Sway: A Game of Debate and Silver Linings Party Game

I discovered this game via an article in one of our national newspapers, and asked my mother to bring it to the UK with her when she came for Christmas, as it's not for sale on the UK Amazon site (yet). We were excited about playing it. It's a great game, with an interesting premise: to try and see the positive side of even some rather unsavoury topics. Our group (comprised of five people aged 15 to 69) enjoyed the silliness of it and got several great laughs out of it. The only struggle we had was that it is very biased towards American culture, which was fine for my mother and myself but neither of my teenage kids, raised in the UK, would have any idea who Johnny Appleseed was, nor how to (try to) present Dick Cheney in a positive light while speaking like Christopher Walken, and even my highly literate best friend struggled with "Who is X?". So we had to skip over several of the cards. It's probably better suited to Americans of Generation Y and older, rather than a younger crowd, because a lot of the cultural references would be lost on most people born after the mid-90s. That being said, it was a hoot and I would still recommend it as a fun, silly, enjoyable game to play with people whose political preferences slant toward the left (as everyone bar my mother's did, so we had to skip the Dick Cheney card altogether for the sake of Christmas peace...)

I am usually pretty lazy about getting around to reviews, and often find that most people have already said what I wanted to say. However, when I bought this one, I saw that many of the reviews were either fairly short or not totally positive.I just have to say that my experience with this game was nothing short of AMAZING. Maybe it depends on the group you play with, but we were seriously crying with laughter 95% of the time. Not kidding, the clutching your stomach, struggling to breathe kind of laughter. And at least half of us were totally sober, mind you. The experience might vary based on how goofy/theatrical your group is willing to be. If most of you are shy or very introverted, you might not have that much fun, but we truly had a blast with the hilarious and bizarre arguments that came out of this game!Debating the merits of the End of a Rainbow vs. Setting Your Toaster on Fire...while pitching it as an infomercial? Having to find a way to mention Leo DiCaprio while waxing poetic on French Bulldogs?The arguments themselves are already wacky and random enough, but when you throw in challenges like impersonating a president or doing an interpretive dance, to us, it was a recipe for hilarity. I'll admit that the spinner was a little annoying at times, but that's really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I'll probably buy this as a present for at least two friends, and will probably throw it in my purse whenever I am heading to a fun social gathering. I think this game has enough topics, challenges etc. that it can be replayed whenever you want without getting bored.It's so much fun to see what random arguments you and your friends can come up with under pressure. We played with a group of people in our 20s, but I can pretty much see this game being enjoyable for groups of all ages, as long as the players aren't afraid to make fools of themselves in the name of fun.

Introverts won't like it, but will like to watch. For an energetic crowd. We loved it and couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Even got the teenagers to play. They loved it to. Kind of leaves out younger kids (not the intended audience) but they see you having so much fun that they want to play. Help the TV in your life die.

OK. This is now our favorite game. I still rate it 5 stars, even though there could be some improvements made, simply because it is so much fun! I love how we can fit the game to any group. We tend to go around the circle and each person judge rather than just pick one, for example. The things that I'd love to see change in future additions: The artwork makes the game look not particularly professional. We use our own spinner, since the one included doesn't spin freely. And we wish there were more cards that are harder to find positives for. What happens is that often one person will get an easier card and one not so easy, and both are the easiest options! So put out an expansion pack of cards, and we'll buy that in a minute. We have had plenty of laughs with this game. Don't hem and haw about this game--the little glitches aren't worth fussing over.

This game is fun! We played with all adults our first game and let the kids join us for the second game. We modified the rules a bit for the kids. Everyone loved it...lots of laughs and a great vocabulary, language builder (I'm a teacher). We already checked into an expansion pack...hurry! And, a kid specific version would be great too.

Played this game at a lovely diner (with games!) in Indianapolis with my family - SO much fun, so easy to start and end, and we apparently were all able to rise to the occasion the cards called.

The game was not fun. Played with a group of diverse people....boring as hell. recommend that the authors consider putting more controversial topics and have pro/con be played by opposite teams. As it is written.....no.

My family and friends love to play Sway at our parties. The game can easily be adapted for all abilities. In a crazy world, it is wonderful to get lost looking for silver linings! I appreciate that it is positive, active and stimulating.