Prior to discovering the two products I am reviewing here, I had never heard of Relatable. Turns out they have several categories of light games, from Party Games to Family Games, from Relationship Games to Drinking Games. They were formerly known as What Do You Meme? I had not heard of them then, either.
My introduction came when I was headed down for a gaming weekend with friends. One of the gang was not going to be able to make it, so we knew we were not going to be playing our standard big game (Twilight Imperium). My friend Mike had stopped into a Target store to pick up a couple of things, and I found myself wandering the game aisles. I spotted two versions of this game: Questions for Friends, and Questions for Couples. I read the box info and ended up grabbing both—the first for that weekend, and the second for my wife and me.
Is This a Game?
This is the question I am left with. The answer is a solid yes and no.
Each set comes with 300 cards. The cards are broken into Icebreakers, Deep, Deeper, and Activities. On a player’s turn, they draw and read a card from any of the four types. Then, each player answers the question, or performs the activity (including the player who drew and read the card). Each question gets more and more personal as you move from Icebreaker to Deeper; the activities are nothing that would cause any concern, as they are things like seeing who is ambidextrous by having each player attempt to write their name with their off hand, and the like.
Unlike a game like Apple to Apples, or other similar party games, there is no judging of the answers or performances. No score is recorded. The game ends when the players agree they no longer want to play, or (as the rulebook states): Play until you know enough about each other that you could probably start answering questions for the other players. Just remember to have fun until that happens.
So, in my opinion, this is not so much a game as it is an activity. It is a fun little activity, sure, but to call it a game is to kind of miss the point. That said, the good folks over at Relatable do call this a game. Depending upon the card set you purchase, this is a Family Game (Let’s Go Deep: Family Edition), a Relationship Game (Let’s Go Deep: Couples), or a party game (Let’s Go Deep: Friends). If they are going to call it a game, I will go along. In that regard, let’s think of this as a cooperative game (i.e., one with no distinct winner). Even so, these products may or may not fit the definition of a game for BoardGameGeek. As a structured activity, they are at least edge cases.
Let’s Get Real
The success or failure of a game of Let’s Get Deep will depend entirely on the people you play it with. Unless everyone involved is invested in the idea, I would suggest that you skip this and play something else. When I introduced this to my game group, this was something they were willing to entertain for a short while, but for some of them the luster faded quickly and so the experience quickly became tiresome. When I introduced this to my wife, she was all on board, and each question led us to places we had never explored within each other’s past or personality or thought process. We had (and continue to have) a great time with these cards.
Final Thoughts
This game is not (as I write this) listed anywhere on BoardGameGeek. Of the approximately 70 or so products they sell, only 25 are on the central site for the universe of board games. Yet, according to their About page, they are the leader in adult party games with a 30% market share. This could certainly be true and I would never have known, as this is not a category I tend to flock to. As I indicated above, these products (and if I had to guess, many of the games from this publisher) may or may not qualify to be listed on BoardGameGeek. I think this is enough of a game that one can review it here.
So, is this particular game good for you? That depends on whom you are going to play with. If you want conversation starters and ways to get to know the people around you better, sure. This is a fun way to do that. If you want an actual game, then I would say you can skip this one.
