Unspeakable Words First Impressions
In Unspeakable Words, you make words, roll a die and hope you don’t go mad…
But the words need to be very much speak-able.
Decode the ancient secrets of R’lyeh by forming words with the letters you find in this sanity-sapping letter game. The more angles that appear in the words, the greater their mystical value, but beware! For each word that is created, you must roll a sanity check against its value to see if the word’s power drives you mad!
Unspeakable Words Game Play
Each player gets a hand of 7 cards. These cards each have a letter on them and also a point value for that letter. They also get 5 Cthulhu pawns acting as their Sanity.
On a players turn they form a word using the letters in their hand, score the value of that word then roll the D20 for a “Sanity Check”. If the roll is LOWER than the value of the word, that player loses a Cthulhu pawn.
That player draws up to 7 cards and play continues clockwise. The first player to 100 points wins.
That’s pretty much it but there are a few other things:
- Proper Nouns, Abbreviations, Acronyms etc are not allowed
- Once a word is used, it can’t be used again that game
- Not all cards have letters, some have special abilities
- If you have 1 Cthulhu Pawn left you can spell any gibberish you like, you’re on the brink of madness
- Lose your last Cthulhu pawn and you’re eliminated
- You can discard your hand a redraw if you like, skipping your turn
- You MUST pass the Sanity Check to pass 100 points
- A player can also win by being the only player with Cthulhu pawns left
Theme
I mean… Technically yes I suppose but it doesn’t matter. The rules for rolling Sanity Checks and playing Gibberish words makes sense with the Cthulhu theme.
The special action cards have things like ‘Elder Sign’ etc
So not great but I couldn’t think of a better theme to paste on, can you?
Setup
Shuffle and deal. Simples.
Shuffling needs to be very good. poor shuffling COULD lead to you drawing a word from the top of the deck on your turn. Stack (or Pile) Shuffling is required.
Components & Artwork
The cards are OK and the letters/numbers are nice and clear. The little Cthulhu pawns are fun.
To be honest, I never looked at the art on the cards as it’s not important but I think it’s cartoony versions of the Ancient Ones or something.
Ease of Teaching & Accessibility
It’s obviously very easy to teach.
It’s as accessible as the player’s ability to spell words. It would be a good educational game with the Sanity Checks acting as a leveller for players who make bigger words.
Unspeakable Words Summary
This is a good fun ‘Word Game’. I haven’t really played a better one with Paperback coming closest.
Build a Word then Roll a Die, simple. It’s more than just making the biggest word as your Cthulhu supply starts to shrink you need to consider if you’ll be able to pass the sanity check. So you might have to sacrifice points to keep your Sanity.
Also, you have to consider if it’s worth spaffing out a load of vowels on a big word? or saving them for your next word?
Well, that’s one of the few problems. If you don’t draw vowels you’re in trouble. If it’s not possible to make a word you’re in trouble. Also, If the Sanity die isn’t on your side, you’re in trouble.
Random card draw, Random die roll.
Also, there are 4 ‘optional’ rules, 3 of which MUST be included when you play. (Spell Binding would just slow the game down)
But, overall this is a fun easy game I’ve played a few times on my work lunch breaks. If the worse happens or you’re struggling to do well, you can always try and spell ‘F**K’.
Jesta ThaRogue
