Taboo, in addition to being the vehement objection of a society
to a forbidden behavior, is a word game that you probably have in your closet. Either
one can be fun at parties, depending on the guest list.
In the version less likely to involve grave-robbing or
ritual banishment, the object of Taboo is to get your teammates to guess the
top word on a card by giving verbal hints. You have to do it without saying any
of the other words on the card, though, which leads to sounding like you’ve
recently discovered how to use a thesaurus.
One really sound way to succeed at this game is to own an
older copy that has not taken into account the last fifteen years of pop culture
and technological innovation.
Probably the most effective method, though, is just to have
a lot of inside references and shared knowledge with your teammates. It doesn’t
take a lot of rounds to figure out which couples, siblings, and roommates
shouldn’t be allowed to play on the same team.
Shortly before we fine-tuned the separation rules, one of my
friends pulled off an impressive play with her roommates that ended up
derailing the game while the rest of us demanded to hear the full story.
It seems that she had recently experienced an unfortunate
run-in with the kitchen hygiene hazards of communal living.
The roommates in question agreed that they had not harbored
any plans for sponge-sniffing escapades, but it was thoughtful of her to take that risk so selflessly on their behalf.
Of course, success in Taboo is all about personal context.
Depending on your lifestyle, that same clue could potentially work for at least
half the deck.
