games we got quicker as we went, we never hit the 30-minute completion mark as a family. We might be able to if just the adults play; it would make an excellent after-hours drinking game, and certainly I was ready for a drink after playing this game with all four of my high energy kids. The kids all love this game; the adults love how much the kids love it! It would exhaust any family on a night with a babysitter, so if you need them to pass out, play this game.
Pro Tip: It is impossible to play the Toy Story soundtrack while playing this game; there’s just too much going on.
GeekMom received a copy of this game for review purposes.
