No Brainer! product reviews

Q: What do you call half a dozen semi-drunk adults sitting around waving their heads like lunatics while a little voice asks them questions out of thin air?
A: A KIWIreviews GamesNight crew testing "No Brainer" from Hasbro.

After some careful and delicate swearing, and a touch of cosmetic surgery with the craftknife, I managed to get the head straps attached to the main unit. Adults need to be aware that these clip-on straps aren't exactly clip-on... otherwise they would clip-OFF while you are waving your head around like a mad chicken... but you may need to carve a corner off one of the lugs to help you ease them into place in their housing.

Checklist:
    •  Straps firmly attached...
    •  Batteries in correctly...
    •  Power on and Game 1 selected...
    •  Look like an utter wally, with a neon green brain on a spring sticking out of my head...
    •  Sober enough to play, but drunk enough I don't care how it looks...
Right, onwards we go....

Game 1 is simple to understand... the headset will throw out a condition, like "Which of these is alive..." and then a list of alternatives... "Rabbit... dog... mouse... carrot... television..." and you nod for yes, shake for no... now as I found out, having a sore neck can severly limit your chances of scoring correctly... if I nodded to energetically, it would register my 'yes' answer, but I would be in agony, but if I protected my neck, the game couldn't tell if I answered or not... same with the shake, but more-so because of the twist. The sensors are designed to register definitive movements, not subtle ones... designed for energetic kids after all, so make sure movements are clean and vigorous.

Game 2 was a real brain-burner... it works in much the same way as Game 1, but you have to answer the opposite! If the answer is 'yes' you have to shake your head, and nod for 'no' answers... this really gets to the ol' noodle because you first have to think about the answer, then reverse it. As the pace increases, this extra processing delay starts to become telling as you fight your natural instincts.

Overall, this is a seriously nifty game for adults with excessive doses of 'strange' in their senses of humour... and I suppose it's good for kids too... but I have left that for another reviewer to explore...