Adult Mad Libs - book discontinued by Penguin - review by mistressg

This game is great for parties, fun with a friend, fun with a partner, or even alone if you can go without cheating! Because of the fact that with each game they have a page that lists only the types of words (noun, verb, type of liquid...) that are blank in the story that follows, this game could be played alone. Though I will admit, it is more fun when you have someone else to play with. As long as you can go without looking at the story and cheating, since that kind of takes the fun out of it.

This is supposed to be "adult" Mad Libs, so I though it might have some steamier story lines than what I've seen so far. For example, here is one of the stories

Could be a bit more adult, but that is easy to get past. I mean, who hasn't played a regular Mad Libs game with friends and found a way to make it sound dirty? You can make something as innocent as a trip to the supermarket sound like an orgy! Gotta love Mad Libs!

The rules are very clear. for anyone who has never played Mad Libs, there are instructions on the first page:
"RIDICULOUSLY SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS: In this table you will find stories containing blank spaces where words are left out. One player, the READER, selects one of these stories. The READER does not tell anyone what the story is about. Instead, he/she asks the other players, the WRITERS, to give him/her words. These words are used to fill in the blank spaces in the story.

TO PLAY: The READER asks each WRITER in turn to call out words- an adjective or a noun or whatever the space calls for - and uses them to fill in the blank spaces in the story. The result is a MAD LIBS game. When the READER then reads the completed MAD LIBS game to the other players, they will discover that they have written a story that is fantastic, screamingly funny, shocking, silly, crazy or just plain dumb - depending upon which words each WRITER called out."

These are the given game rules, but they are able to be changed if you want to. People can take turns picking words, etc. And I think this game is fun to play alone if you are bored (but I will admit, it is lots of fun to play with another person or in a group).

One little helpful bit that I like, since people tend to forget what an adverb is, the next page has a "Quick Review" that tells what a Noun, adverb, adjective, exclamation, and so on, are.

This game doesn't really have a "winner", it's just a fun game. Though, I know it can get competitive! I've played other Mad Libs games with groups of friends and it became "who can make this sound the dirtiest", "who can think of the most obscure words", etc.

I think the design of this game is very simple, but nice. The paper could be "flimsy" I suppose, but it's paper, so what do you expect?
If you write in pencil, you can erase words, and go back and play again later, making it last a little longer than if you write in ink.

The book itself is pretty thin. My biggest problem is that I wish there were more! I counted about 21 stories altogether in the book. Once you get playing, you can go through them fast. It's nice to have a few of these books on hand to play on a rainy day, or in case you have friends over. I've never been to a bachelorette party, but I would imagine this would be really fun for something like that. EF actually has another Mad Lib game: Mad Lib Bachelorette Bash.

One more good thing about this is that there are no pieces to go missing, and it's not messy at all. Also, in terms on similar games/puzzles, it's definitely easier than Sudoku and crosswords, plus it will make you laugh!