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Identity Crisis

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I love playing games with a big group of friends. The problem is that I rarely get together with a big group of friends these days. About six or eight years ago, when Amanda was an only child, and my friends all had only young children, it was easier. In fact, our Sunday School class had a game night one Friday a month.

But now–between school and sports stuff, church activities, and just craving downtime as a family after we’ve each had a busy week, we just don’t get together with friends that often. But when I was asked to take a look at the Identity Crisis Game, the gamelover that still holds out hope that those good times will return, said yes. I haven’t actually been able to play it with a group, but I’ve looked it over, and can use my expertise and past experience to evaluate its merits.

Identity Crisis is a game that was invented by a mom. She also was one of the creators of Balderdash. This game mixes a little bit of Outburst, with 20 Questions, with Trivial Pursuit. It’s a two-team game, perfect for medium-sized or large groups. The goal is to get your team to guess the name of the person who you are describing. But because there are two rounds that are played with the same names, even those who might be a little bit clueless about the identities can score big on the second round, which relies on quick recall — not necessarily personal knowledge.

Find out more at their website. You can look at the rules, the cute packaging, and even play a fun online version where you can “test your i-clue.”

Although I haven’t played it yet, I do have a plan to try it out for real (I posted a review HERE after I did play it).

The one time that we have been able to get together to play games with friends over the last few years is New Year’s Eve. This year we have two couples (and their seven children) coming over to ring in the new year this year, as in many years past. Everyone brings something delicious to eat, which results in my favorite kind of dinner — that kind of heavy hors d’oerves spread that we can snack on all night (I also shared some of the delicious recipes we ate that night).

I’m not sure what else we will play, but the Identity Crisis Game is definitely on the agenda!

We do have some to give away, but if you have a great game-playing opportunity coming up — Christmas, New Year’s Eve or some other time — don’t wait to see if you won. Buy it today. You can find it online at amazon and other retailers as well as at Border’s Bookstores and other places that sell games, for the retail price of $24.99 (or less).

Would you like to win one of three games for yourself (Canadian or U.S. shipping addresses)? Leave a comment. Tell us — What is your favorite time to play group games?

Here’s how to enter:

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    4. Write a post and link back to this contest on your blog or spread the word to your friends via facebook, twitter, etc.

    If you are already subscribed, are on our newsletter list, and have our button in your sidebar, you qualify for these three additional entries. Go ahead and leave your additional comments below. Your comment is your entry, so if you qualify for the additional four entries, make sure you leave five comments in total.

  2. Entries are open from Thursday, December 11th thru Friday, December 19th. Our winners will be drawn randomly and we will announce the winners on Saturday, December 20th. Please make sure to check our site and your email address to see if you have won the prize. We must receive your reply within 5 business days.
  3. Please see our site’s Terms and Conditions of Use for a complete list of our Contest and Giveaway Rules. This promotion is void where prohibited.

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461 Comments

  13. We love to play games any time our entire family gets together– Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc.

    rsgrandinetti(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  21. We’ve spent many weekends with friends at their lake house. We play Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and Scattergories. “Identity Crisis” would fit in nicely.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  24. I remember a marathon games session back in the winter of (was it ’68?) when we were visiting relatives and got snowed in with three families in one double-wide trailer — for two weeks… We played ~more~ Canasta, Cribbage, etc, etc, etc…

    I’d have to say “snowed in” ranks right up there with “power outage” for “well, what are we going to do NOW?”

    Reply

  28. facebooked you and signed up for newsletter

    when the power goes out, we pull out monopoly lol
    and in the last 30 days, the powers gone out 3 times

    Reply

  38. We play group games with our extended on holidays and birthdays. Our immediate family plays at least one night a week after dinner/before bedtime. Thanks!

    Reply

  42. I love to play games with my husband and stepdaughter after the little kids are asleep. It can be especially fun if she has any friends over.

    Reply

  48. My favorite time to play group games is on weekends or holidays. There’s no homework, no rushing around, etc. We play family games early in the evening on Saturdays, and after the kids are in bed we play more adult games. It is getting hard to find time to invite friends over to play now though. Thanks for the chance to win this game, it looks great!

    Reply

  52. We like to play group games when the family gets together on holidays and sometimes we’ll have friends over for a game night.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply

  55. We usually play group games when the weather is lousy. We gather at someone’s house with snacks and choose sides and play and drink wine.

    Reply

  56. I love to play scattergories but I have family members who hate when we play because it’s quiet and everyone is thinking and all you here is a buzzing timer.

    Reply

  57. We play all sorts of games like Life, Dominoes, card games, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and others. We always play some sort of game when we have friends over. It’s a great way to talk with your friends and have fun at the same time. Great giveaway!

    Reply

  59. My favourite time would have to be when visiting my brother’s family its really fun, even my husband has fun and he’s not into games!

    Reply

  62. I love to play games over the holidays. It is the time when everyone has some free time and no homework. Thanks for the chance to win!

    Reply

  68. I love to play games anytime. Well when there is a big enough group of people to play. We play a lot of games when we visit family.

    Reply

  72. We play Taboo a lot with our family. We also play Apples to Apples with the kids. We used to play Outburst, but it ended up in a leaning tower of storage that eventually collapsed, and some of the pieces went missing…sigh.

    Reply

  88. I realized that I didn’t answer YOUR question and I HATE that on contests 🙁 so my favorite time to play board games–ANYTIME…ha ha!! Really…anytime I can get one or two people together…it’s like…wanna play scrabble?? (EVIL laughter following..)

    Reply

  116. Oops, forgot to specify – we play whenever any part of our family gets together, and it’s always best then 🙂 I love my friends, but game nights are more fun with family.

    Reply

  117. Apples to Apples is always a lot of fun, but we also play the Five Crowns card game when we want a little calmer game 😉

    Reply

  121. My wonderful but disabled wife of more than 38 years just LOVES to play games with the children and the grandchildren. Thank you for this great contest and prize!

    Reply

  147. Around the holidays is usually when we play a lot of games. Its so much fun when the whole family gets involved and plays.

    Reply

  156. One of our favorite game traditions is that every year, during our church VBS, we would take 1 evening & get all the volunteers together to hang out & play games. We had worked so hard for many months to plan & organize everything & this was our little “treat” for all the hard work.

    Thanks for the opportunity,
    Beth

    Reply

  157. Favorite time to play group games would be any time I get together with my friends. We tend to play them during the little parties we have. Matter of fact, we played Apples to Apples at our Christmas party last night.

    Reply

  160. We love board games at our house. And my group of mommy friends often enjoy a night out around board games. This one looks perfect for that!!

    Reply

  172. What is your favorite time to play group games-Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…we also try to ‘squeeze’ some time in on Sunday evenings when we can. THANKS

    Reply

  176. We love to play group games whenever we get together with friends. Church socials are also a great time to play them.

    Reply

  179. We love to play games on a few occassions, especially after Christmas Dinner, when all is cleaned up and we are all together as a family! Playing in the living room of my parent’s house, with the tree lit up and a fire going is always one of the most joyous times of the holiday!

    Thanks

    Reply

  180. I love getting together with the girls to play games. We leave the kids at home with their dad’s & enjoy great food & good company while we play games.

    Reply

  192. We try to play some kind of game every weekend. Our favorites are Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit for Kids. This sounds like a whole lot of fun.

    Reply

  205. I went on the Identity Crisis website and had some fun with their online tool where you can actually play a version of the game.

    I subscribe to your RSS feed

    Reply

  206. Thank you for the idea. I’m always looking for new and fun ways to spend time with family and friends. You can always rely on a good board game for some laughs.

    Reply

  209. I love playing games – mainly the older ones. One of the ones that our family likes to play is Sequence; another is Scattergories, although I’m not very good at that one.

    Reply

  214. I love to play games when my family gets together for holidays or vacation. I have such fond memories of game playing, they are some of my favorite times. The laughter is a good workout!

    Reply

  239. We always play games at the holidays-T-giving and Christmas, especially, because we are actually all together, thanks!

    Reply

  241. I could totally use a new game! Pictionary, Cranium, Outburst and Scattergories are all favorites!

    Reply

  245. Oh, I love group games! Sitting around with my family after a big holiday meal is my favorite time to play games!!!

    Reply

  250. I love to play games w/ family and friends. My favorite time is after the kids go to bed, my husband and I play Scrabble. Would love to win.

    Reply

  258. This would be a great addition to the gmae library my fiance and I are putting together for our scheduled “family nights.” Thank you for the entry.

    Reply

  260. Right now we love to play Apples to Apples on Friday nights. This is a great way to start your weekend with your friends.

    Reply

  276. We have random game nights with our friends from church. We love cribbage and catch phrase. My hubby and I play cards a few times a week. Thanks for the chance!

    Reply

  280. Games are so much fun! We love playing group games when our families are together, no matter the occasion. Our most favorite is Scattergories and then UNO. They are a blast and this game sounds like so much fun too!

    Reply

  283. We love playing group games whenever we have a birthday party for someone. This game looks really fun! Thank you!

    Reply

  290. Oh, fun!! This sounds like a blast. I love playing Apples to Apples and and Catchphrase. This would be another great one to add to those! Thanks so much for the chance!

    Reply

  294. We have date night every Friday night and we LOVE to play games with other couples. With two kids it’s fun to have adult time when the kiddos are sleeping. Our favorite games are Cranium for fun nights and Acquire for more strategic nights. We have a closet full of different games and would LOVE to try this one out!

    Reply

  297. We have a big, blended family; so we play a lot of games. Any time we play a game it’s a group game! We are the kid hangout house too; so have anywhere from 6 (of our own) to 12 kids around every weekend.

    New blood , I mean games, are GREAT!

    Reply

  306. All of our friends try to get together at least once a month for game night and this would make a great addition!! THank you for the chance.

    Reply

  325. My husband’s side of the family is crazy for games. I just love it! We’ll be together the week after Christmas, and we’ll play lots of games for sure! I’d love to take this one along!

    Reply

  328. Anytime the family gets together for a holiday it’s game time. Every New Year’s Eve my mother-in-law holds a huge game tournament night with prizes and food. And we often have people over to our house for dessert and games after the kids are in bed. We LOVE games!

    Reply

  331. When the family is together for the holidays we love to play Trivial Pursuit but we add drinking to it. It’s alot of fun. Thanks!

    Reply

  343. Our family plays games all the time! We love it!!! Our BIG game day is usually Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, after everyone’s done opening gifts, we clear the table from breakfast and the day of ames begins…we play to the wee hours of the night!!! It’s a blast! My family is so competitive it’s hilarious! We’d make a great reality show! 😉 I’d LOVE to win the games!!

    [email protected]

    Reply

  360. About the only time a group of us play games is at our church’s adult Valentine’s Day party. It’s a lot of fun! You really get to know people better by playing those games. Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply

  371. My favorite time is on the holidays, that’s really the only time we get together with big groups of people. I love games though and I like to play them any chance I get. I’d love to try this one!

    Reply

  380. We end up playing Blokus, CandyLand, Trouble with the kids and it usually happens in the afternoon or after tub time at night.

    Reply

  386. My husband and I host a game night once a month with all of our friends and we loving playing board games / card games when we get everyone together. This game looks like a lot of fun – I’ve been wanting to check it out!

    Reply

  390. since hubby works late hours, we really don’t have much playtime. however, when my little toddler becomes a little bit bigger, i plan to assign one day of the work to be our playtime.

    enter me please. this could be a nice something to have for the future.

    Reply

  392. We LOVE our game nights! We usually get together with friends, put the kids down for bed and play for hours. Pictionary is our favorite. 😀

    Reply

  395. I wish we would have more game nights! I love catchphrase! I would love to win this one to have a game night with friends! need something new and fun! i subscribe and all that good stuff!

    Reply

  398. Looks like a fun game! I love playing games on game night with family or friends. I get your newsletter, subscribe and have your button.

    Reply

  400. We love board games! We try to have a weekly board game night with about 7 of our grown-up friends and their assorted kids.

    Reply

  405. I love playing games with my hubby’s family when my sister-in-law and her husband are in town and all three siblings (and us spouses!) are together. We’re all around the same age, so it makes for a good time.

    Reply

  414. I LOVE board games. I hope that they will be coming back!! Families can TRULY have SO much fun together, don’t you think??

    tskrush (at) cox (dot) net

    Reply

  420. Thanks so much for this giveaway!

    I have the button!
    I am subscribed to your feed.
    I am a subscriber to the newsletter.

    Amy

    Reply

  424. I love learning new games. We try to invite other couples over to our house every month or so. After the kids are in bed or with sitters. Just grown ups. So nice!

    Reply

  428. We love playing games and are always looking for new ones (we don’t have this one yet). We invite friends over all the time, usually one other couple who also has a kid (or two). We let the kids hang out for a little bit, then we put our son to bed in his room and our friends put their kids to sleep in our guest room, leaving the adults to hang out all night playing games. 🙂

    Reply

  430. I love playing games. We used to do it a lot with friends before the kids were born. Now, we wait until they’re in bed.

    Reply

  437. I love playing them at parties, holidays, anytime really. But, one of my best game playing memory was in the airport with about 20 of my closest friends. We all went to a Christian conference and were waiting to go home, so we played while waiting for our plane. So fun!

    Reply

  446. We love game night at our house. The whole family pitches in with preparing snacks and setting up. We have a whole closest designated for our games and each take turns choosing the one we play. I would love to add a new one to our collection.

    Reply