Love party games and looking for something new? Or something suitable for a variety of ages? Emoji Charades is it. It’s easy to learn, fun to play, and a lighthearted addition to any family get-together or an evening with friends. You don’t need to have a gaming console or a controller, just two screens (like an Apple TV and iPhone, or two iPhones). The game launches today for iOS and Chromecast, and will be coming to Android, Samsung TV and Amazon’s Fire TV soon. All content packs will be available for free for a few months following launch.
The debut title from Los Angeles-based GameCake, Emoji Charades lets you use your mobile phone or tablet to describe trivia phrases with emoji. You’ll have 90 seconds to give as many correct descriptions as possible in a broad range of pop culture-related categories, including Pokémon, Food, Movie Titles, Expressions, Fictional Characters, Sports USA, Things Humans Do Sometimes, Celebrities, Games, TV Shows, Brands and Hit Music. Additional categories will be released in future updates.
The Player.One team tested out Emoji Charades at our offices last week. We quickly got into the swing of things and were soon having a swell time, laughing and shouting out answers. Much of that is due to the thoughtful design elements that keep the game approachable and intuitive. Each prompt presents you with a curated selection of emoji, all visible on one page, helping you find the right images to articulate yourself without holding your hand too much. That means you’re not stuck scrolling through a sea of symbols to hunt for what you want. For instance, when given the prompt “chicken fingers,” I selected a rooster head and a hand getting a manicure.
Each category is marked as easy, medium or hard. Based on how well you’re doing, the game will automatically adjust the difficulty of questions as you play. So if you’re struggling past a few questions or skipping several prompts, the game will toss a softball your way. If you’re racking up points in record time, expect to see some more challenging phrases.
Unsurprisingly, Player.One’s resident Professor of Pokeology, Phillip Martinez, dominated the Pokémon category, easily racking up a dozen points in the allotted 90 seconds. While we studiously avoided the Canadian Sports category as long as possible during the demo, eventually we rose to the challenge. Thankfully, it just happened to be sports that are popular in Canada, like hockey and… erm, hockey? Baseball? (I didn’t have a lot to contribute to this round, but the sports fans in the room seemed to take to it just fine.) Thankfully, if you come across a clue that has you stumped, you have the option to skip as many questions as you want, without a penalty.
Emoji Charades definitely kept our group of gamers entertained, and it’s very likely the team will be busting it out for future Whisky Wednesdays. Straightforward design makes it easy for young kids and older folks to dive right in, and it’s probably a lot more fun than talking politics at your next family gathering. You can check out a teaser for the game below.
Will you be checking out Emoji Charades, or continuing to yell at the TV when Jeopardy! comes on? Give your answer in the form of a question -- or emoji -- in the comments section.
