If you’ve ever wanted to judge your friends by their faces (and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?), you’re in the right place! This is my review of Faces, the party game where your poker face and terrible sense of humor finally pay off. I gathered my most expressive friends, a bowl of chips, and got ready for the kind of chaos that only matching weird faces to funny phrases can bring. Buckle up—here’s what happened and why you might (or might not) want to slap this one on your table.
How It Plays
Setting up
First, grab your stack of face cards and shuffle them like you’re about to wow someone with a card trick. Each player gets dealt some cards (check the rulebook because we always get this wrong and argue for 10 minutes). Lay out a selection of face cards in the middle where everyone can see—think of it like a very odd yearbook photo lineup.
Gameplay
On your turn, draw a prompt card. This will say something ridiculous like “Who is most likely to fight a raccoon?” Everyone secretly picks a face card from the table that matches the prompt. It’s like Tinder, if the only matches you get are slightly concerned and deeply confused faces. When everyone’s picked, the group guesses who picked what and why. Most fun part: defending your choices and making your friends laugh until someone spits their drink.
Winning the game
Players get points for correct guesses and for having their face chosen. I always forget the points halfway through because we’re too busy laughing, but if you’re that competitive friend, keep track. After a set number of rounds, whoever has the most points is the winner. Or you can just call everyone a winner if you want less drama.
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Faces.
How Easy Is It To Learn Faces? Let’s Break Down The Rules
Alright, let me set the record straight. Faces is not one of those board games where you get a headache just from looking at the rulebook. I’ve made that mistake before — once, I opened a rulebook so thick I almost needed a bookmark just to finish reading the setup. Faces, though? Nope. My group picked it up in less than five minutes, and that’s including the time I spent arguing about whether my cousin’s dog counts as a player. Spoiler: it doesn’t, but he does make a good judge.
So here’s how faces works. On your turn, a card gives you a prompt—something like, “Who is most likely to have eaten a bug?” You peek at a grid of funny, odd, or downright bizarre photos of faces. Then, everyone else looks at those same faces and tries to guess which one you picked. No poker faces allowed here! The fun is in debating why that one guy looks suspiciously bug-eaty, and then laughing when someone reveals, “Actually, I was thinking of Aunt Linda when I picked that face.”
The rules really are that simple. There aren’t piles of tokens, score tracks all over the place, or complicated player powers. It’s straight to the action. If you can recognize a face and have opinions (trust me, my friends have too many), you’re good to go. Even my mate Gary, who once tried to play chess using checkers pieces, understood Faces right away.
This easy learning curve makes Faces perfect for party settings and mixed groups. If you can wrangle a group of relatives or friends, you’ll be playing in no time. Next up, let’s see if the laughs roll in faster than Uncle Joe’s questionable jokes…
Unleashing Laughter With Faces: The Fun Factor Explored
Let me tell you, Faces had my friends in stitches. And I don’t mean the kind you get from tripping over the board, which I also managed to do. This is a game where your ability to read people is put to the test — and so is your ability to keep a straight face. If you’re the sort who can’t lie your way out of a paper bag, prepare to get roasted. I watched my usually quiet mate, Sam, go full stand-up comic trying to convince us his weirdly blank card face looked like a famous grandma. No one bought it, but we all laughed so hard we nearly had to call emergency services.
You don’t have to know everyone super well to play Faces, but it helps. When I played with my family, my mum absolutely schooled me by matching my every answer. Turns out, she knows which face I pull when the dog steals my lunch. The best part is, even when someone completely misses the mark, it just makes things even funnier. Honestly, I thought my jaw was going to fall off by the end from all the grinning.
If you want a game that absolutely guarantees laughter, Faces is a top pick. Next up—I’ll spill the beans on whether replay value holds up if you keep swapping up your crew!
Faces: Replay Value and Mixing Up the Crowd
So here’s the thing about Faces: this game is like your favorite pair of jeans. It fits just about every group, and somehow it gets funnier the more you wear… eh, I mean, play it. After several rounds with my Sunday game crew (you know the ones—half decent at poker, all terrible at subtlety), Faces continued to surprise us. There’s just something magical about using the same cards with different folks. For example, when I played with my family, my sister kept picking my mom’s mug for the ‘Who would steal a banana from a monkey?’ card. At work, my boss’s face got pegged as ‘Most likely to start a cult.’ It was disturbingly specific.
The beauty is, Faces shines brightest in new company. New players bring wild, unexpected answers. One group I played with went off the rails and used their own inside jokes as explanations, which somehow made it even more entertaining. Because each face card can mean something completely different to every person, the game feels fresh. Even the same stack of faces morphs into new rounds of guessing and storytelling based on the personalities at the table.
Replay value with different groups is through the roof. It’s like chicken soup—good for nearly every occasion, and always a little different. This is a rare trait. Not every party game can keep up with Faces in this way, and I’ve tested a heap of them.
If you’re curious about whether the game is fair or if luck rules the show, get ready—because the next section will give you my most honest, eyebrow-raising thoughts on balance, fairness, and the wild world of Faces.
Fairness and the Balance Between Luck and Skill in Faces
Listen, I’ve played Faces with a bunch of different folks—my skeptical cousin, my board game snob friend, even my neighbour who thinks the rules to UNO are “too complex.” What I learned fast is that Faces doesn’t hide how much luck is running the show. You pull a prompt, everyone picks a face to match, and then you guess what people picked. Sometimes you’re spot on, and sometimes you feel like the group’s psychic after a few wild guesses. It’s a fun ride, but let’s not pretend you’re outsmarting anyone here.
If you crave strategic, balanced play, Faces might tick you off. It’s mostly about reading people’s minds, or being lucky enough to think like the person picking the faces. If your old school Risk buddy tries to math their way to a victory here, they’ll end up with their brain in a knot. Nobody is outwitting the game; you’re just hoping you matched the same weird face as Aunt Linda.
Some people will love this chaos—especially when the victories come from hilarious reasoning (“This face looks like someone who just sat on a Lego!”). Others, especially the folks who hate losing to pure chance, will groan louder than a Monopoly player on a losing streak.
Would I recommend Faces? If you’re looking for a game that’s silly, social, and doesn’t care about skill, then yes! But if you like your wins to feel earned, skip this and save your brain cells for something meatier.
Conclusion
So, that’s a wrap for my review of Faces! This game packs more laughs than a cat video binge. If you want a party game that’s quick to learn and sure to embarrass your friends in the best way, Faces will do it. Just remember, it’s all about luck and gut feelings—so if you’re after strategy, look elsewhere. But for pure, silly fun across all kinds of groups, Faces knocks it out of the park. Just don’t blame me if you start seeing your friends’ faces everywhere!
Thanks for reading—I promise I only made fun of a few noses during our test games.
