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In Once Upon A Time, each player has a hand of (beautifully illustrated) cards, from which they must attempt to tell a story, with the winner being the player who uses all the cards in her hand, and who is able to bring the story to the conclusion on their 'Happily Ever After' card.
As you may imagine, this makes OUAT more of an exercise in creativity than a game per se, but it is no less enjoyable for this. Naturally, such a game is more likely to appeal to some people than others, but for the right people, this can provide an evenings entertainment for two to eight people, from ages 7 and up.
Play is simple. Each player has a hand of randomly dealt story cards (10 each for two players, 8 for three, and so on, with the precise amount being entirely variable to suit your preferences). These cards have the name of an item (eg 'gold ring'), a place ('cave'), a character ('princess'), an event ('people part company') or an aspect ('ugly'). The player must devote at least one sentence of their story to each card they play. (So with the cards above, it would not be allowable for the player to say "Once upon a time there was an ugly princess who left her family to look for a ring in a cave" and play all 5 cards, but it would be acceptable to begin "Many years ago there lived a foolhardy young princess. Sad to say, although she really was a very kind and likeable sort, the princess, Gerta by name, was somewhat plain, indeed, truth be told, quite ugly. Now it happened that in that land the minstrels sang of a wonderful ring of gold, which, when worn by someone true of heart, imparted the wearer with such looks and beauty as reflected their inner soul. The ring was known to be in the hoard of a montrous Ogre, Mr Garglespout, who lived in a cave at the foot of the Miserable Mountains. So on the eve of thirteenth birthday, Gerta carefully sneaked out through a little used side door of the palace, and left her poor parents, the King and Queen of the Gongles, to seek out this magical ring. ..")
If the player telling the tale finds themselves stuck, or pauses too long, they must draw a fresh card and let the next player pick up the story. Or, if they mention a story element that is on another player's card, that player can play the card to interrupt, and they now become the story teller. (In the story above, a player with a 'King' card or 'Parents' might interrupt at the end of the example).
The more competitive players may therefore do their best to avoid mentioning the kind of typical fairy-tale elements on the cards, but it can also be very enjoyable to keep throwing out opportunities for other players to chip in.
The 'Happily Ever After' card a player has been dealt can sometimes provide the most challenge to players, especially after a competitor has 'hijacked' the story and taken it away from the direction that you had been carefully leading the story. Some of the cards (eg "And so the farm was returned to its rightful owners...") are very specific, and may require some real inventive spur-of-the-moment invention when the preceding player has just spent ten minutes telling a very involved tale that has had nothing at all to do with the ownership of farms.
This game should be enjoyable for families, drunks, poets and the criminally insane, but may also appeal to cab drivers, surgeons, touring cricket teams and cops on stakeout... a sense of whimsy may be of assistance.
Rating: 8.5
Reviewed by:
jimi fallows
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