This New Tabletop Game Is ‘Bang Out of Order’

I don’t write very many tabletop reviews these days but Bang Out of Order randomly turned up just before our summer vacation, and I’ve wanted to write about it ever since. Let’s ignore the fact that November is almost over (and that when I first wrote that sentence it said October) and rejoice in the fact that this family card based quiz game has been an absolute smash! 

What Is Bang Out of Order?

I’m tempted to bill it as the party game for people who don’t like party games. My oldest son loves playing games, but he’s a lover of heavy strategy. This tends to put off the rest of the family as a) they can take a lot of effort to learn and understand and b) we always lose to my oldest. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with losing to a better opponent, it can sometimes be a soul destroying to play something for the best part of 2 hours (or even longer) and then end up coming a distant 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th. 

I have tried to level the playing field with different, quicker games with some success, but one thing I’ve never been able to entice him to play is the party games. I love games like Just One or Anomia but my son hates them, so they get left on the shelf. 

Enter Bang Out of Order, a game that pits two teams against one another. It can technically be played 1v1 but it’s better with at least 4 players. Having said that, nearly all our games have ended up in a free for all discussion about the answers. This is not a competitive game by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, a whole lotta fun. 

At its heart, Bang Out of Order is a quiz game, but it’s not a difficult or stuffy quiz game. It’s not a game that favors those with an encyclopedic knowledge. It’s a game where even when you think you know the answer you may well mess things up. It’s a game that will constantly surprise and entertain you. 

Sound good? Then let’s dive a little deeper. 

What’s in the Box? 

Honestly, not that much. 

• Some Rules.
• 110 Cards. The cards are double sided, with two different colors (pink and blue). You can play with either side face up as long as you always play with all the cards the same way up. Most of these cards have “answers” on. Two of them are the “zero” and “infinity” card, respectively. 

Games are for 2 teams of as many players as you like and last around 15 minutes. The age on the box says 8+ and this feels about right. 

How to Play Bang Out of Order!

The aim of the game is to score points by putting cards in the right order from zero to infinity. You do this by calling out the opposing team when you think they have put their cards in the wrong order. 

You start by putting down the ‘zero’ and ‘infinity’ cards on either side of the table/playing space. 

You then place the rest of the cards in a pile. 

Anatomy of a card. 

The cards in Bang out of Order have a word prompt to a question with a numerical answer. They each have a blue side and a pink side. 

The prompts are things like “Most T-shirts worn at once by an individual” or “People Who Have Walked on the Moon”

The answer is on the reverse side of the card. This means as you look at a card, you’ll see the word prompt AND a number in the bottom right corner. If the card is blue that number will be pink because it’s the numerical answer to the prompt on the PINK side of the card. This has caused me to have the odd cognitive break when playing, but it is a good way of saving space for the game. You just have to be careful nobody looks at the other side of the card and sees the answer.  

The First Card. 

The first card is easy. It goes somewhere between 0 and infinity. Play then switches to the other team. They take the top card and look at the word prompt. Now they have a choice to make, they need to decide where it fits between the three cards that are now on the table.

Sometimes this is easy. There’s got to be more Terracotta Warriors than US presidents, right? Other times it is much trickier. Where does the record for the longest distance walked on stilts fit into this? 

Once you’ve made your choice of where to put card number 2, play passes back to the other team they draw a new card and they have to decide where to put that in the chain. Play continues in this way until is stops. 

How Does Play Stop?

Once you think the opposing team has placed a card in the wrong place – perhaps they thought more astronauts have walked on the moon than there are atoms in the universe – then your team can shout, “That’s bang out of order!” and play stops. 

The cards are then turned over one by one to reveal the answers. If ANY of them are out of order, the team that shouted out wins all the cards. If the cards are in the right order the team that did not shout out collects them. You then start another round, with the losing team drawing the first card. The first team to win 15 cards is the winning team (15 is the suggested number. You can play for as long as you like! )

The key bit to this rule is that if ANY of the cards are out of order you win. So a mistake earlier in proceedings can mess things up. If the opposing team made the error, but it wasn’t called out at the time, the got away with something. 

Why Play Bang Out of Order?

The beauty of this game is its simplicity. It’s easy to explain and it’s easy to play. It’s also a great deal of fun and sparks all sorts of discussion about the answers. In our games we found it impossible not to talk about our answers as a group, which rather undermines the competitive element, but nevertheless made for a great evening. 

If I had a criticism (and it’s a small one), it’s that after about 7 cards it’s always worth calling “Bang Out of Order” because it’s almost inevitable that somebody has already made a mistake. Whilst this is often hilarious, and informative, it can make you question why you bothered playing in the first place, but as the game is mostly great fun, it’s an easy feeling to forgive. 

The genius of Bang Out of Order is that it appeals to general knowledge fans, but it’s impossible to know the answers to many of the prompts. Yes, if you’re a Mastermind you might be able to make better guesses than somebody else but ultimately its still a guess. This levels the playing field and makes it fun experience across a range of ages. 

The game definitely bears repeat plays, especially if you mix up the groups. I guess it’s possible that you’ll start to learn the answers after a while, but with over 200 clues, if you follow the recommendation that you play through all the cards before reusing old ones, it will be a while before you start to remember how many types of grape are used to make wine or the number of official types of cloud. 

In summary then, Bang Out of Order is great fun, and well worth a look. 

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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.

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