Ex Libris: The Game Of First Lines & Last Words

by British Library

'For 4 to 8 players. Fresh from the shelves of the famed British Library in London and the Bodleian Library in Oxford comes Ex Libris, a game to challange your literary acumen and test your writing skills

Reviews

[Marcia Van Camp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ex Libris is the best of the games in the Balderdash genre. Rather than fabricating definitions for obscure words, players come up with either the first or last sentence of a novel. The "reader" for the round writes the first or last sentence as it actually appears, and then players vote for whichever entry they think is the real McCoy.

Players are given the novel's title, author, author's dates, and a plot summary. The novels range from famous works that everyone has heard of to obscure pulp fiction titles. No knowledge of literature is required, but readers will particularly enjoy the challenge of fooling the other players.

Ex Libris plays a little more slowly than Balderdash, but its creativity and entertainment value more than make up for it. It plays best with 5-7 players. It was created in association with the Bodleian Library, and so far as I know is only sold by Oxford Games in Great Britain (and, of course, online).