With its suspenseful, ticking timer, Pass The Bomb Game offers an exhilarating gaming experience that keeps players on the edge of their seats as their brain cells go into overdrive!
In this review, we’ll explore what’s inside the box, delve into the aim of the game, and guide you through how to play this fast-paced, high-energy word game. Plus, we’ll share our thoughts on what makes Pass The Bomb a unique and entertaining addition to your game collection. Get ready for a gaming adventure where the stakes are high, the clock is ticking, and words are your only weapon against the explosive tension of Pass The Bomb!
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Pass The Bomb Game: A Thrilling Wordplay Experience for All Ages, 2+ Players, 20 Minutes of Heart-Pounding Fun!”
You may also like my review of the following Family Games; Doodle Doo, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and 5 second Spintensity
Page Contents
What’s In The Pass The Bomb Box
In the Pass The Bomb Game box, you’ll find
- A bomb-shaped timer,
- 110 double-sided word cards (one side is red, one side blue)
- An illustrated dice
- A jute storage bag
- An instruction leaflet
The electronic bomb timer requires 2 AAA batteries which aren’t included with the game.
Aim Of The Game
The key aim of Pass The Bomb Game is straightforward… avoid being the player holding the bomb when it “explodes’ and have the least amount of cards at the end of each game. The concept if fabulously simple… pick up a card with 2-3 letters on it and take it in turns to say a word that includes the letters on the card. The difficulty being that you cannot repeat words, sometimes the letters can only be used at the front or the end of the word, and whilst you think of your word, you’re holding a ticking bomb that you do not want to explode in your hand!
To accomplish this, players must quickly come up with a word using the letters on the card in play so that they can quickly pass the bomb timer to another player. Depending on the dice rolled, there are restrictions on whether the letters can be used at the beginning or end of the word. And just to add more drama, the bomb timer explodes at random times between 10 and 60 seconds.
Although the game comes with 110 game cards with letters on each side, only 13 cards are used in each game. The winner is the person with the fewest cards at the end of the 13th round.
This all makes for a high energy suspense builds as the bomb timer ticks away, making the game a thrilling test of word knowledge, quick thinking, and composure under pressure.
How To Play Pass The Bomb Game
Setting Up
First, shuffle the game cards and decide which colour to play. Then deal out 13 cards into a pile face down, placing the rest of the cards to one side.
Rules To PLay Pass The Bomb
The first player rolls the dice and the symbol rolled determines how the letters on the card can be used in a word
- Tick = letters may not be used at the beginning of the word
- Bomb Symbol = Letters cannot be used at the end of a word
- Tick Tack – Letters may be used anywhere in the word
Next, the first player turns over the top card and at the same time, turns the ticking timer bomb on, and says a word using the letters on the card (remembering to use the dice rules). As soon as they say a word (that is accepted by the other players), they quickly pass the bomb on to the next person, who says their word before passing the bomb on again. This continues until the bomb explodes!
If a player hesitates, repeats a word, or can’t think of an appropriate word within their turn, they risk being stuck with the threat of the ticking bomb exploding.
If the bomb explodes during a player’s turn, they keep the card and they start a new round; rolling the dice first and then turning over the next letter card and starting the bomb timer again.
The game finishes when the 13th card has been played and there are no more cards to turn over. The player with the least cards wins.
If there is a draw, players play ‘sudden death’, knock out rounds occur until only one player is left.
Words can be challenged by other players and if no agreement can be made players vote, although this is difficult if only 2 people are playing.
Get Your Pass The Bomb Game Here On Amazon
Alternative Pass The Bomb Game Play Rules
- Remove more difficult letter combinations for younger kids
- Make your own set of letter cards for younger kids to use.
- Ban certain prefixes or suffixes to make it difficult for players to piggyback words e.g. sing, singing, bank, banker
- Only use words that are 5, 6, 7, etc long
- Have a theme for the words
What Did We Think Of Pass The Bomb?
We loved playing Pass The Bomb as a family. It’s a brilliant high-energy word game that gives off all the tension that ‘Pass-The -Parcel used to when I was young. It combines the thrill of quick thinking and word association with the pressure of a ticking timer, creating an exhilarating gaming experience, which is fabulously competitive!
It’s very accessible to all ages as you can easily make your own cards for younger kids or filter out cards that might be too difficult. Part of it’s accessibility is that the game rules are simple and straightforward (this is partly why the instruction leaflet is so small) and it’s quite a quick game to play. Although, if you’re anything like my gang you will want to play quite a few games one after the other.
Pass The Bomb has longevity as well, due to only 13 cards being used out of the massive 220 letter cards (110 double-sided cards) and the variable timer countdown that could go off at any time between 10-60 seconds. For the most part, the timer goes to over 30 seconds, in my experience. However, the shorter time periods can really catch you out and quickly turn the balance of the game around. And it really has you digging deep not your vocabulary the more you play it. This is perfect for keeping the brain sharp and active if you are an oldie like me, or increasing the vocabulary of younger players
It’s an excellent choice for those who enjoy word games and are looking for a unique twist. Its fast-paced, mentally energetic and unpredictable gameplay, along with the intriguing bomb timer, make it a great addition to your collection of party games. And with the right players really gets you digging deep into your world of words!