While it doesn't have many frills, EA's Smarty Pants is a party-style trivia game for the Wii that'll keep adults and older kids (or at least prodiguous little ones) alike entertained for hours -- and at over 20,000 questions, that's a literal estimate. You can play by yourself, but odds are you'll spend more time in one of the game's two multiplayer modes -- either competing head-to-head against up to three friends, or breaking into teams for family-style co-op play. You can also set the game's difficulty based on the players' age, so your first grader won't need an advanced knowledge of pop culture to feel like a valuable part of the team.
From there, gameplay's a breeze: Flick your Wii remote to spin the Wheel of Fortune-style game wheel (see above), and get served up a trivia question from the category you land on: from arts and entertainment to video games, sports and fashion. This is where Smarty Pants really gets competitive (and fun), too, as you've got to buzz in using the Wii-mote to have a shot at answering. If you're playing in countdown mode, you'd better buzz in quickly, too, because you can lose points as the seconds tick away.
Smarty Pants supports Mii avatars, so you can upload a bit of yourself into the game to make it feel even more competitive. And what kind of competition would it be without a little bit of "Who's your daddy?" at the end? As our corporate-casual friend below demonstrates, there's even a victory dance:
Unlike seemingly every other team-oriented game these days, Smarty Pants doesn't come loaded with minigames or flashy online components, and visually speaking, it's light on bells and whistles, too. But trivia buffs will love the fast-paced challenges and variety of questions, and if you're stuck on a holiday gift for the Wii-owning casual gamer on your list, you'd be hard pressed to find a better starting point.
Smarty Pants is rated "E" for Everyone.
