Half Truth: Second Guess expansion review

The trivia game’s expansion delights the geek in all of us

Just 5 minutes into our first session of playing Half Truth’s new expansion we were howling.

“No way!”

“How could I get that wrong!”

“Whaaaaaat?! Hahaha!”

The trivia game had us picking out three correct Doctor Who villains and I GOT ONE WRONG. I cohost a freaking Doctor Who podcast and I GOT ONE WRONG. (Don’t ask me which one, I’m not going to admit it.) This reaction continued through several rounds, almost every one, until the game finally ended and I won, restoring my confidence.

Half Truth is an easy-to-play trivia game in which teams (or individuals) all have to select up to three correct answers from a group of six, laid out in columns of a card. The more correct we get, the better our chance of getting points and bonuses. But if we get one answer wrong we don’t receive anything. A big zero. The points are tallied on a wheel that we spin, which can also dole out bonuses and remixes, like getting double the points if we’re correct or having to select the incorrect answers instead.

And that’s where the fun comes in, because we need to be sure of every answer we’re selecting. There are six answers on a card and only three correct, so are we comfortable with two of them? One? All three? Then that’s what we have to put down, indicated via the letter cards we place face down in front of us. This is further complicated when we play in teams, because the total correct answers are tallied up for the competitive score. We can’t say to each other WHICH answers we’re putting down, only that we’re confident in one, two, three or none.

And it’s this back and forth that makes the game intriguing, almost like a bartering system. One question was related to elements and my daughter (playing on the other team) was fairly confident in two of them. So, I put down two answers to counter. Then her smile came out and she laid down the third card — I wasn’t sure of the third element. They all sound real… or do they? Oh man. This baiting is a great mind game aspect of the experience that makes it that much more competitive.

The cards in this pack have a lot of geek leanings, with the aforementioned Doctor Who alongside Star Trek and villains and X-men and TV and music and food and, well, a lot of things. All answers are SOMETHING — nothing is fake. Even the wrong ones are related to something else, they’re just selected specifically to throw us off.

Interestingly enough the game is secretly educating us, as trivia games tend to do, by listing the origin of the wrong answers underneath. So the wrong elements? The ones I chose? One is a fish, one is something else, but they’re not on the periodic table. They just sound like they might. Play these cards enough times and the info will seep into our brains and we’ll be ready to win trivia in a bar later in life.

These trivia notes aren’t just testing us but they’re also selected well enough to motivate us to keep playing, which we did in our first game well past the winner already being selected. We want to learn and giggle and test ourselves more. This is fun information, and everyone wants to soak it in.

Half Truth is already a fun game, and Second Guess is a solid expansion bringing a ton of new cards. The game is developed by legendary game designer Richard Garfield alongside Jeopardy host Ken Jennings, so the gameplay is solid and the questions have been vetted. This feels like a solid addition to our family game nights, and something I can see us bringing out with friends.

The Kickstarter is live for Half Truth: Second Guess and it’s already surpassed its goal of $10,000.