Are you a Strictly fan? I love to watch Strictly Come Dancing and I dream of going on the show. I guess I would probably have to become famous first, or at least infamous. I think the first series I watched was 7 years ago, but impressively it has been running since 2004! Clearly us Brits love the glamour, the dancing, and of course the gossip too. If you know any Strictly fans then there is the perfect present for them this Christmas: Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game. I have been sent a copy of the John Adams game to review and I was excited to get dancing, and laughing, as soon as possible.

Playing Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game to review it

About Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game

The key thing you need to really enjoy the game is at least a couple of friends (or children) who don’t take themselves too seriously, this board game is no game of Scrabble where everyone stays sitting calmly around the table. The game is recommended for age 8 and upwards and for between 3 and 6 players. While die hard SCD fans will have an advantage they aren’t the only way to win the Glitter Ball Trophy. Ok, so there isn’t actually a trophy, but there is a small revolving glitter ball speaker that plays music and gives Craig Revel Horwood’s vote for the live final.

Playing Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game

Before playing for the first time you need to add the stickers to the Ballroom Staircase and push the cardboard paddles out of their cardboard surround. You also need to lay out the staircase, dance floor and glitter ball speaker as well as separating the cards out. The speaker requires 3 AAA batteries (not included). After playing, everything fits back in the box and you can even keep the cards and paddles in the holder on the staircase making it faster to start playing next time, a definite bonus.

The Strictly game glitter ball speaker and scoring paddles for the live dance off

To start the game each player gets a coloured plastic playing piece shaped like a dancing couple and two dancer cards to show their Celebrity and Professional dancer. Neither cards have actual people on them, but Dance Off Stats which you use if you have a mini dance off and a type of dance which you can do if you reach the live final.

Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game Dancer cards and play pieces

The game looks fairly complicated and you’ll probably need the instructions on hand for the first few games, but it makes sense when you start to play. You start by going through training and keep moving around the dance floor trying to get as many votes as possible until all players reach the end space. The 2 players with the most votes at the end progress to the Live Final where, after the Strictly theme tune, the players must dance for 30 seconds in the music style dictated by their Celebrity card. Just like in the real show it’s not always technical ability, but the best entertainer that wins. If you are playing with people who aren’t keen on the idea of getting up and dancing there is the option to do the Cha Cha Challenge which is basically a finger dance following the instructions on the reverse of the dance floor. If want to do a dance, but don’t know how to do it then there are some instructions on the main dances included in the box.

Close up of the Strictly Come Dancing board game glitter ball speaker

Throughout the game players get votes depending on which square they land on. You need to record the scores on some paper or you can print out a score sheet. The different game squares include:

Roll for Votes where you simply roll again and add the score to your votes total.

If you land on Keep Dancing you get asked a question on a Keep Dancing card which correlates with your die roll number. The cards contain either: statements which will award or deduct votes from your score, multiple choice questions or true/ false questions. The questions are about the show, dances or music and each card shows you how many points are awarded for a correct answer.

When you land on It Takes Two you need to mime the dance on the It Takes Two card to a player of your choice and you both get points if their first guess is correct.

For Theme Week you get asked a general knowledge question linked to Strictly’s Movie, Blackpool, Halloween or Music weeks.

Costume Change means you have to swap your Celebrity card and then have a mini-dance off (no actual dancing required, it’s based on the scores on your cards and whether you have higher scores than the person you challenge to a mini dance off).

In Name The Dance you get shown a silhouette of a dance and have to identify it from a multiple choice of 3 to win the stated number of points.

Examples of Strictly game cards for Theme Week, It takes Two and Name The Dance

What did I think of Strictly Come Dancing The Board game?

How much fun you have playing Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game will depend on who you play with. It has THE potential to be a lot of fun if your co-players don’t take themselves too seriously. Knowing Strictly and the dances well is a definite advantage, but it’s also helpful to have a good amount of general knowledge about films and music. Who wins will probably boil down to the luck of which steps you land on, the cards you get and, in the Live Final, the score from Craig.

If you are playing with a bunch of Strictly fans, or people up for a laugh, you will have a great time playing Strictly Come Dancing The Board Game.