Presenting Irv the Octopus again for his second foray into the game review world!  Recently at a Be Game Social game night, we brought out a family favorite: The T-Shirt Game, published in 2007 by Buffalo Games.

For those not familiar, The T-Shirt Game is your typical “judge” game where players must submit a slogan for a shirt design.  The judge then takes their ideas and the one they think best matches the picture.  The winner then draws a point card, which shows how well their t-shirt design sold and how many points they gain.

Each design is wacky and cartoonish, and both the point cards and slogan cards are chocked full of pop culture references from the 1600’s to the early 2000’s, meaning that any family member can bust a gut while the others scratch their heads and stare, open-mouthed, like lost guppies.

Though we were worried that, being an ocean-dwelling cephalopod, Irv wouldn’t have much familiarity with the humor and wouldn’t have a good time, we were surprised when he won the first round handily (so to speak) and, as the rules stated, performed the “Dance of Joy”.

(Not only did he do it correctly, but perfectly adapted it for ei–six limbs!  Sadly, we were too surprised to capture the feat on video.)

His one contention was in the only round featuring an aquatic-themed shirt (depicted above).  He insisted that any “decent salt-water citizen” would recognize the scene depicted, not as a prey-vs-predator scenario, but that the “poor fellow” was working up the courage to ask her out, and any insinuations to the contrary were “baseless and barbaric, and I am NOT being salty!”

“This game,” said Irv, “Is a masterpiece!  Not just because of entertainment, but as an intricate sociological study into non-oceanic bipedal behavior.  I know scientists from my homeland who could write dissertations on mythological concepts like ‘Chuck Norris’ and the true meaning of ‘Boo-Yah!’”

In an effort to better diplomatic relations between our societies, Irv announced his plan to personally finance importing The T-Shirt Game to all eleven recognized Seas, so that the average ocean-dweller will finally understand what goes on inside human heads.

(Note: Considering his current salary and sushi budget, this may take some time.)

In short, we LOVE The T-Shirt Game, and highly recommend it for fans of wacky humor, pop culture references and "judging" games!

Join us next time for more aquatic reviews from our favorite cephalopod, and check out our original game, Crazy Cake, loved by fan and fin alike!