The best ways to spend your $50 gift card

If you’ve ever played with those word refrigerator magnets back in the day, Ransom Notes will give you an instant shot of nostalgia. It also has what I think is the most important quality in a board game: no complicated rules, setups, or explanations required. Each round begins with an open-ended question card, such as “describe a scary medical condition.” Players are given a handful of magnetic word tiles which they then arrange into a (usually slightly absurd) response to that round’s prompt. Each “ransom note” can be as elaborate (or not) as you want. You may have the perfect set of words to craft a plausible answer, but more often than not, you’ll have to get a little creative with your response. Sometimes a word or two is all you need.

Either way, the combination of word tiles, which leans a little toward the PG-13 side but isn’t as foul-mouthed as more “adult” party games like Cards Against Humanity, is such that it will almost certainly be produced hilarity. Officially, each round is supposed to have a “winner”, and the game ends after a predetermined number of rounds are over. But it’s just as fun if you forget about keeping score and let everyone try to find the funniest, most random notes they can imagine. — Karissa Bell, Senior Reporter