If you’ve ever played with these fridge magnet words back in the day, Ransom notes will give you an instant dose of nostalgia. It also has what I think is the most important quality in a board game: no complicated rules, setup, or explanation required. Each round begins with an open-ended question card, such as “describe a scary health problem.” Players are given a handful of magnetic word tiles which they then arrange into a (usually slightly nonsensical) response to that round’s prompt. Each “ransom note” can be as elaborate (or not) as you want. You may have the perfect set of words to craft a plausible answer, but, more often than not, you’ll need to get a little creative with your response. Sometimes a word or two is enough.
Regardless, the mix of word tiles, which leans a bit on the PG-13 side but isn’t as crude as more “adult” board games like Cards Against Humanity, is such that the hilarity will almost certainly ensue. Officially, each round is supposed to have a “winner”, with the game ending after a predetermined number of rounds. But it’s just as fun if you forget about trying to keep score and let everyone try to come up with the funniest, most random notes they can imagine. — Karissa Bell, senior reporter
