There have been lots of game shows that test contestants knowledge of trivial information and they began appearing in the early days of television. However, tabletop trivia games became popular in the 1980s and I was a big fan of them. These games often contained a variety of questions divided into a number of categories. One of the problems was that many of the questions were designed for adults or players from a specific generation. Now there is a new trivia game that is designed for people of every generation; from the Greatest Generation to Gen Z.
What Is GENSMAK!
GENSMAK! is a competitive trivia card game for 2 or more players, ages 10 and up, and takes about 15-45 minutes to play depending the number of players. Players can play as individuals or divided up into teams. The game is currently available directly from the publisher as well as from Amazon for $29.99 for a copy of the game. GENSMAK! was designed by Laura Sleat and published by Early Works, LLC.
GENSMAK! Components
Here is what you get in the box:
- 100 Greatest Generation trivia cards
- 100 Boomer trivia cards
- 100 Gen X trivia cards
- 100 Millennial trivia cards
- 100 Gen Z trivia cards
- 50 Bonus cards
There are five different decks of cards based on the five generations of players. Within a deck, there are four different topics: Music, People and Events, Pop Culture, and Shows and Films. Each card also has one of three difficulty levels: easy, medium, or hard.
Each card has a question, a hint, and an answer. The hints were all written by comedians to add to the entertainment value of the game.
A deck of bonus cards are used during the game. Since you keep track of your score by the cards you have earned, each bonus card provides one more point towards your win.
How to Play GENSMAK!
You can find an online version of the rules here.
The Goal
The goal of the game is to be the first team to earn 20 cards including one from each generation.
Setup
GENSMAK! is easy to set up. Start off by separating and stacking the trivia cards into their give generational decks. Each deck has the name of the generation on them as well as a different background color. Place the the five generation decks in a row with the question side of the cards face down. Then place the deck of bonus cards at the end of the row. Decide if you will be playing as individuals or divide up into teams. Since you can earn bonus points for answering questions outside of your generation, the more generations on one team, the fewer bonus points you can earn. Once you have divided up, the team with the oldest player goes first.
Gameplay
Teams take turns answering questions. The current team selects a trivia card from one of the five decks. The top cards for each deck will show the generation, the topic, and the difficulty level. The trivia captain from an opposing team will pick up the top card from the deck selected and read only the question. The trivia captain should rotate throughout the game so everyone gets a chance. the team answering the question has about 60 seconds to answer. They may ask the trivia captain to read the hint. Once the team is ready, they must lock in their answer by saying ‘final answer’. The trivia captain then compares their answer to the answer on the card and judges whether it is correct.
If the answer is correct, the team that answered gets to keep the card in their score pile. If they answered a question from outside the generation of anyone on the team, they get a bonus card. They also get a bonus card if they did not use a hint. Therefore, a team could score up to three points for one correct answer. Once scoring is completed, the next team in a clockwise direction takes their turn and selects a card.
Game End
The game ends when one team has a total of 20 cards, both question and bonus cards, and has at least one card from each generation.
Why You Should Play GENSMAK!
I have always enjoyed trivia games, some more than others. GENSMAK! has a lot going for it. First off, it is a simple game that can easily be played anywhere. There is no gameboard or playing pieces. It is just a box of cards. Since you use the cards themselves to keep score, you don’t even need a paper and pencil. Plus the box has built in dividers to keep your decks separated for easy setup each time you play. Next, when you pick a question, you know the topic and difficulty level of the question. However, you must select a a card, you have to pick the top one from one of the five generation decks. Therefore, you can use some strategy to help you win. You do not earn extra points for medium or hard questions, so you may want to select easy cards to ensure you score some points and also to keep the other team from getting them. Third, I like the fact that their are hints on each card. The hints can help you answer the question, but you also miss out on a bonus card if you take the hint. Finally, the requirement to answer a question correctly from each generation helps provide some balance to the game.
GENSMAK! also offers some alternative rules. To make the game a bit easier, you can win with 20 cards but only need three different generations instead of all five. There is a rule that if you don’t like the difficulty level of topic of the top trivia card in a deck, you can forfeit one of the generation cards your scoring stack and take that top card out of play. If you have more than enough cards to win, but still need that one generation and want to make it easier for you, this rule can help. A third rule lets you steal. If the team that goes before your team answers the question incorrectly, you can attempt to answer it. This counts as your turn and if you get it wrong, you lose one of the cards from your scoring stack.
I enjoy playing GENSMAK!. While it has a lot in common with other trivia games, I really like how it focuses on different generations. As such, it is great for playing at family gatherings where you have different generations all together. Plus it is still fun even if everyone playing is from the same generation because then answering those questions from other generations can be quite challenging. The company currently has one expansion available which adds a new category for each generation: Women in Sports. They are also planning future expansions as well. GENSMAK! is also a great choice for game night to play as a warmup before more complex games or as the main course itself by playing multiple games and switching teams each time. If you enjoy trivia games or casual games that can entertain mixed groups, then I recommend GENSMAK!.
For more information, visit the GENSMAK! webpage!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
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