Imagination Station: Story War!

Imagination Station: Story War!

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10

Type: Party Game? (Cards)

Suggest Ages: 5+

# of Players: 3-8 players

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Replay-ability: 8 out of 10

Expansions available: 2

Cost: Approximately $17

 

As a creative writer, I'm always looking for games/activities that encourage people to be creative and imaginative. This game is simple: each player spins a tale based on cards they draw from two decks: the warrior deck and the item deck. The warrior they draw represents them in the story; they can use the item cards if they get into a story hole and can't find their way out. The "battles" take place on a chosen Battlefield that players can attempt to use to their advantage. The object of the game is to convince the player who is the judge that your tale is the best. 

This game offers a lot of freedom for the players to yarn whatever story they wish with whatever comes into their minds with the aid of the cards. This freedom is great for young children to exercise their imagination and to encourage problem solving skills, but the freedom also hinders (in my opinion) the end game. Because there are no rules about what makes a story the best and everything is all subjective, it can cause a bit of a squabble between players. 

I recommend this game for younger children and maybe as a classroom aid to help students learn about story telling, but I don't think I'd recommend it to older people, although some people in Amazon review have had success with it as a party game. I think it depends on the people who are playing what you really want out of the game. For me, it was too much effort to constantly devise different story threads out of the cards. Especially because gaming to me is about relaxing and having a good time, something that this game doesn't necessarily give you the luxury of doing because you're constantly battling.