On the board are piles of tasks. Four piles each correspond to a different location – the kitchen, living room, lab, and garden. Alongside these, there are secret tasks and final tasks, meaning in all, there are 200 different task cards! Before each game, decide on how many tasks you want to complete, and then, each round, it is up to the Taskmaster to decide from which of the four location piles to choose the task. Each player will have a secret task to carry out during the whole game, and if the game ends without that task being detected, the player will get 3 bonus points. Advert: we were gifted this game by Ginger Fox Games, this has not affected our opinion in any way. Once a challenge is completed the current Taskmaster casts their judgment on the winner. They have the right to be arbitrary. Generally points are awarded equal to the player count, so in a five player game, first place gets five points, second place gets four and so on.

Each player is given a Secret Task card to begin with and they need to surreptitiously follow the instructions throughout the game without the other players guessing their task. How could I be so blind as to not notice my wife stroking a cushion as if it were a pet for a full hour? I also want to give kudos to the final challenge cards. The majority of these display a QR code which brings little Alex Horne to life to deliver your final challenge on your screen. This is brilliant as it hammers home the theme and means you are properly unprepared. There are some non-qr cards too in case you are playing it somewhere with no phone signal or wi-fi, if such a place exists nowadays? And then there’s adorably naff John Kearns, whose bewildered little face gave the impression that every task was genuinely hurting his brain. His did earn an instant series highlight, however, when he successfully sabotaged a team task without either of his teammates noticing. LVG 5. Series Eleven We played this as part of our belated Christmas party and there was a lot of fun to be had. We drew a task from the show (conceal a pea in your mouth or hand), and we had to make a representation of the Taskmaster Trophy with stuff around the house. It’s definitely a different kind of party game, and actually, one which would work well over Zoom if you can’t get out to see people. A brand-new Taskmaster game with all-new tasks. The Secret Series Game invites you and your family and friends to take part in your own series of Taskmaster games at home. Carry the scores from each individual game forward into the next until you complete 10 'episodes' to crown an overall Series Winner! Who will be the ultimate champion?

It also could be a bit weird having friends in your house, rummage through your fridge or drawers trying to complete a task. I was okay with it, but imagine some may be self-conscious around that. The players whose house it is do have a bit of an advantage as they will know where some things are, or what might be available. Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne bring you a Taskmaster Board Game based off of their award-winning show. The aim of the game is to finish with the most points but getting those points may require you to think outside the box and try to be clever with your tasks. Limiting the game to Garden Tasks would be ideal for the current situation where people are restricted to meeting outdoors Like all good party games, Taskmaster is easy to learn and easy to play. The tasks are brilliantly bonkers, but if you’ve watched the TV show you would be disappointed if they weren’t. Things can get a bit messy and occasionally wasteful, but as long as you are prepared for it you will be having too much fun to care.

You also have a secret task that you try to do throughout the game. (Mine was pet an inanimate object like it was a pet.) If you manage to get through the game unobserved, you get a bonus three points. If anyone catches you when it’s time to guess and describes your task, they get three points. Finally, you all take part in the “Final Task,” either reading the task or scanning the QR code so Alex Horne reads it for you. Whoever has the most points at the end is the winner! Paul Thomason spends a creative, fun and competitive afternoon playing Taskmaster which brings all the silliness of the TV show to your front room. But it almost doesn’t even matter who the contestants are. If the cast is a bit underpowered, Taskmaster gets by on silly charm and on knowing the pleasures of simple games. Some of its finest moments have come from only slightly embellishing the office pastime of throwing balled-up pieces of paper into a wastebasket – and here, the best game is an old-fashioned round of hide and seek variant Grandma’s footsteps, albeit one played in a railway museum and featuring Horne, the spotter, standing on a bridge wearing a helmet covered in fairy lights. It is funny when Lou Sanders squeezes into a bin and shuffles forward pretending to be part of the landscape, but it is even better when Joe Thomas just plays wholeheartedly and fully sprints from one hiding place to another, narrowly making it before Horne pops up again to try to catch him. You are also allocated a secret task. This is yours, and yours alone to complete on the sly during the game, but don’t get caught! Players have the opportunity to guess what other player’s secret tasks were. If undetected the player gets three points, if someone guesses the challenge however, they gain the three points instead. It is based upon the long-running BAFTA award winning TV comedy quiz show starring Greg Davies (stand-up comedian and actor best known as the headmaster from “The Inbetweeners”) and its creator Alex Horne (band-leader of The Horne Section) currently enjoying its 10th series on Channel 4 following the successful move from Dave.Ever fancied being a towering ex-school teacher turned comic sat in a big gold chair hosting a celebrity panel game show? Well, now is your chance, as there is a Taskmaster party game! Unless you don’t have a gold chair in the house, because sadly, this game does not come with a throne. Players take turns performing the Davies role of Taskmaster although there is the option of one person being the sole arbiter of awarding points if they are unwilling to partake in the challenges, are feeling unsure about joining in too fully, or if they are just power hungry. Taskmaster Trophy Task: Taskmaster The Board Game After the agreed number of tasks has been completed, the final task then takes place. Scan the QR code on a final task card which will take you to a video from Taskmaster’s very own Little Alex Horne, who will instruct you on what task all players will compete in. The Taskmaster gets to choose the type of task the other contestants perform (Garden Task, Lab Task, Living Room Task or Kitchen Task). Limiting the game to Garden Tasks would be ideal for the current situation where people are restricted to meeting outdoors and would need to bring their improvisation and ingenuity along with their bottles. One minute task to trace around your hand and then turn it into a self portrait There are plenty of opportunities to show favouritism and begin arguments with the point scoring mainly being at the discretion of the Taskmaster. The time limits on the tasks ensure the game zips along at pace as players rush around trying to find the best materials to make trophies or snazzy footwear. Create some snazzy shoes – Taskmaster The Board Game

As first runs go, Taskmaster Series 1 is a perfect introduction to why the show has become such a roaring success, and that’s really down to the cast. Roisin Conaty was lovably naff, whereas Tim Key was so fearlessly competitive he broke all the rules, stooping low enough to lie about shooting a TV show for Comic Relief to win a task ( yes, really!). The combination of quietly furious Romesh Ranganathan and dry-witted Frank Skinner gave us the beautiful moment where, during a task about throwing a tea bag into a cup from the greatest distance, Frank Skinner jokes ‘someone will spend the first 45 minutes realising it’s easier when they’re wet’ and the scene cuts to an infuriated Romesh discovering just that. My kids have had an absolute blast playing Taskmaster and are always really excited to play it. I do have to be in the mood for it though. The end of game scoring is akin to games like Cards Against Humanity and Scrawl, whereby one person dictates the scores. This can sometimes not reward the effort someone has put in but if the Taskmaster listens to the majority then it isn’t as bad. The Taskmaster board game does an incredible job of recreating the television show in your home. This is certainly the best game I have played based on a television show. That said, they do tend to be a bit naff and so that may not be the greatest accolade I could offer. So to this I will add, that Taskmaster is a great party game and holds up to others even without the tv tie-in. The box says it is suitable for ages eight and over, younger players will need more help, but they will have rip-roaring fun along the way. When we play as a family our youngest, Max, generally teams up with me or my wife. I have even been the Taskmaster for an entire game, which I really enjoyed. This gave me the opportunity to help all the children, at the detriment of my wife’s score, and make sure all challenges were appropriate.Like I said, the QR code integration is very welcome. All the components help to make you feel like you are playing the game. The problem is those two key moments overshadow most of the rest of the series. We will give serious bonus points to Katherine Ryan’s genius method of extracting answers from a Swedish person and Doc Brown’s hiphop reimagining of ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, once I caught a fish alive.’ LVG 8. Series One If you’ve ever seen any sort of TV show where contestants run around doing things, you’ve probably thought “I could do better than that.” Well, now’s your chance! The Taskmaster TV show came fully formed from Alex Horne’s brain, providing us all with a chance to enjoy with the subjective whims of Greg Davies. And now there’s a board game, so that you can enjoy the subjective whims of your friends and family! So strap in, let’s talk about the Taskmaster Board Game! All The Information Is On The Task The challenge cards are divided by room with appropriate tasks in each. These cards are laid out in piles on the board which resembles a plan of the Taskmaster house in the show.