Jargon (2003)

About this game

Jargon, is like Scrabble. The board features a familiar if slightly skewed grid for placing letter tiles. Every round, every turn of Jargon features a particular lingo or category: could be "Military" or "Travel" -- there's 40 in all. The twist is that you get points by making longer words, no matter what the letters AND you can use slang, abbreviations, names, whatever. Game play is also much faster. Winner of the 2003 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 6.
• Rules load. At 1.0/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 10 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.