My family has loved playing games for generations. It's part of our beloved family legacy to enjoy games from lawn games to cards to board games. Best of all: We love to find fresh ideas in the game world. And we value games that you can learn fairly easily, so we're not spending the whole evening just "learning" a game, and that can be played in somewhere around 30 to 60 minutes. Finally, we love games with attractive materials for players to use. So, right away, Decorum "wins" a 5-star rating for satisfying all of those conditions.
We've also got a number of helpful tips, if you're considering this game:
First and foremost, this is a bit of a "role playing" game in which you'll have the most fun if everyone is following the rules as well as talking in an animated manner throughout the game. That's a challenge with Decorum, because the whole game depends on not revealing certain individual information. However, while still following that rule, the game is better if people enjoy showing reactions and chatting a bit, or in other words playing a role. If your friends and family prefer stony-silent competitions or you don't think folks can walk the line of having fun with their roles while not revealing their secrets, then maybe shop further. If this description really intrigues you, then you'll love Decorum.
Learning the rules is fairly easy for folks who enjoy games. It's not a 1-minute learning curve like some games, but you can pick up the rules fairly quickly. Also, if you search around the internet you'll find that this company actually has sponsored "play through" videos that can teach everyone the game just by watching a video.
Then, we were confused by the fact that this game is sold, at two different prices, in a Retail and Deluxe version. We wish the company explained that difference more clearly. We only got the "Deluxe" version but, having now dug around a little bit to learn more, we think the big difference is that the colorful decorating icons are much nicer, made of acrylic, in the Deluxe version. So, our advice is: Ante up the slightly higher cost and get the nice icons.
Another tip: We disagree with the instruction on this product that this is designed for 2 to 4 players. That might make you think that a family of six wouldn't want this game, let's say. Or, you might think that you couldn't pull out this game after a larger family gathering with more than 4 people. We can tell you as game veterans that there are very easy ways around those limitations. We actually like to form teams. For example, maybe Grandma doesn't want to play alone. So Grandma plays with a younger player. Maybe Uncle doesn't care to play alone, but he thinks it would be fun to form a team with his niece. There are lots of ways to play this game beyond simply 2, 3 or 4 players.
There's a lot more we could say, but if you've read this far and you like what you're reading, then buy the game and explore it yourself.