By Awais Qazi
Heads Up! It’s a new semester, and that means new classes, new professors, and new classmates. This might sound a bit stressful, but luckily, Ellen DeGeneres has created the perfect solution to getting situated in this new environment. The team at Ellen created a fun game called “Heads Up!” for iPhone and Android that can help you easily get acquainted with new people, or get resituated with your friends that you have not seen over that long and lazy Winter Break. The game is a sort of a hybrid of the board game Taboo, and the acting game Charades. Two or more people are needed to play the game. If you go above two people, it’s best to work in pairs so it helps to have an even amount of players. To play the game, one person puts their smartphone, with the app installed, above their head.
Once they raise the smartphone above their head, the timer starts counting down like magic. 3, 2, 1..you’re in the game. A word pops up on the screen above the persons head. Now, the partner (or opponent if there are only two players) has to give clues as to what the word on their friends head is. When a word is guessed correctly, the person holding the phone simply flicks downwards with his wrist and a new word shows up. If the pair is struggling to get a word right, the person holding the phone can flick upwards to Pass and go onto the next word.
The goal of the game is to get as many words correct in sixty seconds. Once sixty seconds are up, the next team gets a chance to play. The team with the highest score in the end, wins. This game is very quick, easy, and extremely fun to play. Setup could not be easier; you simply pull out your smartphone and click on the app. In addition to that, they have many categories. Some categories ask you to sing songs without saying the title and having your partner guess the title. Other categories have you make animal noises but not use any words. The game is constantly updating and more categories are being added regularly. Trust me, you will not want to put down this game when you start playing, and it is guaranteed to become an instant party favorite. Say bye to beer pong, and hello to “Heads Up!”.