Twangled is a cooperative party game where players tie themselves in knots holding elastic bands. Using a foot spinner, each person steps over or under the bands until the whole group is one big "twangled" mess. The goal for the group is to then untangle itself so everyone is facing the center.

It's great for kids and adults alike, guaranteed to make you laugh, and owes a great debt to Knots and other wonderful cooperative games taught by the Dalai Lama of Playfulness, Bernie DeKoven. Who better to write our review of Twangled than Bernie himself?! 

Read on to discover why Bernie loves Twangled and what makes it Major Fun!

Written review continues after the break.

Twangled     Mindware  |  Buy

To those of us who like party games, especially party games that make people laugh, in particular party games like Knots, have we got a game for you!

It's called Twangled. It would remind you mightily of the traditional, classic, puzzling, physical and often hilarious game Knots if it weren't for: a set of eight elastic bands, in four different colors, with a loop at each end; and a spinner you kick. Which, aside from reading the rules and playing the game itself, is how you know that it's not Knots. No. Not knots at all.

I explicate by cleverly quoting the rules thus: "Players grab a colored band – making sure that at least one band of each color is taken before doubling up any colors. Players stand in a circle facing inward – making sure not to stand next to someone with the same band color. Place the kick spinner in the center of Get Twangled! Determine a player to go first. On your turn, kick the spinner and perform the action as indicated without letting go of the bands. For example, if a player spins 'Under Green,; that player must move his or her entire body underneath a green band. The player may have to do other necessary moves to get under the green band, such as step over a yellow band. If using more than one of a band color, you must perform your action on the band furthest from you. Once a player has completed the action, play passes to the person on the left, who then kicks the spinner and performs his or her required action. Now it is time to get unTwangled. Without ever letting go of the bands, players work together to figure out how to return to the starting formation. Communication is key as players direct each other to move over and under bands."

On the other hand, you don't really need to know the rules to figure out how to play. It's just about intuitive. And the parts that aren't don't matter. And if you know how to play Knots, you already know more than enough to figure the rest out.

Much of the not-Knots quality of the game can be traced to the stretchiness of the bands, which can be compared to and contrasted with the unstretchiness of the human arm. And then there's the spinner, which is not part of the traditional game of Knots and yet functions admirably well as a novel device for causing people to become Twangled, in deed. Speaking of whom, Twangle is designed to be played by four to eight players, ages six to decrepit.

Yet another surprising and oft-delightful differentiation caused by the stretchiness factor: the aftergame. So hilariously logical is this aftergame that I fear I would spoil it should I say more. I suppose, if you don't discover the hilarious logic of the aftergame yourself, you could write and ask us. To give you fair warning, it's an undocumented feature that apparently appears serendipitously. I shall say no more other than: Major Fun. In deed!

August 2017 – Bernie DeKoven

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