About the TV Genres Spot the Difference Game
Soap, crime, reality, news — twelve TV formats on one board. Great for media studies and couch critics, with no series titles or network marks.
What's on the TV Genres boards
The pictures the two boards are built from — 12 in all: 🧼 Soap🕵️ Crime📰 News🎤 Talk🍳 Cookery⚽ Sport🏝️ Reality🧒 Kids📜 Drama😂 Comedy🧪 Sci-Fi🧠 Quiz
Study tip: scan the left board in the same order every time — top-left to bottom-right — and check its twin against that order. The difference between soap and crime is easy to spot; a missing news in the wrong corner is not, unless your scan is systematic.
How to memorise a film and TV board
Give each tile a scene. The popcorn belongs in the dark, the clapperboard opens the film, the spotlight finds the star — entertainment decks are a night at the cinema in object form, and staging them as one evening out links the whole board in a single pass.
Cast the order too: what happens first at the cinema — tickets, snacks, trailers, the film, the credits? Most entertainment decks roughly follow the arc, and an arc is just a story with your memory as the audience.
How to Play
- Press Start. Two boards appear, looking identical.
- Compare them tile by tile — one has been swapped for something different.
- Tap the changed tile, on either board, before the timer runs out.
- Each round adds more tiles and less time. Three misses ends the run.
Fun Facts About TV Genres
- Soap operas were once sponsored by soap companies.
- Procedural crime shows often resolve a case each episode.
- Reality TV rose sharply in the early 2000s.
- Genre hybrid shows mix comedy and drama ("dramedy").
TV & Movies deck questions
Is this theme okay for kids' sleepover parties?
Yes — the pictures are popcorn-and-movie-night staples rather than anything from an actual film, so there are no spoilers and no licensing issues, just the shared ritual of a big night in.
Why do themed decks beat generic picture decks?
Because recognition and delight do half the memorising for you. A board of things people already love turns the memory test into something they would play anyway — which is the whole point of theme decks.