What happens when you try to spit out three answers in five seconds? Chaos and hilarity. 5 Second Rule, from Patch Products, is a game where players must do exactly what the tagline says: Just spit it out!
The gameplay is simple: Three or more players take turns being in the Hot Seat. When you’re in the hot seat, the player to your left reads off the card that begins with “Name 3…,” flips the 5-second Twisted Timer (which is pretty reminiscent of a spirit stick), and it’s off the races. The player in the Hot Seat must then name three things in that category before the timer runs out! Sound super easy? You’re kidding yourself.
You would never guest how tough it is to name three things, even in a category in which you may perceive yourself as an expert. The time crunch poses an extra, unexpected challenge of being super flustered, and sometimes, well, it may be tough to control the words coming out of your mouth. Don’t believe me? Check out some snippets from our game here in the office:
Name three ways to lose weight: “Uh… eat better, work out more, get that lap band!”
Name three things you find at a garage sale: “Old clothes! Dolls! Chairs…?”
One great part about this game is that the rules provided are a bit stand-offish. They provide you the guides to be able to play the game, but when it comes to questionable answers, it’s really up to the people playing to decide whether or not the answer was legit. It allows your group to add a dash of personality to the game, which in turn never lets you play the same game twice—not like you would need to anyway, the game offers you 576 questions.
The game is recommended for players ages 10 and up, and even has an adult tag on the box. While the concept is probably easy enough for younger players to grasp, some of the categories might be difficult—Name three First Ladies, Name three Chrysler models, etc. Also, the fact that you have very little time to yell out three answers paves the way for potential slips of the curse word and/or appropriate answer for kids to hear filter. On the other hand, adults will have a blast playing this game, simply by just laughing at what comes out of their fellow players’ mouths.
