portland games

The holidays are coming up quickly, so rather than feature a Hot Spot this week, we are featuring a Hot Gift Idea of the week! No Context is a fun and family-friendly game made by awesome local Portland game designer Kory McDow. Trust me when I say that someone you know will be delighted to find it under the tree or near the menorah or kinara!

No Context is really easy to play. In the basic game form, teams of two compete to show that they know each other better than their competitors. Drawing cards that present two ‘no context’ choices, both teammates must guess each other’s answers correctly in order to get the point. The lack of context often presents some very surprising results! For example, ‘Gas or Electric’ in a recent game of ours was taken in three completely different ways by different team members. Are we talking about cooking? Types of cars? No Context!

One of my favorite things about the game is that often complete strangers will do better at it than a team who has known each other for years. There are always many shouts of, “You thought I’d say WHAAAATT???” Plus, you get to learn things about your friends or family that you may have never before thought to ask. Does your mom prefer ‘Whales or Dolphins’? Would your friend pick ‘Public or Private’? There are surprises in every game.

No Context is a particularly perfect gift for this holiday season, as it can easily be played while social distancing or even over Zoom, Facetime, or Skype. Check it out here.

What fun games or gifts will you be giving this season? Let us know in the comments!