Unmasking the
Poser Poser It’s the 1980s. It’s high school. And there’s a poser in your clique. You thought you were done with all that clique-ish silliness when you graduated high school. Think again! It’s back with a vengeance in Poser, an aesthetic vaporwave-inspired card game for 3 - 8 players recently released by Alex Herrity. Your clique has been infiltrated by a poser and it’s your job to unmask the poser before the poser can identify your clique. Players form one of nine possible groups, enact a scenario, and, depending on how everyone acts their part, determine who the poser is or are identified by the poser. Gameplay requires balancing on a fine line between acting enough like your characters to let each other know who actually belongs and acting so much like your characters that the poser can identify your clique.
Let’s get to the unboxing! The package arrives looking exactly like a slightly worn VHS in its box. The creators have gone as far as the vertical slide sleeve with finger cutouts at the bottom for pulling out the “tape.” The exterior artwork, with VHS markings immediately recognizable, completely fooled my spouse who didn’t know it was coming. “What’s this tape? I don’t remember this movie.” Gotcha! Yoko Honda’s artwork is stellar, her pastel pinks and blues and exterior “wear” nailing the vintage ‘80s VHS aesthetic perfectly. There are several types of cards used in play: Characters, Locations, Scenes, and Posers. The Characters are the members of the nine cliques: Surfer, Skater, Slacker, Valley Girl, Nerd, Prep, Punk, Breakdancer, and Jock. The 30 Scene cards, black screen with white pre-Windows ‘95 text, describe short action sequences reminiscent of scenes from ‘80s movies or recalling popular songs
k ar
D
from that decade. The Posers are self-explanatory. Yoko Honda’s artwork
W
z
fe IT
t re tu Fu E R
R
ro
20 /
