Have you tried ‘Hearing Things’ yet? It’s a game!

Sometimes an amazingly simple game does unbelievably well. Game maker Hasbro’s Hearing Things is the runaway success of the season. With an Amazon rating of 4.1, Hamley’s rating of a full 5 stars and Flipkart rating of 4.4, there is little wonder that it is making it to top 10 lists in most game review magazines. It’s sold out on Flipkart, and selling very well everywhere else.  

What is Hearing Things all about?    
This is an essential party / family evening game, and Hasbro is marketing it accordingly. Anyone above the age of 12 can play it. The game is based in the concept of the viral whisper challenge internet sensation. Each game box includes sound-cancelling headphones with built-in sounds and a timer, 150 cards to guess, and an instruction manual. Like the online viral 'Whisper Challenge', the Hearing Things Game players have to guess what their teammate is saying by reading their lips.  

How to play the Hearing Things game? 
One player of the team puts on the speech-cancelling electronic headphones, while the other player of that team says a random phrase from the card. As soon as a player guesses a phrase correctly, the teammate draws another card. This keeps going until the timer stops. The idea is to earn as many cards as possible within the allotted time. However, if a player passes on a card, the opposing team automatically gets those points, making each player desperate to guess. But, players can also pass on cards as a matter of strategy. So the card version has built in more thinking into the game than the simpler online one, which only makes it more exciting.  

How many people can play Hearing Things? 
Two teams of any number of players or even two individuals can play it. But it is best to limit team size within 5 people, otherwise it might become too confusing and chaotic. To make things fun, there are tricky phrases on the cards like the tongue twister ‘Let’s find cupcakes and eat them’, rounded phrases such as ‘Pigeons like to cuddle’, slightly long one like ‘That’s fine, I’ll take a nap’, and evergreens: ‘Peaches and cream’.