Tabletop Game Review: The Game of Wolf

The Game of Wolf

Gray Matters Games

Players: 4-12

Play Time: 30-45 Minutes

I’ve always liked trivia games. I’m not good at them, but I always welcome a test on my knowledge of random things. My lack of knowledge on almost everything is why The Game of Wolf is a good game for someone like me.

The Game of Wolf is a trivia game by Gray Matters Games for 4-12 players. The trivia questions themselves aren’t too different from what you will find in other trivia games. The cards come with many types of categories, including film, education, and pop culture. So what makes the Game of Wolf different than its competitors? The Game of Wolf is both a collaborative and competitive experience, in which players will need to choose who they work with to succeed.

The Game of Wolf flows pretty well. The Wolf is chosen and is given a category card with a question on it. For example, one card’s category is “Classic Board Games.” The wolf will then decide if they will answer the questions alone or pick another player to join their “pack.” The remaining players will play against the pack or lone wolf. From there, five questions will be asked. In this case, the main question is “Name the board game based on its tagline,” followed by five board game taglines. All of the question cards have this format. There are always five questions to answer, and the two teams will answer as many as they can. The team with the most correct answers wins the round and is awarded points.

After everything is resolved, the player to the wolf’s left becomes the new wolf. When everyone has been wolf once, the first round will conclude. There are three rounds, with each round granting more points than the previous rounds. Whoever has the most points in the end wins.

The wolf being able to choose a partner is what makes The Game of Wolf shine. This is the first trivia game where I feel like I don’t need to be the most knowledgeable to win. Instead of needing to know every category, players just need to know who in their group is the most knowledgable. Rounds in The Game of Wolf are often won before the questions are even read. If you can pick the best partner for a category, your chances of winning increases exponentially.

Players are also awarded for being the lone wolf as well. If a player thinks they know a category more than everyone else playing combined, they can try to answer the questions alone. Doing this will award double points if they win. If they lose, they will lose points instead. This mechanic works great because it allows trivia buffs to shine despite the pack rules.

Outside of the pack mechanic, there isn’t anything else to The Game of Wolf. This isn’t a bad thing, because the game does this part well. Our group always had a good time playing this one, and no felt overwhelmed by the difficulty of the questions. I do have some concerns about the longevity of the game though. There are plenty of cards in the box, but like most games in the genre, there aren’t much to come back to when you already know the answers. Still, the game is well-priced and worth the cost of admission, and a portion of your purpose will go towards Alzheimer’s Research. That’s pretty neat.

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