A family that plays together, stays together

For more than 30 years, Alias has been part of family life from the parents’ first date to having their own children playing. Nothing brings generations together quite like Alias.

Finland is best known for its legendary mobile phone brand Nokia, whose slogan was Connecting people. The same can be said about another Finnish legend, Alias. Alias is the original word explanation game designed and manufactured by Tactic Games in Pori, Finland. Alias plays a vital part in keeping families together, not just in Finland, but all around the world.

The generation game

Alias is a game that travels from generation to generation. It’s hard to imagine a game that promotes family values better than Alias. Adults play it with their friends as well as with their children, children and teenagers play it together, grandparents play it with their grandchildren – it’s truly for everyone.

When young adults start dating, Alias acts like a relationship barometer; you know that you have found a true connection when your partner guesses the right answers from the tiniest hints. The more a couple spends time together, the better they become at Alias, with inside clues that win the game. Also, if a couple reacts badly to losing Alias, there may be hard times ahead.

When the couple settles down and has children, board games become a great way to fuel children’s natural curiosity and expand their vocabulary. When children grow, they progress from concrete things to abstract concepts. Again Alias is there to boost both language and cognitive skills, not to forget the important social skills.  

Beating the pandemic

Even before the pandemic hit, board games were experiencing a renaissance. During lockdowns, they became a lifeline that kept both children and adults together and engaged. Being deprived for so long of socializing, communicating and playing together has brought a deeper understanding of how important games like Alias are for our resilience.

The seemingly trivial word explanation game holds important values for us all: coming together for social interaction, understanding others and being understood, and uniting as a team. All this is wrapped up in a fun and highly engaging package, served as a board game for everyone to enjoy.

Now that life is normalizing again, it is time to encouraging children and adults to socialize more. The best way to do this is to organize a joyful board game night.

Cut the screen time

Children and especially teens spend way too much time glued to their screens. Hours and hours spent on mobiles and consoles not only leads to physical problems, but also deprives children from social contacts.

Board games and Alias in particular is a great way to get children active and interacting with the real world. Siblings who continuously argue with one another can suddenly find a common ground as a winning Alias team. You could think of Alias as the super nanny for the family.

Alias gives a boost to growing cognitive and social skills while also increasing self-expression and understanding. It feeds children’s imagination and engages them to vocalize their thoughts. A game night is also a safe place to talk about negative or scary things in life.

Meet the Alias family

The Alias game concept is so ingeniously simple that anybody can play it. Therefore you need several variations of the game. In fact, there are over twenty versions to choose from. There are specific gameboards for young children who can’t read yet, all the way to adult content Alias, great for party nights.

If you are into football or legends, cooking or nature, there is a specialized Alias for you. Alias party versions enrich explanations by adding acting or moods, or you can go crazy with Wacky Alias. You can also play Alias as men against women or get creative and invent your own words in D.I.Y. Alias.

As there is an Alias for every occasion, one copy may not be enough – you need several to cater for different situations. But don’t worry, every Alias bought is a good investment for happy times spent together with friends and family. 

Explore the selection and find your favourite Alias!

I’m always having more fun with Alias

Alias board game has millions of loyal fans around the world. We talked to one of them to find out how Alias keeps people entertained year after year.

Manna Fransas is in her thirties and lives in Helsinki, Finland. Coincidentally, she is about the same age as Alias, published in 1981. Manna works at an ad agency as a copywriter and her hobbies include basketball. Manna’s immediate family consists of her two children, her partner and his daughter.

Manna recalls that she was still in primary school when she first played Alias with friends from her neighborhood. From day one Manna was drawn to Alias because it was fun, inventive and fast paced. Even though Manna plays plenty of other board games too, Alias has always been her number one choice. Words like energetic, daring, social, happy and humorous describe Alias pretty well – and admittedly her own bubbly personality as well.

Get the party started

When Manna leaves for a cottage weekend or skiing with friends, Alias is always packed along. Just before the Covid pandemic hit, Manna celebrated her 30^th birthday with a big group of friends in Barcelona. With her, she had the Late Night Alias – a perfect adult party highlight.

Alias fandom has also spread to Manna’s offspring, and she has played plenty of board games with her children. Now her children can also play Alias together. Manna sees that Alias has many educational benefits: children’s vocabulary extends through play and they also learn necessary social skills, like losing. Manna still prefers to play Alias with her own friends – they offer a much needed challenge to the veteran player.

Manna has bought her fair share of Alias games during the years; the most popular ones are on their second sets already. In addition to the Original Alias, Manna’s game cupboard holds Junior Alias, Disney’s first Alias, You Are… Alias, Party Alias, Late Night Alias, Rähinä Alias (a Finnish exclusive) and Snack Alias Lights, Camera, Action. She has an ideal Alias version for every occasion.     

Mastering her game

Even though playing Alias is all about having fun, the will to win is genuine. Manna claims jokingly that she has never lost a single Alias game, but she admits that playing a lot helps. Especially with the Original Alias, the words are so familiar, that she always knows the quickest ways to explain them. That’s why Manna keeps buying new Alias versions, so she’ll have fresh words to explain.   

All of Manna’s closest friends are pretty competitive, too. During Alias, emotions tend to heat up and sometimes an odd quarrel stirs up. Luckily, so far no friendships have been broken off because of Alias, and the winners are always happily rewarded with something like a bottle of bubbly.  

There are also funny inside stories when friends play a lot together. For example one of Manna’s friend didn’t know the word mosaic, but instead explained the word mosque. This funny mistake still makes her friends laugh. So playing Alias can expand your vocabulary even as a grownup.    

How to win Alias

In addition to verbal talent, Manna thinks that Alias also requires strategic skills. It is not the same how you explain the words, and whether you explain long words or praises in two parts or together. Here are Manna’s hot tips for winning Alias:

• Explain it simply, use as many opposites as you can: Not hot, but cold. Not long, but short. Also use plenty of synonyms.
• Explain compound words in two parts: “Milkman delivers bottles in the morning and is not a woman”.
• If you don’t know the word, don’t even try to explain it. Take a minus point and move on rather than get stuck on a difficult word.
• Know your team members, so you can benefit from common praises and history. Manna’s favorite Alias team member is her little brother.  

Finnish entertainment package

As an adult, the Finnish roots of Alias have become more important to Manna. She thinks it’s great that Alias represents Finnish talent and knowhow. Manna also has a big pile of other Tactic’s games, which are all made in their own factory in Finland.  

If Manna could design her own version of Alias, she would add a novel surprise element to the game. In the D.I.Y. Alias, you can already come up with your own words, but an unexpected surprise, like a team change in the middle of the game, would add suspense for even the most experienced player. But would a sure win still be guaranteed? 

Manna has a firm opinion on why everyone should play Alias. It’s fun yet educating. It builds team spirit and cooperation skills. It’s easy to learn and anyone can play it. You can never get bored, because every player and play session is different. A perfect entertainment package, indeed.

The Alias product family consists of games for kids, families, grown-ups and party-loving friends. The collection also includes games with different themes, such as sports, movies and nature. Local country specific game versions are also available. New Alias versions are launched every year.

Explore the selection and find your favourite Alias!

https://alias.eu/collection/original-alias/