Priorities Review

Games that test your knowledge of the other players at the table can be fun. It’s always shocking to find out that your best friends favorite band is a K-Pop group you’ve never heard of. Priorities is a party game that tests how well you know the people around you. Grab some friends and let’s learn all about it!

What are Your Priorities?

During a round, the active player will flip out 5 cards from the top of the deck of cards. Each card has an item, person, place or a concept represented on its face and a big blue letter on the back. The active player gets a white board and dry erase marker. They have to take the 5 cards and secretly order them from 1 to 5 on the white board.

The variety of cards are extensive and depending on the player, they’ll elicit some laughs. You may get a card like “The Simpsons” (obviously at the top of the list) sitting right next to “An Awkward Silence”. Some card combinations can be tough to rank. For instance, does “Cannibalism” or “Crocs” belong in that 5th spot? Makes you think…

Leaning Into the Absurd

Some of the cards are wild and can be tough to rank and that’s what makes the game so much fun. I’ve really enjoyed playing this with married couples who feel confident in what priority order their spouse listed.

After the active player secretly lists their order, the rest of the players at the table have to cooperatively place the 5 cards in the right order. You want to match the placement of the priorities of the active player. Once the players choose the order, the active player shares their priority order. Players earn cards for every match and every mismatch goes to “the game”.

On the back of every card is one of the letters that spells PRIORITIES. Players are competing against the game to earn all the letters of this word before the game does. This game end condition can lead to pretty dynamic games. You’re never able to pinpoint when the game will end, but you’ll know when it’s getting close.

In our experience, Priorities works the best with friends and family that are pretty familiar with one another. While it seems like a nice “ice breaker” game, Priorities is a lot less fun with people that you don’t know. When people don’t know the active player at the table, you’re completely reliant on the person that knows them best to arrange the cards.

Feeling Competitive?

We know that not everyone is into cooperative games. There are some people that have to have competition around the game table and we get that. While Priorities is a cooperative party game, some of our friends really wanted to compete against one another.

This is pretty simple to accomplish with some paper (or white boards) and some house rules. Once the player secretly records their priority order, the other players can record their own opinions privately on paper. Points can be awarded based on how many they match with the active player. This is just one way that you can house rule the game to make it competitive instead of cooperative.

I have personally enjoyed the co-op nature of the game. The discussions that happen around the table as friends and family try to order the cards is a lot of fun. It’s always shocking when someone that you thought you knew places an absurd card in the top of the priority list.

Priorities is a game that will hit the table after dinner with friends and is perfect for a quick game when eating at a restaurant. With lots of cards, there will be plenty of surprising moments as you get to know what your family and friends prioritize the most.

You can purchase Priorities at Target stores nationwide or at your local Barnes & Noble store.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.