Have you ever watched the old time movies, and someone has come to town and is standing on their wagon and talking to a crowd full of people trying to sell them a bottle of potion that is supposed to cure every single problem they have ever encountered? Well by golly, if you bought his bottle of “Fix what ails ya” potion, then you got yourself a real genuine bottle of Snake Oil!

We had the privilege to play a hilarious game with the same name called Snake Oil by Out of the Box Publishing Inc.

Snake Oil

Ages 10 to Adult
3-10 players
5 Minutes to learn
20-30 minutes per game
Suggested Retail $19.99

This game is hilarious as well as educational. It’s educational because it has my kids reading and coming up with funny compound word combinations they can “sell” as a “fix what ails ya” potion to some unsuspecting stranger.

But the twist is,… they have to come up with a sales pitch for whatever random customer is drawn from the card deck.  The customer could end up being a super hero, one green alien, a bride, a sorority girl, or a nerdy geek, etc.

We played the game with 5 players.  So each round of the game had one customer and four venders.  Each vender was given a hand of seven random snake oil cards.  For the customer’s turn, that person drew a random card from the customer card pile.

It is up the kids to find a way to sell their Snake Oil product while using the various word cards in their hand. They get to pick two of the word cards out of their handful of seven cards and make a compound word to name their product.  Their product is an imaginary special fix all potion that will solve the customer’s problems.

After they create the product name, they must come up with a sales pitch.  This is the super duper funny part.  How to make a sales pitch to an off the wall customer with your compound word you created from your random cards.

The “vender” with the best product name and most convincing sales pitch and wins the approval of the “customer”.  When the customer chooses his or her favorite product the “vender” gets to collect the customer’s name card. The player with the most customer name cards at the end wins the game.

There are so many random word combinations and then put them in perspective to the potential customer needs, it is absolutely hilarious.  Perhaps a geek needs a beach lamp or muscle gum, or maybe an alien needs pony spit or an energy ball, or maybe the super hero needs  and all you have to do is to convince them they need it and to buy it from you.

Youtube Video about How to play Snake Oil

My kids really enjoyed playing this game. This would make a great holiday or birthday gift and to use for family game nights. It would also be a lot of fun to use during a youth group, club meeting, or homeschool coop get together. I can guarantee you it will bring a whole lot of laughs and you just might feel better and perhaps have less ailments after playing, ha ha!!

Social Media Follow
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/OutoftheBoxGames
TWITTER https://twitter.com/OTBgames
YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAQiV5S9ZQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUTEAg1uDVwq0LNxFAwM7N5Q

Be sure to check out what other homeschool families on the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought about using this game with their families.