Family Game Night with ‘Pass the Bomb – The Big One’

Family Game Night with ‘Pass the Bomb – The Big One’

Like everyone else, we’ve been spending a huge amount of time at home in recent months. We’ve been trying to keep the children away from the T.V. and games consoles as much as possible. As a result, my husband and I decided to revive an old family tradition of ours – game night!

When I was growing up (in the 80s and 90s), every Friday night (and sometimes even Saturday night) was game night. My younger readers may have no recollection of those pre-internet days. They were precious! Traditional board games were extremely exciting! With no Xbox, Netflix, or online gaming to pass the evenings away, gathering around the dining table to play a board game with the family was a well-loved pastime of mine.

With snacks at the ready and copious amounts of a competitive streak that was seemingly evenly distributed between my two brothers and me, (and also my parents) we would spend many happy hours each and every weekend.

With these happy memories at the forefront of my mind, I shouted the children down from their bedrooms and turned off the T.V.s in the house. We left our phones in another room and sat down for some traditional family fun in the form of game night.

‘Pass The Bomb – The Big One’

Pass the Bomb – The Big One is part of the wonderful collection of traditional family board games by Gibsons. They sell a wonderful array of board games as well as beautiful jigsaws.

I can tell you from the get-go that Gibsons ‘Pass the Bomb – The Big One‘ has become a firm family favourite. This game is perfect for us! It is designed for players aged 8 and over. My youngest is 6 (a very mature 6) and she was able to play, although we did make some modifications to one of the card categories as I will explain below.

The premise of the game is to be the last person to reach the bomb at the end of the board. The game features a ticking time bomb. When a player’s turn begins he/she sets the timer which will make an exploding noise at any random time between 20 and 60 seconds. So there’s always an element of surprise! If the bomb detonates on you, then you move your piece forward one place on the board.

The Rules

The player rolls the die and the picture of the die dictates which tasks they are to perform. There are 5 different tasks:

Task 1: Rhyme Artist. The player must select a card from this particular pile. Holding the bomb, they start the timer. They must then say a word that rhymes with the word shown on the card. As with all the tasks, they pass the bomb to the next player who has to also think of a word rhyming with the word on the card. As with all tasks, the bomb is passed between all players until it ‘detonates’.

Task 2: Category Captain. The player selects a card from this pile. They must then say a word associated with the word on the card, e.g. if the word on the card is ‘Spring’ the associated word could be onions, time, weather, etc. Once they have said their word, they pass the bomb onto the next player who must perform the same task.

Task 3: Word Acrobat. The player draws three cards from this pile. (To simplify it for my youngest, we all selected just two cards). All the cards have consonants on them. The player must then think of a word using all three consonants. The bomb passes to the next player and so on.

Task 4: Puzzle Pro. For this challenge, the player takes the four puzzle tiles (pink side up) and tries to connect the tiles to create the image of the bomb. The next player then takes the cards and tries to perform the same task with the green side of the cards. Play continues until the bomb detonates.

Task 5: Bounce Boss. This was my youngest daughter’s favourite task and perhaps the one that caused the most laughter! The player must try to bounce the ball into the cup from the table. Once they have succeeded, the next player takes his/her turn.

The ticking of the bomb really puts the pressure on you. It led to so much hilarity as we all scrambled to shout out rhyming words and association words! We really tested our knowledge of the English language!

Why We Love ‘Pass the Bomb – The Big One’

Pass the Bomb – The Big One has become a staple board game for our weekly family game night. We absolutely love traditional family board games and Pass the Bomb – The Big One certainly belongs to that wonderful category. We spend so much time on electronic devices, it’s a pleasure to sit down with the family for some traditional fun.

It was incredibly easy to understand the rules (my 6-year-old grasped them immediately). Unlike so many of the games we have played with our children in the past, this game was really enjoyable. We all had such a good time playing the game. The game also tested our knowledge too, we had to think our way through it. And after months locked inside the home away from school and work, it felt great to get the old brain cells working again.

The game took around 30 minutes to complete. This was long enough to keep us entertained but not too long a game for my 6 year old who can become easily distracted when we play games.

The board is really colourful and vibrant. The cards, all the pieces and the board itself are really high quality and durable. This is a game that will last for years to come!

Whether you’re a couple or a family with the children like us, Pass the Bomb – the Big One is the perfect addition to any family game night! We can’t recommend it enough!

*This is a collaborative post, however, as always, all opinions are my own.

For similar posts, see my home life category.

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9 Comments

  1. Billie
    July 16, 2020 / 1:38 pm

    This looks like such a fun game! My children would love this!!!

  2. July 16, 2020 / 3:21 pm

    I think this game sounds like so much fun I may go and buy it to play even though I don’t have children, haha!

    • Lellalee
      Author
      July 17, 2020 / 4:45 pm

      Go for it Molly! xxx

  3. July 16, 2020 / 3:28 pm

    I’m happy to see that you brought your old family tradition out and brought it to a younger generation. It’s great to see that your 6 year old got stuck in and enjoyed the game as much as you did! Are you planning to do board game nights more often?

    Johnny | Johnny’s Traventures
    https://johnnystraventures.com

    • Lellalee
      Author
      July 17, 2020 / 4:44 pm

      Thanks Johnny, it’s a Friday night thing in our house now!!! xxx

  4. Pragati Mahapatra
    July 16, 2020 / 4:37 pm

    Ah, such a fun game this seems like!

  5. gabbyabigailll
    July 18, 2020 / 6:33 pm

    I am a huge fan of board games! I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this particular one. It definitely sounds like you had a blast. I think I’m going to have to purchase this board game for my next family night. Definitely making a note of it! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Much love always,
    GABBY |

  6. Kelly Diane
    July 22, 2020 / 3:24 pm

    This sounds like such a fun game. I’m definitely going to get this for when the step-kids come to stay.

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