Party Game Review: ‘In A World’ from Ludonaut

In A World from Ludonaut Games draws players together to decide what in the world they would want in a world a little or very different from our own. Three Montana siblings spent years challenging each other with classic “would you rather?” questions, dreaming up wild scenarios and promoting deeply creative discussion based on the hypothetical. With more structure, the pastime evolved into In A World, setting up a counterfactual space and then deciding what someone would most want in it. Some are thought-provoking, others are laughter-inducing, and all are bursting with imagination.

Learn to Play in Seconds

Inspired by the rotating judge format of games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, gameplay in In A World will be familiar to many players. Players each receive seven “We Want” cards that list items from mundane as “a well-provisioned bunker” to magical “a self-tying rope that’s always the perfect length” and even to the ridiculous “a cubic mile of gelatinous slime.” Each comes with a clever secondary text for a further joke, such as the rope reading “knot a problem.” Players then take turns as team leader, drawing an In A World card that sets the scene, be it “where we are competitors on a cooking show” or “where spiders are giant and can fly.” Each player except for the team leader plays a We Want card, and the leader picks the one they like best, giving a point to the player whose card they picked. The first player capturing the needed number of points wins the game.

Be Ready to Argue

Since the goal in In A World is to have the team leader choose the We Want card, players are encouraged to offer comments on the cards played. These may be done secretly or, in the Lawyer Up variation in which player are dealt a single random We Want card, argued knowing whose card is whose. Every judge is unique, so the key is to know what a team leader wants. Some team leaders may go with the most rational We Want card, such as In a World “where we are gladiators fighting in a coliseum,” the “a squad of geared-up super soldiers” makes a lot of sense. Some will go for the funniest answer, like “a herd of unicorns” in a world “where we are rebels fighting an evil corporate syndicate.” A few might even go for the outside-the-box thought like wanting “attentive therapists” in a world “where we are setting up a colony on a distant planet.”

Getting Involved

Many cards in In A World involve the players directly. The world might be “where the player to my right is a superhero and the rest of us are their sidekicks” or “where we are living in the last movie I watched.” Since the situation will change every time the group changes, this maximizes the replayability.

In A World is a storytelling party game for three or more players aged 10 and up. With eighty In A World cards and 325 We Want cards, the combinations will keep players thinking on their toes for hundreds of games. For even further novel plays, the rules suggest more game variations, such as choosing the worst rather than best We Want card for reverse thinking or choosing two In A World cards that the We Want card must be the best for both worlds. Whichever way players choose to go, each game is packed with imaginative discussion and critical thinking in a world where anything is possible.