Play With Clues and Fun Objects in Trash Talk

In this game, find out if the raccoon and the possums can learn to communicate with the help of their shared interest: trash!

Trash Talk is a clue-giving party game for 2-8 players with a 20-45 minute play time, and published by Friendly Skeleton.

Gameplay

One player is the raccoon, and the others are the possums. At the start of the game, the raccoon selects three of the ten trash objects included in the game (these are a range of items such as ribbons, toy cars, and slinkies). He then draws and places three random word cards and puts them in the center of the table. The raccoon will secretly assign one of the selected trash objects to each of the word cards.

Next, the possums all work together to guess which objects they believe the raccoon assigned to which words. They are allowed, and encouraged, to discuss among themselves. Once they have locked in their guesses, the raccoon reveals his choices. For any incorrect guesses, new word cards are drawn and the raccoon again assigns the objects that were incorrectly guessed to these new words. If the possums are again incorrect that round, they lose the game. If the possums guess all the objects, they move on to the next round.

Each round plays the same way, except each round the raccoon will select a new trash object to be included so that each round there will always be one additional trash object to guess correctly. Each round, all new word cards are also used. If the possums manage to guess all the objects in the final round, everyone wins the game.

Gameplay description and diagram from the back of the retail box

Review

Trash Talk treads some familiar ground with its word association-based clues, but the object-based guessing feels fresh. The physical nature of having objects to play with and examine also adds a fun, extra dimension to the game, and the result is a solid party game.

The escalation is also well done, with more and more items being added each round, increasing the challenge while also giving players time to learn how each other thinks and interacts with the objects.

There’s a very creative range given in the objects included in the game, and it’s fun to play around with them all. The game also suggests that you can choose to select any objects from around your house to play with, opening up more variety to the gameplay. It’s fun to see what people come up with to include and how that affects the clues given. We even took a spin at using Dixit cards instead of word cards, so there is a lot of customization people can play around with.

We found Trash Talk to be unique and different enough to justify another clue-giving party game. The physical elements of the toys and trinkets really add a lot to the enjoyment. The rules are so straightforward and fast to teach that the game feels very accessible to newcomers, and gameplay isn’t bogged down with complicated scoring rules. This was a fun one, with a quirky theme that nicely completes the mechanics and creative components.

Pros: Components, simple mechanics and scoring, the physical nature of the ‘trash’ objects

Cons: There are a lot of clue giving party games

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.