My family is addicted to buying board games. The closet attached to my rec room is filled with stacks upon stacks of games of all types: card games, word games, and timer games. Any type of game a person has thought of, we have it. 

So, it came to no surprise that my mother ordered Beat That as soon as she saw it. 

At first, I was indifferent. The game seemed boring and similar to many other games I had played in the past, but I was proven wrong after playing Beat That for the first time. 

The game comes with several cups, balls, chopsticks, a timer, and a tape measure. This seemed like an odd assortment of tools until I went through the large card deck that also came with the game. 

Each of the cards comes with directions and a depiction of a fun challenge for each of the players to attempt. There are four different categories listed on the cards: solo, battle royale, buddy up, or duel. These tell the players whether the activity is done alone by every player, is a group effort, is done with two people, or is a competition between all the people present. 

But these challenges come with high stakes. Each player starts with a certain amount of “betting chips” labeled one, three, or five. These bets are placed by the player going on the chances of them completing the challenge. If the player doesn’t complete the challenge, their bet is put aside and doesn’t count towards their final score. 

The goal is to end the game with the most sizeable amount of points. 

My sister, mother, and I played this game for over an hour, cheering each other on during the challenges and overall having an amazing time.  

We raced against the clock in some activities, went head-to-head in others, and worked together in others. We were left laughing after each card and were finally drawn away from the game after the exhaustion of finishing the more physical tasks set in. 

This was the perfect game to create a fun period of time for my family; we were forced to stand up and use a combination of cleverness and physical ability to do each of the funny and creative tasks. This was a blessing during the cold, COVID-19 days, giving us time to get off our phones and create memories in a safe and fun way. 

This game could be played by children of all ages; it’s the perfect activity to unite the family in a fun and safe way. It forced me to go against my family members, but minutes later, I was depending on them to finish the challenge. 

Beat That would also be an amazing game to play with friends. The challenges will become a fun competition between pairs of friends or large groups. This game filled an hour of my day with joy and physical activity, and Beat That proved me wrong and showed that it was truly a good time and left me excited to play again.