I’m always on the lookout for new games to play with my students that will stretch their minds. Today’s fun board game was MonsDRAWsity by Deep Water Games, created by Eric Slauson. I ordered it on Amazon on sale, and think the on sale price point is probably the right one for this game, given the components included. 

MonsDRAWsity plays 3-8 players, and really does better with 4 and up. You could easily add more, in my opinion, though we kind of threw the scoring rules by the wayside because of how I was using the game in my classroom. The box lists a 20 minute play time, but it’s one of those that you can play for longer or shorter if you so choose. 

This game focuses on one of the creative thinking strategies that we use frequently in my class and that I really love. One person describes a card that no one else can see. The others draw it. Then everyone votes on which is the closest interpretation of the card. I’ve done this with many groups, both of children and adults, and it’s a great way to see how other people think. The results can be very humorous. 

What really makes this game something different than just a thinking exercise is the truly creative artwork. Because I don’t wish to spoil the game for anyone else, I’m reluctant to post any of the cards, but you truly need to think outside of the box to describe these cards. The monsters can be mashups of robots, animals, bugs, humans–really anything. Or sometimes nothing at all. The kids had a great time just giggling over looking at the card itself, and the most common response to a new card was “what the heck?!” 

The other thing I really liked about this game was how practical it was. I have a couple of kids who are very good at art, and some who are still working on basic fine motor skills. Although my kids who struggle in that area were reluctant to play at first, they quickly jumped in when they realized the point was to get as close to the drawing, not the “best drawing”. I’m not great at drawing, either, and my stick monsters certainly helped build confidence! 

Additionally, we figured out how to play this on Zoom with literally no extra steps. I sent the describer into a breakout room and came in to show them the card on camera. Then we went back to the main group. The one brief downside was that not everybody had paper, but the kids worked that out without a hiccup: they decided they just wanted to take turns drawing instead of playing the game the way the instructions described. They did best of three “rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock” and whoever won got to screen share their whiteboard. While that child drew, the others gave advice for how they thought it should go if it differed, or offered encouragement if they thought the drawer was on the right track. Since this is my social and emotional learning class, I often sit back and let them troubleshoot problems, and was truly impressed at how quickly they caught on to how this would work so that everyone could have a good time. 

Overall, this is a really fun game and well suited to both a classroom and to a fun game night with others. It works well with a mix of ages and ability levels so long as the groundwork is laid from the beginning. My only complaint is that the whiteboards needed more than the erasers on the dry erase markers, but that’s always an issue with things like this, and was quickly solved with some wet wipes.