P For Pizza

Today we are going to be looking at P for Pizza, a simple word-based party game that will really appeal to lovers of word games as an easy, family-friendly party game this Christmas.

The idea is really simple. You put the pile of pizza tiles down on the board, which are triangular and have three different topics on each edge in different colours, green being the easiest, yellow being the middle, and red being the hardest. You then place other tiles, which have different letters on them, around the edge. This indicates the starting letter of the thing you have got to think of.

What then happens is that everyone has to very quickly, at the same time, shout out something that matches the topic and begins with that letter. If you do this correctly, you take the letter tile, flip the top tile over to create a new letter tile, and also reveal three more topics.

As you take tiles, you start by making a row of five tessellated triangles to form the bottom row of a bigger triangle. Once you have five, you then move on to the middle row, which is another three, bearing in mind that once you move on to the middle row you can only answer yellow or red questions. Finally, when you get to the top row, you can only answer a red question to win the game.

It is quick, as in the whole game was over in a few minutes quick. It is pretty frantic, and you have that usual semi-argumentative moment of “is that a word?” or “does that fit the topic?”. In terms of age, kids need to be able to read, but naturally adults are going to have a big advantage over children. While younger kids can play this, I would say it is definitely better played when at least the kids are the same age.

One other slightly unusual issue is that because you put the pile in the middle and the letter cards around the edge, when you are on a table with young kids who are not quite as high, it is actually quite hard to see past the pile and see what letters are on the other side. This was something I did not really think of when we set up, but several times during the game Toby was complaining that he could not see what letter was on the far side just because he was not tall enough. Obviously this could easily be fixed by playing the game on the floor, but it is something to be aware of when playing with kids, that there is a chance they are not actually going to be able to see what is going on.

There is actually a kids’ version of the game, which I also have but have not played yet. I will be looking at and reviewing that over our Christmas content, which we will be starting when the school holidays begin, and of course I am looking forward to our usual 12 Days of Christmas countdown.

Do not get me wrong, I kind of like P for Pizza, but I am not sure it is something I would regularly get out. I am never a big fan of games that are just shout-out-and-grab, as they usually end with conflicts and disagreements. Playing with kids, I would say it does not work quite as well here, and this is definitely a game that works better for adults. With an adult group, maybe after dinner on Christmas Day, this could be a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: A copy of P For Pizza was gifted to me by Big Potato Games. We have not been paid or incentivised for this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.