Trash Talk - Game Review

Title: Trash Talk

Designed By: Matt Fantastic and Andrea Pincumbe

Art By: Saulo Nate

Published By: Friendly Skeleton

Released: 2023

Player Count: 2-8

Time to Play: 25 Minutes

Ages: 10+

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Overview:

In Trash Talk, you and your trash-loving crew are raccoons and opossums on a mission to communicate using the most beloved objects of any alley-dwelling critter—trash! Each round, one player acts as the Raccoon, secretly assigning word cards to objects, while the rest of the players (the Opossums) work together to match them correctly. Nail it? Great—more objects and more words get added. Flub it? Well, back to the bin. The goal: successfully pair 10 objects with their corresponding words. It’s goofy, cooperative party fun for just about any group.

What's purr-ty cool:

Trash with personality—and playability.

The component selection in Trash Talk is straight-up hilarious. Tiny cocktail umbrellas, pull-back racecars, aquarium plants, and even Slinkys—this game’s got a delightful assortment of weird and wonderful objects. Purrrfect for those who like to play with game pieces while playing. Bonus points for creativity: the game even encourages you to use your own "trash," as long as you've got two of each object. This opens the door to some seriously silly, personalized play sessions. Finally an excuse to put the objects in your junk drawer to good use.

Art that adds a splash of charm.

There isn’t a ton of art in the game, but what’s there is cute and totally on theme. The box art is clever and fun, and the same style carries over to the little shields that hide the objects. I love that the game didn’t need to have art, but they still added these touches to give it more personality. Even without them, it would’ve been fun—but this makes it feel a little more cohesive and charming.

Cooperation > mind reading.

Trash Talk has some classic party game vibes (you’re guessing associations between random things), but it avoids the usual pitfalls. In a lot of guessing games like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, the better you know the judge, the better you do—which can be awkward if you're playing with people you don’t know well. But in this game, everyone is on the same team. Even if someone’s closer with the Raccoon player, they can talk through their thinking out loud, which keeps it fair and more collaborative.

Also, being the Raccoon is hilarious. Watching your friends try to connect the dots between a word like “timeless” and a bendy straw is absolute gold. I played this with a group of Ivy League students I supervise, and watching some truly brilliant young adults try to justify their word-object logic was chef’s kiss. Sometimes it’s “This word has wheels, and so does this toy car,” and other times it’s “This Latin root loosely translates to X, which reminds me of…” You get the idea.

Overall, this is one of those games I can pull out pretty much anywhere. It’s great at family gatherings (grandparents to grandkids), works surprisingly well as a work icebreaker, and makes for a fun date night game where you can test how well you and your partner can read each other’s minds. It’s goofy, quick to teach, and guaranteed to get people laughing.

The cat's meow:

"Finally my collection of paper straws have a purpose!" - Solo the Spokescat

Enjoy this bonus picture of a raccoon from my local park (no I didn't feed him, I just took his picture).

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Disclosure: Pudgy Cat Games was provided a copy of this game in exchange for a review, however, this review reflects the honest thoughts of the author.