Nuck Tats Review — An inking good time

When the pandemic first started, something that really got to me was my pile of party games sitting on the shelf, collecting dust. Great memories of Secret Hitler, the reaction to the big black box of CAH, Telestrations, even those old Trivial Pursuits & Apples to Apples copies…I felt sad. Were we ever going to be able to play these games again? Nowadays, people have been able to come together again, which brings me to my favorite aspect of the party game:  the spontaneity of a group of people around a table. Nuck Tats, by Funko Games, accomplishes the feeling of spontaneity extremely well, by engaging players in a fast game, much like some of the aforementioned party games above.

The packaging is beautiful. Covered in multiple examples of traditional style tattoo flash artwork, along with a typical tattoo styled font, this box stands out. When it comes to the pieces inside the box, this is a high quality product. The “nuck boards” are in the shape of fists, the cards are highly stylized…this oozes style.

Setup is very easy, each player gets a “nuck board” and a pen, and a single page rulebook. Customer cards have a variety of prompts, from job roles, pop culture icons, and characters from fictional works. The game is simple. Draw a character card, everyone writes out what would be an appropriate (or funny) knuckle tattoo for the character, and the player chooses which one they like the most. You’ve seen this mechanic before…but Nuck Tats includes a mechanic which allows other players to “tip” who they like the most.

I like that additional mechanic, because if you’re like me, you’ve played a lot of party games, and there’s always going to be the person (or people) who end up power gaming and winning most rounds. This enables other players to have some success and fun too.

On the not so positive side, this game isn’t that deep. After a few rounds, we found ourselves feeling a little bored, so I suggest busting this game out when you have a full crew of 6 people, or cycle folks out at a big party.

Ultimately, a game like this is meant for goofy fun. It’s not that deep, doesn’t require a lot of setup or explaining the rules over and over again. It brings back the spontaneity of a fun party game in a new form.

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