| 👨👩👧👦 | Players: 2-8 |
| ⏳ | Time: 25 minutes |
| 🎂 | Ages: 10+ |
| ⚙️ | Mechanisms: Cooperative, communication limits |
Have you ever wondered how raccoons would communicate? The answer is with trash, obviously! Trash Talk from Friendly Skeleton is a cooperative limited communication game for 2 – 8 players. One player is a raccoon, attempting to talk to possums (the other players) using trash. Each object the raccoon uses has a meaning – but what is it? It’s up to the possums to interpret the Trash Talk.
Each round the racoon is given some words and some trash. The raccoon chooses which piece of trash is going to mean which word (i.e. they decide that ‘school’ is paired with the slinky because they’re both associated with children). Once the raccoon has secretly arranged the order of the trash to match the words, the possums can guess which words the racoon has associated with each piece of trash.
I’ve played a few times now, so here are my thoughts:
Trash Talk feels like a mix of Mysterium and Codenames, but the physical objects make the game feel more fun and engaging. The gameplay is simple and approachable, making it a great option for families or anyone looking for a lighter game.
You have more chances to get familiar with how players make connections between items than in other similar games because the same trash (+1 new) is used with new words each round. The discussions about why certain words were chosen for a particular piece of trash are also often very illuminating and amusing.
I love how easy it is to customise the game. The rulebook encourages you to add your own ‘trash’ from your junk drawer. You could also add in your own words – all you need is a pen and paper! If you own Codenames, you’ve got a whole box of words ready to go.
I own several games of this style, but this has quickly become my favourite. It’s so easy to set up and explain, and it’s undoubtedly the one I have the most fun playing.
⚠️ Tip! If you pick this one up, look for the secret word hidden in the box!
This copy of Trash Talk used for this review was provided to Board All The Time by VR Distribution.
The Boardgame Detective 