20Q Interactive Toy > Reviews > Damn You 20Q

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	It great fun, Very addictive
Disadvantages:	The sounds can get annoying .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Everyone remembers the classic game of 20 questions. One person thinks of an object and the rest of the people try and guess what it is by asking a series of questions in which the thinker will respond with the answers yes, no or sometimes. The aim of the game is for the guessers to get the object within 20 questions, hence the name 20 questions. Well that’s maybe how your grandparents played the game but technology has caught up and here it is……… Electronic 20 Questions!!!!!!!!

I came across this item on a frosty Christmas morning (aged 22) when my mum had bought it to pass time during the day and get the family interacting with each other which is supposedly what Christmas is all about ( I thought I was about socks and drunk grandparents but there you go). Needless to say we played it all day and had a right laugh at the same time.

The ‘device’ as I will describe it looks fairly innocuous, a small purple yo-yo looking gadget with an LCD screen which displays the questions and taunts in red letters (similar to the things you see in hospital waiting rooms). On the front just below are 6 buttons. One is to turn the sound either on or off and another is used to reset the device back to the beginning of the game. The remaining four buttons are used in the game and represent an answer to the question that the device will ask you via the LCD screen. The answer options are Unknown, No, Yes and Sometimes. You choose the relevant answer depending on what question the device asks you for example if I’m thinking of a boat and it asks me “does it weigh more than a duck” (That’s a genuine question its asks I promise you) then I would press the yes button.

The beauty of this game is that it is Man (or Woman) Vs Machine. The greatest battle of the 21st century and when you have your family on your side there is surely only one winner…… that’s right the machine is pretty good at this game. In fact it is annoyingly good at this game. It took us several attempts to beat the bloody thing and even then it was usually very close.

This is a truly great little device and the beauty of it is that you don’t need anyone else around to play which was obviously the case with the old fashioned version of the game. I always take it away with me on a long journey and its not long before the people who I’m travelling with have ripped it out of my hands are trying to defeat the purple yo-yo!!!!!

Another little touch the manufacturers have put into this device is that it will proceed to taunt you every five or so questions which can get rather annoying when it has beaten you every time over the last 10 attempts!!!! These get even more annoying when the sound is activated and for this reason I usually play with the sound turned off.

The device is manufactured by a company called Radica whom I have never heard of but it is clear they are onto a winner with this product. When I was in America a few months ago they were everywhere and loads of different versions from the standard version that I have.

I suggest that everyone buys one of these as they are really good fun and are a great way to get everyone together. They are really good value for money as well with Amazon.co.uk selling them for about £8. However be warned this game is highly addictive and can lead to you shouting “how the hell did it get that???” “It’s impossible” and even the ultimate shame in defeat phrase “It’s a stupid game anyway”.