Colour us surprised: the next party game hopeful is… Pantone: The Game

If you didn’t already think the party game trend had jumped the shark, allow us to introduce you to Pantone: The Game.

Exactly what it sounds like, Pantone: The Game is a party game based on the system of colours that assigns specific hues and tints a label, allowing them to be identified and recreated with better accuracy than, say, “dark red” or “light blue”.

It’s not the most obvious basis for a riotous party game, but Rayguns and Rocketships designer Scott Rogers’ adaptation of the colour chart into a game is more intriguing than you might first think.

Between two and 20 people can play, with one taking on the role of an ‘artist’ each round. The artist picks a card naming a character from pop culture– there’s no suggestion as to who might make an appearance yet, but expect colourful picks – and then uses an abstract arrangement of Pantone colour swatches to try and communicate who that character is to the rest of the group.

So, as an example, if the artist was trying to recreate Super Mario, they might use a bright red, bright blue, fleshy pink and then maybe a brown for the video game plumber’s moustache – or they might even throw in a green to represent a pipe or Luigi. Contrastingly, Batman might just be a black swatch – or very, very dark grey.

Players take it in turns to guess the answer, with the artist providing hints each time a circle of guesses passes without getting it, which reduces the points earned for a correct answer for both guesser and artist. Each player acts as the artist three times and the most points at the end wins.

Pantone: The Game is due out in the second half of 2018.