Welcome to my review of Faces! If you’re hunting for a board game that promises big laughs and quick fun, you’re in the right spot. I’ve put this party game through its paces with my friends, so you’ll get the real scoop—from easy rules and group giggles to how much luck and fairness actually matter. Grab a snack, sit back, and let’s see if this game deserves a place on your shelf.
How It Plays
Setting up
Open the box and spread out the face cards so everyone can see. Give each player a set of voting cards. Appoint someone as the scorekeeper, or just trust your math whiz friend—that’s what we did.
Gameplay
One player draws a question card and reads it aloud. Everyone looks at the face cards and secretly votes on which face matches the question best. You can’t vote for your own suggestion, which keeps things interesting. Once the votes are in, players reveal their choices. Arguments about what ‘guilty’ looks like are highly encouraged!
Winning the game
Earn points for every time someone matches your pick correctly. The player with the most points at the end wins. Bragging rights last until the next awkward face-off.
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Faces.
How Funny Are the Faces in Faces?
If you think you’ve seen every expression a human face can make, think again. In “Faces,” the whole game is about trying to guess which mugshot, yearbook photo, or silly snapshot best matches a wacky prompt. I played this last Saturday with my friend group, and let’s just say nobody held back. You haven’t lived until you see your grandma try to pick between “Who just found out their lunch was stolen?” and “Who’s hiding a squirrel in their pants?” The faces in the game range from confused, to horrified, to what I can only describe as ‘mid-sneeze panic.’
What’s beautiful (and hilarious) is that everyone sees something different. My mate Adam kept picking pictures where the person looked like they had just discovered jazz for the first time. Meanwhile, my sister went for faces that looked like they’d bitten a lemon. The variety in the box is wild, with a fresh surprise every round.
The best laughs come when the group argues why “Face #3 looks exactly like someone who’d forget their own birthday.” It’s like a roast, but just for strangers’ photos. I found the humor doesn’t get old fast because of the sheer volume of images. Even after a few rounds, we were snorting and holding our stomachs. You never quite know what curveball is coming next.
Next up, I’ll talk about whether all this fun comes at the cost of fairness. Is “Faces” just giggles, or does it actually let everyone play on a level field? Time to brace for some real talk!
Is Faces a Fair Playground? A Look at Balance and Fairness
Okay, time to tackle one of my board game pet peeves: balance and fairness. No one wants to play a game where your uncle Bob, who has never shown a single facial expression, wins every time just because he’s got poker face powers. So, how does Faces stack up when it comes to keeping things fair and square?
First, here’s the setup: Faces gives you a bunch of photo cards with wild, sometimes downright bizarre, expressions. On your turn, you read out a silly prompt—like “Which FACE just got caught stealing cookies?”—and everyone secretly picks the photo they think matches. If people match with the active player, you both score points. Sounds simple, right? Well, it mostly is.
The good news: everyone gets a shot at being the center of attention. The scoring’s easy to follow, and no one gets stuck playing catch-up for hours. There’s not a ton of room for one person to bulldoze the table with wild strategy or memorize a bunch of rules. That’s a win for fairness. And if you have a squeaky clean, stony-faced group, their lack of dramatic flair won’t skew the results too much—since you’re matching photos, not doing charades.
On the down side, luck does rear its head. Sometimes your guess will be totally off just because you missed the vibe or someone made a random pick. If you loathe games with any whiff of randomness, Faces may tickle your tolerance for chaos. But overall, the game sticks to a level playing field and doesn’t let anyone run away with it.
Gather ’round, because next up, I’m testing Faces’ replay value with different groups—which means even more excuses to pull weird faces at my poor, unsuspecting friends.
Replay Value Across All Kinds of Groups in Faces
If you ask me, the real magic of Faces is how it works with almost any group of people. I’ve dragged this box to family dinners, awkward office parties, and even a backyard BBQ with my friend Jerry’s weird cousins. Each time, it got everyone laughing. That’s not easy, let me tell you. I’ve played games that brought out grimaces instead of giggles, but Faces always delivers a solid laugh attack.
The replay value? Wildly high—if your group likes to get a bit silly. Every round is different because you’re pulling new cards and, even better, different people bring their own oddball thinking. For example, one time my friend Lucy managed to turn a round about ‘Who just saw a ghost?’ into a ten-minute debate about whether cats can sense spirits. That’s the beauty of this game: the prompts and pictures change, but so do the players’ weird imaginations.
With introverts, you get sneaky, funny answers. With loud extroverts (looking at you, Chad), you get over-the-top performances that make everyone wheeze with laughter. Even my grumpy uncle, who normally hates games, ended up crowning himself the “King of Face-Picking.” This kind of flexibility means the game doesn’t get stale fast. Each new group is like shuffling a whole new deck of potential comedy.
Of course, if someone plays it too often with the same people, you might learn each other’s tells, but that just makes players get cleverer—or weirder! Honestly, Faces is a go-to for any get-together because it adapts so well to a crowd.
Next up: get ready to see if the rules are a headache or a breeze to learn—because nobody wants to leave a party with a brain cramp.
How Easy Are the Rules to Learn? Simple Rules, Big Laughs in Faces
I have a confession: I hate reading long rulebooks. If a game needs a PhD just to set up, count me out. Luckily, Faces spared my little brain from that pain. I gathered my friends, tossed the box on the table, and we were up and running in about five minutes. Five! Even my buddy Jess, who still thinks WiFi is some kind of yoga, got the hang of it within a round.
Here’s how it works: In Faces, you get a card with a bunch of… well, faces. One person reads a question or a statement. Think stuff like, “Who looks most likely to eat dessert first?” Everyone secretly chooses which face fits. Then, everyone tries to guess which face the reader picked. No fancy point systems, no confusing phases—just pick, guess, and laugh. Rinse, repeat. If you can recognize a face and point at it, you’re qualified to play.
Even my grandma joined in without needing to ask me a million questions. (She did, however, pick some truly wild faces for “looks most likely to start a rock band,” but that’s another story.) It also helped that there are lots of sample prompts to keep things moving.
I think Faces is one of the most accessible party games I own. The rules are as clear as a summer sky, and you only need ten seconds before you’re cracking up and guessing faces. If you want a game that lets you skip the study session and jump straight to the fun, I highly recommend Faces. Just be ready for some weird looks from across the table!
Conclusion
If you want a party game that brings the laughs fast, Faces is a solid bet. Rules are easy, and the game never drags, even if your cousin Tim tries to be the game’s face model every round. I had fun with different groups, and every play was different. Just remember, luck can tip the scales sometimes—so don’t take your final score too seriously. If that bugs you, maybe look elsewhere. Otherwise, Faces will get any crowd chuckling. That closes out my review—now go pull some faces!
