Smug Owls
- Board's Eye View
- May 6
- 2 min read
Smug Owls is a light party game for '3-15 players' (ie: the only upper limit on the number of players is how many can realistically gather round a table where they can all see the cards). It's a game from Runaway Parade that's notionally about solving riddles, except that the 'riddles' aren't the cleverly constructed chestnuts like those bandied between Bilbo and Gollum in The Hobbit but randomly generated by the deck of cards.
The notion that you can generate a meaningful riddle with randomly drawn cards sounds implausible, so we were very pleasantly surprised to find that designers Grace Kendall and Mike Belsole had managed to pull it off. It actually works!
Of course there's no 'right' answer. This is a game that encourages lateral thinking and creativity. Players are each trying to think up a solution of their own. The idea is that, each round, one player takes on the role of 'smug owl', takes hold of the owl standee, and it's they who decide on the best answer from among those offered by the other players.
The rules encourage players to adapt and modify play according to their preferences - always a sensible approach with a party game. You can keep score but most people will just play for fun - especially if you're testing out the upper limits of player count. You can choose to play with or without a timer. And you're even encouraged to suggest cards of your own for shuffling into the decks.
However you play, Smug Owls makes for a great little 15-minute party filler. And with party games we're always asked whether or not they are suitable for work. There's certainly nothing in the Smug Owls decks that's inherently offensive; this is no Cards Against Humanity. Of course, you can never guarantee that one or more of the players might come up with an answer that gives offence to others... Wouldn't that then be a case of the player rather than the game being NSFW (Not Safe For Work)? There's a riddle!
