Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Happy Hour Hustle from University Games stretches the possibilities of party games with a wide variety of challenges all done in a minute or less. Many party games can become repetitious with players burning out while acting or drawing clues over and over again. One hundred unique Challenge Cards make Happy Hour Hustle a new activity each round.
Plenty to Choose From
Players divide into two groups and choose one to go first in drawing a Challenge Card from one of the five themed decks. In the “Showmanship” deck, cards task players with naming TV shows, acting out movie plots, or doing their best impressions of actors. “Musicality” has players hum famous tunes, even using a provided kazoo, or name song titles with every letter of the alphabet.
For “Dexterity,” players must perform feats like balancing on one leg or bouncing a ping pong ball into a cup, also provided. “Mental Agility” gives intellectual challenges like word problems, trick questions, and spelling, all with answers available via QR codes so there is no peeking.
The most chaotic of all is, fittingly, “Wild.” There players might have to conquer tongue twisters or even mirror an opponent’s every motion for one minute.
Minute or Less
Once the active team has chosen its category and read its card aloud, the players have one minute to complete the challenge. Some might be easier, like a bit of fancy spelling for a spelling bee champion. Some might be harder, such as winning a staring contest. Others might depend completely on who is playing, such as the challenge of texting “U up?” to a random person on a player’s recent call list.
If the team succeeds, they keep their card. If not, the other team takes a turn either trying the card just failed or drawing a new one from a category of their own choosing.
The goal of Happy Hour Hustle is to be the first team to collect a card from each of the five categories. If the active team fails in completing a challenge, they must move their “Happy Hour Meter” down a notch, on a range from “sober” to “blitzed.” If a team loses enough that they must move past “blitzed,” its players have to sacrifice a card already collected.
Balanced Play
Everyone has a different skillset, making the randomness of play a great equalizer and each draw a new game. Teams will have to pick their players carefully to achieve the highest chances of winning by covering all bases. The requirement to win in each category further balances the game since a team cannot rely one particular strength but must master everything.
Happy Hour Hustle is a party game for two or more players aged 21 and up (or 18 and up, depending on the country). Although the theme is strongly one of happy hour and libations, groups could include younger players by taking a quick flip through the challenge cards to fish out a few that might not be suitable for them. Otherwise, it’s up to the players to show off their best skills and knowledge in a minute flat.
