For a long while, I haven't had so much fun. Besides an eventful day, celebrating Gary's birthday with 4 hours of rock climbing and an Asian buffet, my highlight of the day would be playing a party game called A Question of Scruples. (Wikipedia Summary of the Game. Official Site of the Game)
I give this game two thumbs up and would definitely recommend it to any mature party group who is looking for a fun filled social time and lots of laughter.
The game is relatively quick to play (1 - 1.5 hours for about 8 player; longer for larger groups and quicker for smaller parties) and very easy to learn.
So here's an example of a scenario of a turn in the game. A player holds 5 question cards that would test the scruples of another player. He holds another concealed card which can be a possibility of 3 answers - yes; no; and depends. For this example we'll say that the answer card says "yes", so he'll have to find a player who he'll think will answer yes to a question on his cards. He picks the question, "A drop dead gorgeous girl, in a dress drops a package on the sidewalk. She bends over to pick it up and you get a perfect view of her endowment. Do you avert your eyes?" The selected player can answer yes, no or depends with an explanation. If the selected players answer matches the answer card, the player who asked the question discards the question card and trades for another answer card and is one step closer to winning. If the answer doesn't match, the player may let it go and trade for a new question and answer card or challenge the player. This is the interesting part. If a player is challenged the two players go into a battle of reason. The player posing the challenge first gives his explanation as to why they are calling their bluff. After, the challenged player gets to fight back as to why they hold their stance. Finally, the challenger get his last rebuttal. Hopefully the two players' argument has swayed the jury because each other player makes a vote with a vote card as to whether the answerer was telling the truth or he was bluffing. If the challenger wins the vote, he gives the challenged a question card. Otherwise it's vice-versa.
The game has great replayability because even if the question pool is exhausted and a repeat question comes up, the same player may answer differently each time - it's all about persuasion. Questions can also be interpreted differently and new ideas and scenarios can be linked to a question.
A personal example of a question I was asked was, "An old lady tries to sell you a house and it is under priced. Do you tell her?" I replied with, "No, I'm gonna rob her blind." Now, the answer becomes fun and games because you may know why you were picked for the question and you want to confuse the asker by giving his answer card a mismatch. Or you want to provoke a challenge for a battle of wits. Either way, the game should be taken lightly as the game is designed to bring out laughter. Anyways, I was let go for this question as my opponent didn't want to test my wit.
So in another game, I was asked the same question by a different player and he was expecting me to answer, "no" again but to throw him off while deciding not to give him a freebie, I said, "Depends, because the old lady could be an annoying neighbour who I really want to move or she can be a very nice lady who didn't know any better and I could easily offer her a few thousand dollars more while telling her that her property could be worth more." I was challenged by Gary with, "He said no in the first game so he's obviously lying this time." I fight back with, "Given more time to explore different possibilities of the situation and a second chance to answer the question, it really could depend on the situation like in the examples I've given. Further more, being an old lady doesn't mean she's dumb and she could have motives for selling a house at such a low price so my answer stays as it depends on the situation." Gary is speechless for a moment and comes back with, "...but you said no the first time."
With my testimony, I win the crowd's vote for having the more sound answer.
Other examples of questions are:
Your boyfriend/girlfriend buys you a new camera and a month later you two break up. Do you return the camera?
Your friends set you up on a blind date. From afar you spot your blind date approaching and are appalled. Do you continue with the plans?
You're on a crashing plane and you pray that if you survive, you'll donate $5000 to mother Teresa. The pilot regains control of the plane and lands safely. Do you donate the money?
You're a waiter and drop a plate of spaghetti to be served. You've used up the last batch of ingredients. Do you wash the spaghetti and serve it?
Other sample questions from http://www.scruplesgame.com/sample.html
"Your spouse has become nervous wreck since she began day trading on the Internet. But she made $10K in a month. Do you make her stop?"
"The teacher asks if you wrote your son's book report. Your son claimed he did it but the teacher's right. Do you admit it?"
"You've sold your house. Before you move out, the roof starts to leak. Do you have it fixed?"
Questions range from moral relationship dilemmas, chance encounters of fortune to choices of authoritative power. There is a total of 250 questions in the millennium edition. I guarantee this game to be a hit with any one who can enjoy a conversational game while not taking things too seriously.