Cranium, Ya gotta use your Brainium and other Body Parts Too
Written: Oct 17 '05 (Updated Nov 25 '05)
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Pros: Variety of games in one game
Cons: silly sub-category names
The Bottom Line: A fun and challenging game. We always want to take it too the end.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Cranium Game |
Cranium is a game that uses a combination of other tried and true games to create a diverse, fun game that has something that is sure to appeal to all players.
It's a combination of Wheel of Fortune, Who Am I?, Spelling Bee, Pictionary, Trivia Challenge, Play Dough sculpturing, Name that tune, Charades and more.
Basic Rules
Win the game by getting your teams piece through the game board to the finish before your opponent. Pieces are moved when a team gets their answer correct. Play starts with a roll of the die. A card chosen from the pile, that matches the colour on the die, is pulled and the instructions are followed. If that team gets the correct answer they move ahead the the colour that was on the die. There is also a fast track and a regular track. Answers at the correct time allow movement through the fast track. Particular details are found in the box and are easy to follow. Through a series of rolls of the dice. Game ends with the first team getting to the finish area and then correctly answering a question from each of the four categories of the game.
Categories
This is where the fun of the game comes from. Four boxes of cards are set up on the table. They are four different colours.
Blue = Creative Cat; This category is the "artistic" one. It is here that the team is given instruction to do some drawing or sculpting. The rules may even have you do the drawing with eyes closed! Either way it's like the game Pictionary and always a lot of fun to try and guess the given ... The sculpting is fun too. A helpful hint is to take the clay out and kneed it a bit before playing. This happens to be my favorite category.
Green = Star Performer; The card may have you doing a straight charade type motion to get your team mates to guess or sometimes you may be asked to talk like the character on the card addressing the team mates without using proper names or places. Another card in this category may have you humming or whistling a tune that your team mates must guess the name of. This one is a lot of fun too.
Yellow = Word Worm; These are cards that have to do with words. It may be spelling a word or harder yet spelling a word back ward. Also in this category are cards that will be sort of like a Wheel of Fortune set up with a few letters placed and you must figure out the full word. Another is giving a word with a few definitions. You must pick the correct one. Our friends liked this category the best. Ha, my spelling is atroshus.
Red = Data Head; This is the most cerebral of the categories, at least to me it is. This is a blend of Trivia Challenge as these cards have questions with multiple choice or a true/false answers. Sometimes there is no answer at all.
I have to say that all categories have some give away questions that are quite easy. At other times the questions were way over our heads. This was the same for the drawing too. It' easy to draw an automobile, it's much harder to draw a hug.
There are many times that both teams will be challenged to the same card at the same time. This can be a lot of fun trying to answer but, at the same time, not let the other team hear your guesses
My Conclusions
The basic concept of this game is excellent. The various categories make this challenging and fun for most people. Each team may also decide which team member will do what. That makes it so no one person need be under the microscope if they feel uncomfortable with a certain category. We did take turns and everybody got involved. Sometimes it just took a round or two for everyone to "get it" and the join in.
A Dislike
What I didn't care for was how the game is played. I'm used to moving on the roll of the die and losing the roll if I get the answer wrong. In this game you roll and if you get the answer correct you move the allowed spaces on the die and then the next team gets a turn.
The other thing I could not get into were the many names for sub categories that were within the four I mentioned earlier.
Creative Cat; Cards consist of Cloodles ( for drawing0, Sensosketch (drawing with eyes closed), and Sculptorades (Forming something out of clay).
Star Performer; Cards consist of Humdingers (humming or whistling a song), Cameos (charades), and Copycat (acting out as a famous person).
Some names in the Word Worms are LexiCons,(Defining words) Spellbound, Gnilleps (that's spelling backwards) Zelpuz (rearranging letters to make a word) ,and BlankOut (filling in the blanks).
Data Head was the last category with sub names like Polygraphs (true/false statements), Factoids (answer a trivia question), and Selectaquest (multiple choice questions).
Star Performer: Cards consist of Humdingers (humming or whistling to guess a song), Cameos (charades), and Copycat (acting like a famous person).
It was silly to me to have to say this is a selectaquest question and then give the rules to it. It made things too wordy. We learned to drop them after a while. The four categories were explanation enough after playing a couple of rounds.
Final Thoughts
After we played the game a while we did drop all the silly sub names, (to us anyways) and were less distracted.
Though I have still not gotten into the flow of the game with the rolling of of the die and not moving ahead until answering correctly, I do love the game and the challenges. It's a lot of fun. You must have at least four players to make up two teams but the more the merrier. I like it when there are three or four on one team. It makes the game a bit more exciting.
I believe this combo game should be on everyones game shelf or closet. It's easy to learn and good for adults. We have had many fun evenings with friends and family with this one. In fact we now own the Cranium (Primo) Tin can Edition. Look for that review in the near future.
Cranium Tin Edition It's the Deluxe set-up and well worth owning.
Other family game reviews by popsrocks
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CLUE A classic " Who dun it?" game.
Stratego A time tested game of strategy.
Fact or Crap A new game that is fun for 15-adult
Texas Hold'em Poker
The Top Ten Game
Pictionary Good, but I'll tell you how it's better.
Games for adults, but not "Adult Games"
How to Host a Murder This is our favorite game of all!
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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