Tilt 'n' Shout

Out of all the Big Potato games I own, Tilt and Shout is by far my favourite of the lot. It’s a fast paced, quick thinking naming game that never fails to bring out our competitive side.

With a few wins under my belt, I thought I’d let you in on a few tips and tricks that will help you gain the edge over family members and earn the Tilt and Shout crown in your household.

Anticipate what the other player will shout

Whilst having a few answers stored up is a valuable tactic, another great way to win is to get in your opponents heads. If the theme is ice cream, then pick their favourite straight out the gate. Holiday destinations; pick the last place they went abroad. This takes their comfort picks away and leaves them working harder to think of new answers.

Try to think of answers in groups

This works especially well for the broad questions, such as Rock Bands, Musicals and four letter words. Once you have an answer, think of answers that are related to it to save yourself the time and panic that comes with randomly plucking answers out of the air. Having a few answers ready to go will catch your opponent off guard and get your ball closer to the win zone.

Time your answers carefully

On the topic of getting the ball into your win zone; one of the biggest advantages you can get is knowing when to throw out your answer. Does your opponent look like they’re running low on answers? Then having two lined up in a row will really throw them off.

On top of that, the best way to finish off a round is to have some rapidfire answers ready to go when the opponent has almost reached their victory zone. They won’t be expecting more than two answers, and you’ll probably leave them stumped.

Word themed rounds are all about rhyming

Quite a few of the topic cards are themed around the number of letters in a word or their syllables. One trick I’ve found to be helpful is rattling through any words that rhyme before moving onto the next one. You can also jump ahead of your opponent by using words that rhyme with the answer they gave; hoping to cut them off and get them thinking.

Don’t let the slower ball speed phase you

My last tip is not to let the pressure get the better of you. As you win more rounds, the ball speed on your side will slow down to give your opponent the advantage, but you shouldn’t worry. If you keep all of the previous tips in mind, then you’ll be able to rattle through enough answers to leave your opponent in the dust.

You could even go as far as ignoring the ball and focusing on producing a stream of answers that your opponent can’t keep up with. They’ll be too focused on the position of the ball that they won’t be able to think of an answer in time. And if they do, you’ll be ready.

Go get ‘em

So there we have it, 5 golden hints that will be sure to have your opponent tilting more than the game board is. And, I have no doubt that with these helpful tricks and tips, you’ll soon be known as Tilt and Shout royalty in your household for years to come.

So, you’ve picked up your very own copy of Tilt and Shout, and you’re ready to throw down; but where do you get started?

In this quick and helpful guide, we’ll talk you through how to set up and start playing Tilt and Shout and have you winning games in no time!

Set up

1. Unpack the plastic ball run and apply the stickers to the frame and winning zones.
2. Shuffle the topic cards and place them in a pile next to the ball run.
3. Place the yellow towers in the two holes closest to the centre of the board. These can be found under the ball run.
4. Make sure the ball run is flat on the frame before posting the ball through the gap in the centre. Once the ball is still, the first topic card can be revealed and the real competition can begin!

How to play

1. When both players are ready, reveal the first topic card on the pile. Either player can shout the first answer to start.
2. When a player shouts out an answer, they can tilt the ball run towards them to start the ball moving in their direction.
3. From there, players must keep shouting out answers and tilting the ball run until the metal ball drops into one of the two winning zones.
4. Once this happens, the winner moves their yellow tower one position closer to them. Meaning that the amount of tilt is reduced and the ball will move slower on their side.
5. Play continues in the same way each round until one of the players moves their yellow tower to the end of the track. Once this happens, we have a winner!

Now you know the basics, why not check out our helpful tips and tricks for winning your games of Tilt and Shout. After all, what’s better than being able to lord your board gaming skills over your friends and family?

Slamming answers

It’s rare for an affordable quiz game to not only tick so many boxes in design and enjoyability and replayability, but also become a viral sensation overnight for those exact reasons.

Nonetheless, the newest sensation from Big Potato Games ‘Tilt and Shout’ has done just that. In this review, I’ll explore all of the mechanics, themes and fun that make this party game one of the best I’ve played to this day. And, as Tilt and Shout is a quiz game, there’s no risk of story spoilers, but I will make sure to avoid giving any of the topics away so you can’t do your homework and revision before playing.

So, let’s get tilting!

Tilt like the best of them

Looks can definitely be deceiving when the contents of the box consists of a marble run and a large number of topic cards; but don’t be fooled. The marble run is brightly coloured and looks fantastic on the table once constructed. The tower blocks may look out of place, but they make up one of the simplest and subtlest difficulty mechanics I’ve seen in a game.

The game also comes with a variety of stickers included. Most of which are placed on the game components to signify the victory zones; but there’s one extra special ‘Big Potato Games’ sticker included that you can place wherever you wish. Mine has gone straight on my laptop, along with all of my other board game related ones.

And then there’s the topic cards. A wide range of double sided prompt cards designed to prompt your brain for knowledge hidden away in its furthest corners. They cover a variety of topics, themes, subjects and challenges that really get the brain juices flowing and the competitive spirit raring to go.

Showing off angles

With all Big Potato Games creations, the design, setup and playing is simplistic and quick to pick up for all ages. In Tilt and Shout, a topic card is revealed, and players take it in turns to shout a related answer and tilt the ball run towards them to start the ball rolling their way. This continues until the ball reaches one of the players victory zones, and the winning player for that round moves their golden tower one place forward. When a player wins enough rounds to move their tower to the end of the run, they are crowned the victor; island if you’re anything like me, you’ll challenge the winning to eight more games to try and redeem yourself.

It’s this simplicity, along with the easy to learn hard to master that makes up the replayability for this game. The cards cover such a wide variety of topics with heaps of answers that each round offers you a real challenge; regardless of whether you know the topic or not.

Having played a range of list based party games, I’m no stranger to the quick thinking memory gymnastics that this style of game requires. But, Tilt and Shout is something entirely different. The surprising topics, suspense of the quickly moving ball in the run, the desperation to think of one more answer before time runs out; it all makes for a party game experience that no other game can seem to match, yet alone beat.

Running out of ideas

Alongside all of the factors that make this game so much fun to play, you also have all the thrills of adding tactics to the way you play. All of which change depending on who you’re playing and what the topic card reveals each round.

I quickly found that shouting out answers that the opponent was more likely to go for was a great way of stumping them. By taking away their go to answers, they quickly run out of steam and it allows you to then fall back on your own pool of answers you have saved.

Another great approach is thinking of groups of answers rather than individual ones. Whether it’s through association or rhyming (if it’s a word based topic), getting into the habit of grouping answers gives you more answers to throw out when the tension is running high.

The fact that such a simplistic game can inspire players to discover tactics and perform mental gymnastics to get the win shows how versatile and well designed Tilt and Shout really is. And the same can be said for most of Big Potato Games’ creations, as each finds a new way of engrossing players in gameplay, tactics and competition; almost always with the simplest of concepts at their heart.

Final thoughts

So, if it’s not obvious enough; it goes without saying that I absolutely adore this game. In fact, there are very few quiz and party games out there that my partner and I will play just the two of us; and not just because of our competitive streaks.

Tilt and Shout has truly managed to lock into a winning combination, with engrossing topics and gameplay full of suspense and tension. Quickly becoming one of the most played games in our house, with a short playtime and rapid fire rounds. I would even go as far as to say that every family should have a copy of this game sitting on their board game shelf, as there’s no situation that wouldn’t benefit from the thrill that a round or two of this game brings. So thanks for reading, keep shouting, and try not to get too tilted!