So Clover! Review: The Perfect Family Gateway Game

So Clover! is the word game you pull out when your family says they don't play board games—and twenty minutes later, everyone's laughing and arguing about whether 'green' is a fair clue for 'frog' and 'money.'

What Is This Game?

So Clover! is a cooperative word-association game where you're trying to help your teammates guess pairs of keywords by writing one-word clues that connect them. Each player gets a clover-shaped board with four keyword cards slotted into the edges, creating four pairs of adjacent words. You secretly write a clue for each pair—something that links the two words together—then remove and shuffle the keyword cards. Your teammates then try to reconstruct which keywords belonged where based only on your clues.

The game plays up to six (one clover board per player) and works best around four. Beyond that, you spend more time solving other people's puzzles than writing your own, and I find the clue-writing to be the more enjoyable half of the experience.

What Works

The barrier to entry here is remarkably low. I can explain this game in about two minutes, and that's not an exaggeration. For family gatherings where half the table hasn't touched a board game since Monopoly, that's invaluable. There's no complicated scoring, no turn order to memorize, no rulebook to reference mid-game.

All three phases of the game are genuinely fun. Writing your own clues scratches a creative itch—you're hunting for that perfect word that bridges 'ocean' and 'salt' without being too obvious or too obscure. Solving other people's clues is satisfying detective work. And watching others try to decode yours is entertaining in its own right, especially when they completely misread your intent or nail it instantly.

If you've played Codenames or Decrypto, this lives in the same neighborhood but with a much gentler learning curve. Codenames requires a spymaster who understands the grid and can count their words; Decrypto has layers of encoding and intercepting that take a round or two to click. So Clover! just works from the first play.

What Doesn't

The simplicity that makes this game accessible also limits its staying power. After about twenty to thirty minutes, I'm ready to move on. It's not that the game becomes bad—it just doesn't evolve. The fifth round feels exactly like the first round, and that sameness starts to wear thin. For context, I typically prefer games that run two hours or more, but those games give you that crunchy, brain-burning satisfaction that makes time disappear. So Clover! is lighter fare.

There's also an analysis paralysis problem baked into the format. In almost every game I've played, someone gets stuck trying to find the perfect clue while everyone else sits and waits. The game has no timer, and some people will agonize over their four words for five minutes while others finished in sixty seconds. It's not a dealbreaker, but it happens consistently enough to mention.

If you're choosing between this and Decrypto for a group that can handle rules, I'd pick Decrypto. It offers more depth, harder thinking, genuine team camaraderie, and higher stakes—you don't want to let your team down. So Clover! is cooperative in a looser sense; Decrypto makes you feel like you're actually working together against an opponent.

Replayability

This is a game I pull out a few times a year—holidays, family visits, casual get-togethers with non-gamers. In that context, it shines. The keyword cards provide enough variety that you won't see the same combinations often, and different groups will approach clues in wildly different ways.

But it's not a game I'd play weekly or even monthly. The experience doesn't deepen over time. Once you've played a few rounds, you've seen what So Clover! has to offer. That's fine for what it is—not every game needs to stay on the table forever—but set your expectations accordingly.

Who Should Play This

This is an ideal gateway game for non-gamers who enjoy word games or wordplay. If your family likes Scrabble, crossword puzzles, or even just puns, they'll probably enjoy So Clover!. It's also a strong choice for mixed groups where some people are intimidated by 'real' board games—there's nothing here that will make anyone feel lost or overwhelmed.

Skip this if you're looking for depth or long-term engagement. Hobby gamers who want meatier word games should look at Decrypto or Codenames. And if your group doesn't enjoy word association or creative thinking, no amount of accessibility will save it.

Final Verdict

So Clover! does exactly what it sets out to do: it's a light, accessible word game that works beautifully with people who don't normally play games. It won't become a permanent fixture on your table, but for holiday gatherings and casual family nights, it earns its spot on the shelf.