Described as a ‘super-simple, shouty-outy quiz game’, Linkee is a card-based game suitable for two or more players, played in teams or as individuals. Each card has a letter on the back, and the object of the game is to win enough letters to spell out ‘Linkee’ by guessing the links between the four questions on the card. A bit like the opening round of Only Connect.
Gameplay
Us puzzlers were unanimous in our praise of the simplicity of the gameplay and easy-to-follow rules, which meant that we could jump right in and play without wasting time scrutinising the instructions. Linkee was apparently inspired by inventor Tris being fed up with playing games that ‘dragged on too long, were too complicated and too hard’, so it definitely fulfils the brief!
So how do you play? First, someone volunteers to be the Quiz Master (for two-player games, both participants are Quiz Masters and players at the same time, taking turns to read each question). The Quiz Master draws a card and shows everyone which letter they are playing for, then reads out each of the four questions on the card in turn, with the players writing down (and keeping secret) each answer.
A team or player can shout ‘Linkee’ and guess the link at any time from question one onwards, but if they get it wrong, they can’t guess again on that card, so are out until the next round. If no one can guess the link after all four questions have been read, there is an additional clue on the card for the Quiz Master to read. The first team or player to spell out ‘Linkee’ with their amassed cards is the winner.
With everyone playing at once, there’s no boring wait for your next turn, and the optional trading rules for spare cards add to the swift gameplay — if you are waiting for a particular letter to finish the game and have spare (repeat) letters in your stash, you can swap three spare cards for a letter you need.
In a dastardly twist, there is another trading option where you can give two spare letters to the Quiz Master and choose an opponent's letter to be removed from the game! We were much too polite to do this to our Puzzles HQ colleagues. In fact, we were too polite for our own good, with the quote of the day being ‘stop saying sorry when you shout Linkee’. Having to shout out answers provided an added challenge for a group of introverts!
Consider this
Perhaps to be expected in a group of puzzle editors, there were some objections to loose links and phrasing of clues. For instance, a clue for the David Bowie song Changes was ‘If you add milk to coffee, it _ _ _ the colour’. The tonal shift between questions also took us by surprise on occasions, with some being quite dark.
If you fancy having a go at question-compiling yourself, you can create your own card on the Linkee website, which could even make it into the next box of cards. This fun added feature may go some way in explaining the variation in difficulty between questions — in one game we went from a card linking Nobel Peace Prize winners, to a card with Maria Sharapova, a basketball player, a giraffe and a giant, with the link being ‘tall’.
Final thoughts
A positive of this difficulty range though is that there’s something for everyone and it makes a great game to play with the family. Linkee is recommended for ages 12 and above but in mixed-age teams, younger kids could potentially get involved. And for the little ones, there’s Dinkee Linkee, a spin-off with the same rules, but written for kids, by kids.
Overall, despite a few professional quibbles about the clues, we really enjoyed Linkee and everyone said they’d play again. It’s inclusive, simple, and quick to play, and most importantly it’s lots of fun! Linkee can be played with just two or multiple players and with its compact card-based format, would be great to play on the go.
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Linkee
Trivia game for 2-30 players, ages 12+
