Scene It? The DVD Game

Two to four players (or even teams, I suppose) can play, and there are two dice: a six-sided die for movement of your playing piece (which could take the shape of a popcorn bucket, a film reel, a film camera or a clapper-board), and an eight-sided die that determines the category of the question.

The category die has the following options: (1) Take Three, which is a question from one of the question cards that usually gives a trio of information relevant to the answer when another player reads it out; (2) Songs And Slogans, which is also a card question and would be connected to either songs in a film or slogans used to advertise a film; (3) Pop Culture, which is a card question that could be about anything else about film not covered by (1) and (2); (4) Buzz™ card, which is where you pick up one of the Buzz™ cards, which will usually instruct you to do things like move forward/back x spaces, or in some instances allow you to hold the card to use on another player to make him/her miss a turn; (5) My Play, which is a question from the DVD for the player only (it will normally be either a clip from a film followed by a question, or a choice of four films to place in release year order); (6) All Play, which is, as you guessed, for all players to answer a DVD question and hope to be the first with the correct answer; and (7) a star, which gives the player the choice of any category from one of the question cards (as described in (1), (2) and (3) above), a Buzz™ card or a DVD My Play. The eighth side of the die is just another side that's an All Play.

If it is your turn, you throw both dice simultaneously, move your piece as per the numbered die, and answer the relevant question as per the category on the category die. If you answer the question correctly, you throw the dice again and continue in this vein until you either win or get a question wrong (in which case play passes to the next player). The DVD includes a 10-, 20- or 30-second timer to allow you to impose time limits on questions from the cards, whereas questions on the DVD itself have time-limits built in. There are some 'double feature' squares on the board that allow you to move double the numbered die on your next throw if you answer a question correctly after landing on one.

Regarding DVD questions, there are things to note. The disc uses Optreve™ randomising technology, so, as well as a multitude of preset gameplay options (where questions would appear in a specific order -- which was included because a small number of DVD players cannot cope with Optreve™), you can get DVD questions in a completely random order. And, regarding the My Play film clips, even if you have seen a clip before, you may not get the same question about it.

Play continues like this for each player, until their piece lands on the 'All Play To Win' at the end of their playing piece's path, where an All Play To Win is selected from the DVD - roller wins if s/he answers the question correctly first, whereas s/he will move his/her piece into the outermost of three Final Cut circles if either s/he fails to answer or someone else gives the correct answer first. In Final Cut, the player tries to answer three simultaneous questions (or two or one, depending on how many times s/he has tried previously) correctly to win the game.

This game may not exactly be the most educational, but boardgames are supposed to be fun, and this certainly is even if you're not a film fan, and such a game was one we had to wait for only because it was not really practical in the pre-DVD days (just imagine all the fast-forwarding and rewinding that would have been required if it was done using VHS!). The board folds up for storage and to offer a shorter version of the game, but I feel that this is too short and takes a large amount of the fun away from play.

Rated 12 by the BBFC due to infrequent moderate violence in some of the film clips.