Posted in: Board Games, Games, Review, Tabletop | Tagged: board game, google, Google Assistant, KNOW!, Ravensburger, Review

Review: KNOW! The Google Assistant Board Game By Ravensburger

We've had some pretty good luck with Ravensburger in the past when it came to board games, so we were stoked to try out a new one called KNOW! This particular game is a trivia challenge where you can use Google Assistant to play the game. But does the concept actually come out working alright? We downloaded the app and cracked out the game to review it properly.

If this game looks a bit familiar to you, it's because the design takes a page from a lot of other trivia games where you have a specific color tied to a line of questioning. The game is for two to four players, as you will each go around the board answering questions and racking up points toward movement. ach player will be asked a question depending on the color they're standing on when it's their turn. Depending on the kind of question, there are chances for one or multiple people to earn points toward movement.

The four categories are Fun, Knowledge, Intuition, and Creativity. There are two different ways to play this: using Google Assistant and using the cards. If you use GA, then each round you'll use one side of the cards to speak the questions into the phone for it to participate. If you use the non-GA side, then you'll simply ask questions to each other like you would a normal trivia game. Some require you to write out answers, others to hit a buzzer in the middle.

Here's the big problem I had with this game that turned into a massive roadblock: Google Assistant doesn't like to play. We would frequently ask Google Assistant questions, and it would come back at us with stuff we didn't ask for. Much like using Siri on your iPhone, if you say something specific and the phone doesn't pick it up the right way, you get a different search. But this took it to an entirely new level as GA couldn't even pick a player to start the game. There's no way around this one and it completely screws up any chance you have of using it. So we had to abondon GA and play with just the cards.

For the most part, the game is pretty fun. It plays like a lot of trivia games you might expect to play, with the added bonus of anyone being able to jump in and guess for their own added points. But knowing that KNOW! hinged half the gameplay on being able to use an app they don't even own and can't control how it responds… that soured us on the concept. Because without the app, we're basically playing a slightly more interactive and pop-culture version of Trivial Pursuit. If you decide to get the game, best of luck to you using the app.

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