Game: Papa’s Quiz
Genre: Party, Quiz, Trivia
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, PS4, and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: Old Apes
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone 10+
Price: UK £8.99 | US $ 9.99 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: July 30th, 2021
Review code used, with many thanks to The Game Marketer
Why is Papa giving a quiz? Is it a quiz for papas? I couldn’t tell you. But I can tell you that Papa’s Quiz is a decent party game, even if not the most exciting one around. And if you’re going to buy this for online play, you might want to consider the PC version.
Smooth Start
A game for 1 to 8 players, Papa’s Quiz requires each player to use a smartphone or tablet as their controller. One player, however, may use the Joy-Cons if playing on the Nintendo Switch. Similar to Jackbox Games, players use the browser on their devices (e.g. Chrome, Safari) to connect with the game server (just type in “papas. tv”).
Before the game begins, each player creates a fun avatar. Make a pig-nosed hot dog or a one-eyed minion!
Veritable Variety
Papa’s Quiz is a general knowledge game. It has a good variety of topics, spread across 3,000 questions and 185 categories. There’s something for everyone.
Here are categories I’ve come across so far:
- Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pokemon, Disney
- entertainment, old movies, movie cars
- YouTubers, Hollywood actors, fictional characters, world leaders
- philosophy, music, architecture, hats, machines, tools
- astronomy, numbers, the human body
- geography, historical atlas, flags, US history, Canada is Cool
- desserts, food around the world, red fruits and veggies
- summer sports, American sports teams
- pets, dogs, birds
At the start of each round, players collectively choose one quiz category out of four random categories. It’s a fun little moment when competitive players can fight to control the giant cursor onscreen (by tapping a button repeatedly). Of course, players can just talk it out and decide which category would be the most fun for everyone. When time runs out, the chosen category is whichever the cursor happens to be pointing at.
Occasionally, “Junior” categories pop up. These are questions catered to elementary school-aged kids, I think. For example, the Junior questions on “Weather” include “What causes thunder? Which is not a type of cloud? What does a thermometer measure?”
It’s nice that easier questions were included, but they don’t appear consistently. So I’d say that Papa’s Quiz is oriented to adults. Despite the US age rating of 10+, the game is still suitable for younger players.
Rollicking Rounds
To be honest, I didn’t find all of Papa’s Quiz to be rollicking fun—most of it was just alright, not bad—but the final rounds are rather thrilling.
Each game takes about 20 minutes, divided into five rounds:
- Round 1 Thrilling Trivia: score more points for answering quickly and correctly.
- Round 2 Random Reveal: guess the picture as it’s revealed tile by tile.
- Round 3 Point Pincher: steal points from other players by answering first.
- Round 4 Patient Pictures: choose the correct picture from a slideshow.
- Round 5 Final Fight: stay alive by answering correctly and adding more time.
In Final Fights, you lose if you run out of time. It’s amusing when that happens because your avatar literally falls into a hole. (Or rather, it’s amusing when that happens to a rival player.)
Answering correctly adds time while answering wrongly deducts it. As you think, time is literally ticking away, so you have to answer quickly as well. Spend too long thinking and you’ll fall into a hole.
In general, Papa’s Quiz rewards answers that are not only correct but quick. Though it isn’t a high-octane level of fun, I appreciate that each round uses different mechanics, and two rounds incorporate pictures.
Apart from the enjoyable Final Fights, variety of mechanics, and picture-based quizzing, Papa’s Quiz scores well on another point. It’s an unexpected one: the dances. The winner of each round gets to perform a cute, funny dance. It’s goofy and contributes to the party atmosphere this game is meant to be played in. The dances made me smile.
There’s one other goofy thing you might like (or find annoying). The narrator speaks in a deadpan tone. It’s amusing when he says without a trace of emotion, “Amazing choice. Exciting.” Or, joylessly: “Best. Dance. Ever.”
Minor Minuses
I do have a few complaints about the game too, but minor ones.
First, the Final Fights are indeed fun, but they also allow a low-scoring player to get away with winning the whole game—if they happen to perform well in the final round. While it’s nice that the underdog can make a huge comeback (especially if the underdog is a young nephew or niece), it’s also a tad bit unfair to players who’ve been in the lead consistently. It didn’t bother me too much, though. But it might bother an over-competitive person, whom I hope you don’t have the misfortune of playing with.
Second, I wish the Switch version could better accommodate online play. There’s no problem with you’re playing local multiplayer with everyone physically present in the same room. But if you want to live-stream the game to friends elsewhere, it’s a logistical hurdle: you’ll need other hardware, like a PC, one or two HDMI cables, and a video capture card. Also, live streaming is not an option with the Switch Lite.
Of course, you can try setting up a laptop or tablet’s camera to face your Switch. But the video and sound quality wouldn’t be very good, would it? On the other hand, if you have the PC version, you can play the game online with friends (who don’t need a copy) by sharing your screen through an app like Zoom, Discord, Steam Remote Play, or Google Hangouts.
As for the PS4 and Xbox versions, I believe streaming requires a PC or mobile device at hand—your screen can be shared on Twitch (and also YouTube, in the PS4’s case). In short, the Nintendo Switch isn’t the easiest option for online play and live-streaming. My vote goes to the PC version.
Conclusion – Quarantine Quizzing
What’s the optimal number of players? I suspect any number of players works well (except for playing solo), which makes Papa’s Quiz a versatile game in this respect. Playing alone is pretty lacklustre. In these Covid times, it’s harder to meet friends in person for a gaming session. We’ve been playing party games online, so I’m happy to have found us a new title.
Unfortunately, I don’t find Papa’s Quiz as engaging as some of the better titles from Jackbox Games. For comparison, Trivia Murder Party is funnier, more varied, and more interesting; though, on the downside, its trivia questions are more obscure.
Still, Papa’s Quiz is a pleasant, relaxing way to spend time with friends—for a game or two. Do consider this title if you’re looking for a casual party game. It’s a decent one to play with non-gamers, as it’s uncomplicated, has simple controls, and is good for a 15- to 20-minute session.
