- Publisher: Big Potato Games
- Players: 4-10
- Time: 20 minutes
- Ages: 10+ Years
You Can’t Say “UMM…” is a party game by Big Potato Games designed for 4-10 players. The game is played in 2 teams, and you work together to guess your team’s words without using the sounds “umm,” “er,” “ah,” or “uh.” In full disclosure, this game was sent to me by Big Potato Games to review. All opinions are my own. There is also an After-Dark edition to the game to pick up, if that is your thing.
What’s In the Box?
- 1 Game Board
- 2 Game Pieces
- 1 Bell
- 1 Timer
- 2 Decks of Word Cards (A and B)
- 1 Deck of Rule Cards
- 1 Rule Book
- And, as with all Big Potato Games, 1 sticker
Setup
You Can’t Say “UMM…” sets up very quickly. There is little downtime from opening the box to your first turn. Place the Game Board in a central area. The 2 Game Pieces are placed on the starting spots on the Game Board. Divide into 2 Teams. If there is an odd number of players, you may choose to have 1 player serve as a referee and control the Bell and the Timer. Each team will pick 6 Rule Cards and choose 3 to give facedown to the other team. They may not look at them at this time. Keep the Bell and Timer close by or with the appointed referee. You are now ready to play You Can’t Say “UMM…”
Gameplay
You Can’t Say “UMM…” plays in rounds. Pick one team to go first. This active team will designate 1 player as the Describer for the round. The Describer secretly draws 2 Word Cards, 1 from stack A and 1 from stack B. The goal is for the Describer to get their team to guess the 2 secret words without using any filler words such as “umm,” “er,” “ah,” “uh” or the like. The non active team has the Bell and the Timer (unless you designated a referee). Once both teams are ready, the Timer is started. If a Describer uses one of these words, the other team may ring the Bell. The active team has until the Timer runs out to guess the words. If the active team guesses both words correctly before the Timer runs out, they can move forward on the Game Board 1 space. The non-active team can also earn points. Every time the non-active team hears a filler word they can ring the bell. For each time they correctly call out a filler word, they can move forward one space.
You Can’t Say “UMM…” gets a little trickier the further down the Game Board the Game Pieces move. Each time a Game Piece is moved to a Rule Card Space, the Rule Card is turned over and the team whose side it is on must now abide by that rule for the rest of the game. Additionally there are Danger Zone Spaces on the Game Board. Once a team’s marker is on a Danger Zone, no one of the team can say “umm,” “er,” “ah,” or “uh” even when guessing!
Objective
The objective of You Can’t Say “UMM…” is to guess the secret words for your team without using any filler words. Teams may move their Game Piece up 1 space on the Game Board for every pair of words that is correctly guessed. The team that reaches the end of the game board first is the winner.
Final Thoughts
You Can’t Say “UMM…” is a good time! We have played with several different groups with a large span of ages, and it has always kept us laughing. I particularly enjoy the original version of You Can’t Say “UMM…” because you don’t need to worry about more adult themes that can come up in a lot of party games. The only drawback I have is that the game is made in the UK, therefore some of the words were a little difficult for American English speakers to guess, such as the word bin (instead of garbage can). I enjoy the added Rule Cards, making each game play a little differently and I enjoy that both teams can earn points at the same time. You Can’t Say “UMM…” states it plays up to 10 people, but if you don’t mind a little extra chaos, it is easy to add additional players. Overall, You Can’t Say “UMM…” is a great addition to your collection, especially if you are looking for a great party game to play with multiple people!
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