Mean Girls Gets a Tabletop Game Based on the Burn Book

Big Potato Games, the same company that produces The Blockbuster Party Game and other pop culture-themed tabletop games, has rolled out Mean Girls: The Party Game, which is designed to look like the notorious “burn book” from within the Tina Fey-written comedy classic. The game, which is marked for ages 14 and up, and for 4 or more players, encourages fans to “tear out a page of the burn book” so that they can make observations about other players. It’s supposed to be anonymous, but of course the goal of the game is for other players to guess who you’re writing about.

The movie, which came out in 2004, was a big hit, leading to box office and home video success. In 2011, it got a made-for-TV sequel, with no original cast returning except for Tim Meadows, who reprised his role as Principal Ron Duvall. In 2018, Mean Girls got a Broadway adaptation.

The movie was written by Tina Fey after she read Rosalind Wiseman’s Queen Bees and Wannabes, a book that aimed to help parents raising teen girls become aware of the evolving challenges of the early 2000s. While producer Lorne Michaels bought the rights to the nonfiction book, the characters are largely based on Fey’s own teenage experiences.

Mean Girls and Clueless are relatively recent examples of movies aimed at women — especially young women — becoming cult classics, and getting the merch, the enduring audiences, and other “perks” that go along with that title. Since the concept is pretty gendered, it’s rare that movies aimed primarily or exclusively at women or girls earn the descriptor and some, like 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats, take years to “earn” it before it sticks.

Here’s how Big Potato describes the game, which can be purchased at Target now for just under $20.

Everyone gets a Burn Book page with their name. Pass them around and secretly answer one juicy question about each of your friends. (i.e. What was their most embarrassing moment? What makes them super-jealous?). When a page gets to you, pick an unanswered question and keep passing till all questions are answered. Share funny facts, awkward admissions or random revelations — the limit does not exist.

Spill the tea out loud! You get one shot to guess who wrote your favorite. Guess correctly and win a point—you go, Glen Coco! Whoever wrote that answer must come clean and also wins a point. After everyone reads their Burn Book page, the player with the most points wins the game!