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Time's Up!

#1353BGG ↗

1999 · 4-18 players · 90min · weight 1.20 · 6,242 ratings

v2 v3

BGG raw

ID
1353
Name
Time's Up!
Year
1999
Rank
442
Min players
4
Max players
18
Playing time
90
Min playtime
90
Max playtime
90
Avg weight
1.2023
Num weights
341
Bayes avg
6.77944
Average
7.27822
Users rated
6242
Num owned
6867
Wanting
100
Wishing
1025
Num comments
1265
Fetched at
Sat Apr 25 2026 16:15:55 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (4)
ActingCommunication LimitsMemoryTeam-Based Game
Categories (2)
HumorParty Game
Description (1186 chars)

Time's Up! is a charades-based party game for teams of two or more players (and is best with teams of two). Before the game begins, each player looks at several cards featuring famous historical or fictional characters and chooses some of them. Each player's cards are shuffled to form a deck, and this deck of famous names is used for each of the game's three rounds. In each round, team members take turns trying to get their teammates to guess as many names as possible in 30 seconds. In round 1, almost any kind of clue is allowed, and the cluegiver cannot pass on a card. In round 2, no more than one word can be used in each clue (but unlimited sounds and gestures are permitted); the cluegiver can pass on any card he likes, and the teammates can give only a single answer. In round 3, the cluegiver can use no words at all and can pass as often as he likes; again, teammates are allowed only a single guess. Give good physical clues in round 1, and they'll pay dividends down the road when you need to keep your mouth shut and gesture like a maniac before time's up! Time's Up! is based on the public domain game known as Celebrities. Also known as Salad Bowl or Fish Bowl.

LLM v2 (wide)

Core verb
give clue under constraint
Decision shape
social
Reward schedule
immediate
Aesthetics
["Fellowship", "Expression", "Challenge"]
Core loop pitch
Same deck of celebrities, three rounds: free clues, then one word, then mime — recall and language under timer.
Translation difficulty
Hard
Difficulty reason
Live in-person performance and team laughter are the product; an app can serve word lists and timer but cannot replace the social mime round.
Direct digital port
Time's Up! Party (mobile, Repos Production)
Port kind
first_party
Closest loop translation
none yet
Primitive tags
["escalating_clue_constraint", "shared_deck_memory_payoff", "real_time_team_guessing", "performative_charades", "co_located_party"]
Confidence
0.85
Extracted at
Mon Apr 27 2026 11:40:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Raw v2 JSON (946 chars)
{
  "game_id": 1353,
  "name": "Time's Up!",
  "core_verb": "give clue under constraint",
  "decision_shape": "social",
  "reward_schedule": "immediate",
  "aesthetics": [
    "Fellowship",
    "Expression",
    "Challenge"
  ],
  "core_loop_pitch": "Same deck of celebrities, three rounds: free clues, then one word, then mime — recall and language under timer.",
  "mobile_translation_difficulty": "Hard",
  "translation_difficulty_reason": "Live in-person performance and team laughter are the product; an app can serve word lists and timer but cannot replace the social mime round.",
  "direct_digital_port": "Time's Up! Party (mobile, Repos Production)",
  "direct_digital_port_kind": "first_party",
  "closest_loop_translation": "none yet",
  "primitive_tags": [
    "escalating_clue_constraint",
    "shared_deck_memory_payoff",
    "real_time_team_guessing",
    "performative_charades",
    "co_located_party"
  ],
  "confidence": 0.85
}

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).