[Ad- gifted product] Some Monday’s we are a bit pressed for time. That’s when smaller, ice-breaker style tabletop games come out and are perfect to play. That’s Not a Hat is all about bluffing what card you are currently moving to another person. We played as a family, with Dann, Amelia and Robin joining in while Kai played DND at our local Geek Retreat. The game itself was very easy to pick up and start with, which was ideal for our group.
At the start of the game, each player gets a card in front of them. The deck of cards then goes in the middle of the table, face up. On your turn, you need to pick up a card from the deck in the middle, which is called the Gift Shop. Everyone can look at this card before it is flipped to the back of the card, there is an arrow that shows what way this gift is going to go. Some cards have more than one arrow, so you can follow whichever one you want. You must then say “I gift you” and the name of the item you are gifting. The player who is getting the gift can either accept by saying Thank You or reject the gift. If they accept the gift, they must then place it in front of them, still face down, before flipping over their starting card and giving that to the player the arrow on that card is pointed too.
It’s not long before all of the cards are face down and nobody is really sure what gift is what. In That’s Not a Hat, if you feel that a gift you received is not the gift that was said, you will need to say “That’s not a” and then whatever gift was just said to you. If you were correct, the person who passed it gets the card in their discard pile. If you are wrong, it goes into your discard pile. Whoever gets the card will grab the next card from the gift shop and continue. Whoever has the most discarded cards at the end of the game has lost.
When we played That’s Not a Hat, we all had trouble remembering what our cards were, let alone what the cards were that other people had! It was fantastic fun as we shouted out saying cards weren’t what they said, just to reveal nobody really knew what they were. Robin, who is 8, has the most trouble remembering, so it might be best played with people all around the same age range, if you are taking it seriously. We don’t really do winners or losers in these types of games and just tend to play as long as we are having fun. That’s Not a Hat comes in a small box, which is also perfect for travel, and it works well as a starter game or a quick game between other activities that you might be doing. We had a lot of fun with it and found the simple designs of the objects to be very nice as well.
I do love your game reviews. I have not heard of this game before but love games like this that are easy to play anywhere whether at home or out
Oh man could I use a memory game to play with Mr. G. I think this would be a great game for older folks.
This seems like a fantastic family game night entry! I think we’d love it. I think it’s fun that kids and adults can both enjoy it.
I love love love the game, it is awesome…I love board games and always enjoy playing them with my kids…Great review.
This game sounds so fun and clever! The gifting mechanic and arrow directions add such a unique twist.
We had so much fun with family game nights over the holidays. Will have to add this one into the mix!
I have never heard of this game but it looks like so much fun! Adding this to the list of games to try on family game nights, thanks for sharing!
Looks like a fun game that I can play with my niece and nephew!:
We are always looking to update our games collection, this really does look fun 🙂
This is a new game to me but it sounds like great fun for all the family to enjoy
We love playing board games with some family friends and this one sounds fun and would be a welcome addition to the games played.
It sounds like a great game that my family can play together
Looks like a fun game
I like this because it’s different and looks like it could be very fun to play
I like the fact we can all play as a fasmily together and would all enjoy the gifting aspect
Fun family game we’d all enjoy
Something different for us to try
It sounds a fun family game.
Love a fun family game
Yes, I’d have trouble remembering, too, but I guess that is a reason to play and have fun in the process. A great way to sharpen memory.
Great to play with our grandchildren to help improve our memories!
Sounds cool………
We love playing games as a family and this sounds great as a new game.
This sounds like a fab, inclusive game
Would be fun to play with my grandchildren
Helping my granddaughters improve their memory’s in a fun way would be a double bonus.
I love the ideal of this, we would be great fun to play with my granddaughters
love to win this & play with my twin girls.
We are always looking for new games to try.