I got to know Hilko Drude through a friend, and through social media. He is
a game designer and game reviewer in Germany. I sent him a review copy of
Dancing Queen. As I prepared to visit Essen 2024, he learned that I was
going, and said let's meet up. I went purely as a visitor. He was an
exhibitor. I looked for him on the very first day of the fair. That was the
first time we met in person. It was like penpals meeting for the first time.
Gosh, the word "penpal" is so 20th century. Hilko had prepared a copy of his game Mission Impractical to give to me. I had a copy of Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs with me, and I gave him a copy too. So we had an early Christmas gift exchange in October.
The Game
Mission
Impractical is a party game and it uses mostly cards. Every round one player will be the active player, who is in charge of completing a mission, and the rest needs to guess the mission. Four missions will be displayed, but only the active player knows which one is the true mission. The guessing players score points if they guess correctly. The active player also scores points for each guessing player who makes the right guess, so he wants to give good clues. The way you give clues is by specifying what tools you will use for completing your mission. There are four columns of four tools each. The active player must pick a tool from each column to help him complete his mission. It is based on this the guessing players make their guesses simultaneously without letting one another know their guesses.
The four possible missions
There is one double down marker in the game. Before the active player picks the fourth tool, any guessing player may claim the double down marker. There is only one, so this is first come first served. If you are confident about your guess, you can double down. You need to commit your guess immediately. If you are right, you earn more points. However if you are wrong, it is no longer just scoring nothing. You will lose points instead.
Before the active player reveals the answer, every guessing player must show his guess and explain why. The rulebook explicitly states that you have to describe how you are going to use those items to complete the mission you are guessing is the true mission. Only after every guessing player is done the active player will reveal the answer and also explain why.
The Play
This is a simple game that's very easy to get into. What makes it interesting is the combination of tools and missions. Sometimes it's very challenging to pick a tool from a column because they make no sense at all for the mission. This is usually when the game is most fun. You have to think of some way to use those tools, and sometimes people get very creative and produce hilarious results. This is the kind of game which lets you explore how your friends' brains work. Sometime you find people who think just as weirdly as you do.
The game is in English and German
The Thoughts
Mission
Impractical has the usual party game tropes. It is easy for casual gamers and non gamers to get into. It requires that people be creative and express themselves. The game mechanisms are simple and they are there as a framework to facilitate interaction and conversation among players. The bulk of the fun comes from the people you play with.
