Matthew BaileySo, I had today’s game all planned out, and then Mae Funnell suggested I play “That’s Not a Hat.” Needless to say, less than 24 hours and one Amazon Prime order later, here we are.
Game 55 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” is “That’s not a Hat,” played by Jack (.8.), Toby (5), and myself.
“That’s Not a Hat” is a simple memory/bluffing card game which at first glance looks barely like a game but very quickly you realise this is an absolute beast of a mind-bender. The whole game is played with a deck of cards with simple pictures on them. The objective of the game is to give gifts to the other players while trying to remember what everyone has received.
You start the game with all of your starting gifts face up so everyone can see. The first player then draws a new gift, shows everyone else around the table what the gift is and places it face down in front of them. They then turn over their old gift and pass it to the next player, stating, “I have a nice (insert name of the picture) for you.” From this point on cards stay face down. The receiving player then has to choose whether they accept the gift if they believe that the previous player is telling the truth or refuse the gift. If they refuse and are correct, the giver gets a penalty point; otherwise, the receiver gets a penalty point.
Now, in the first round, this is all relatively easy because the game starts with the cards face up so you can see what everyone has. But as the game progresses and you start to pass these cards around the table face down, it very quickly becomes a real brain-twister trying to remember who has what.
There is a brilliant video below of Toby and Jack, literally, two turns into the game, struggling to remember what is in their own hands. After the video, Toby looked at me and said, “This is making my brain hurt.”
I don’t think I have ever experienced such a contrast of reality between how difficult I thought this was going to be, having read the rules, and how difficult it actually is once we ended up playing it.
I ended up reading the rules about three times because I couldn’t believe that was all there was to it, and I was sure this was just going to be super easy. But as soon as those cards are faced down, you pass them around the table, and you’re also focusing on other players and their decisions, you totally lose track of where you are and what you’re doing.
Now, this is just a deck of picture cards. You could happily play this game with any deck of picture cards, but there is something quite pure about this game that 24 hours ago, I wouldn’t have even given a second thought to.
Mae Funnell also assures me that at higher player counts, it gets even better, as you end up having an excellent bluffing game as you try to work out/remember who has what.
A brilliant mind-bending surprise.
