Touch It

Game 27 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” is “Touch It” played by Jack (8.), Toby(5) and myself.

“Touch it” is a charming little game that I had to get as soon as I saw it mentioned. Essentially, the idea of the game is that each player is handed a card on which there are four animals drawn in a cartoon style. Without looking, you then have to feel the underside of the card where one of those animals is printed with a raised embossed outline. What you’re essentially trying to do is guess which of the four animals is the one on your card.

When you are confident that you know which one it is, you place your card down on the table and point at the one that is correct.

Once all players are done with this, you then turn the cards over, gaining a point for a correct answer, and the first player to get their answer correct gains 2 points. This continues until one person has seven points and wins the game.

There are some variations that can also be used to add a disadvantage. One is where a person is only allowed to move one finger from the top to the bottom of the card just one time, as well as the amusingly titled “super extra mega giga hard mode” where players have to use the backs of their hands to touch the card.

When we sat down to play this, I thought for an adult such as myself, this was going to be really easy, but actually, when you are doing this under some time pressure, it is surprisingly difficult to do. There were several times when I was convinced I’d picked the right animal but then got it wrong.

Production quality is a bit lacking; the cards are slightly larger than standard playing cards, but for some reason, the box they come in is about 50% bigger than the cards, and then the cards just jiggle around inside the box with no insert to secure them. Why the box is not just slightly smaller, I have absolutely no clue, and that’s a bit disappointing. There are other versions, such as a Chinese New Year version and a Japanese culture version, but getting the animal one seemed to make the most sense.

This isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s a super unique and cute little card game that requires little to no explanation. It was an experience that I hadn’t really had before. It was surprisingly more difficult than expected, and even though it is clearly a kids’ game, I fully intend to take it to my next adult board game night to see how people fare.

As with a few of my recent posts, this is currently only available as an Asian import (going to finish these up in the next few days as I am aware that these reviews are less accessible to the majority), but the publisher has said they are looking to bring it to the UK & US.