Game Blogging

Apples to Apples: The Game of Hilarious Comparisons! From Out of the Box. Approximate price: $15. Number of players: 4-10. Ages: 6+ (players must be able to read). Time to play: 30 minutes or more. Rules Rigidity: Easily fudged, house rules possible, personalized cards can be made. Goal of Game: To earn the most Green Apple cards.

Apples to Apples has one HUGE flaw. You cannot play it without at least four people. It just needs that many to make it any good. However, if you have four or more people, preferably more, it can be one of the best ice-breaker games around.

Apples to Apples is another card game. In a set you get Green Apple cards and Red Apple cards. Red Apples are nouns, Green Apples are adjectives. In a standard game, each player is dealt a number of Red Apple cards, which they keep hidden from the other players. Then each player takes turns being "the judge". When you are a judge, you put aside your Red Apple cards and pick a Green Apple card. You then read the Green Apple card aloud to the other players and place it face-up on the table. Then the other players pick out Red Apple cards that seem appropriate for that card and place them face-down on the table. The judge takes all the Red Apple cards, mixes them up, then reads them aloud (usually to much giggling). The judge then picks "the best" card, and whoever claims it gets to keep the Green Apple card. When one player gets a pre-determined number of Green Apple cards, that player wins.

This game requires a "for instance". The judge picks out a Green Apple card with the word "Fabulous". So she reads it: "Fabulous: marvelous, wonderful, incredible" and sets it down on the table. All the other players look at their Red Apples to see if any of them are "Fabulous". Player one has "Las Vegas", "Cockroaches", "Lollipops", "A Sunset", and "Bonbons". Thinking of the judge's sweet tooth, player one sets "Bonbons" face-down on the table. Player two has "Alfred Hitchcock", "Canada", "My Bedroom", "The Milky Way", and "Infomercials". Whenever a card has "my" on it, the "my" refers to the judge. So in this case, the bedroom would be the judge's bedroom. Player two thinks he has a bad hand for "Fabulous", but sets down "The Milky Way". Player three has "Michelle Pfeiffer", "Hairballs", "The 1970s", "Mice", and "Billboards". Knowing that the judge thinks the 70's were awful, player three goes for the funny factor and sets down "The 1970s". The judge then takes the three cards, mixes them up good so she doesn't know who put each one down, and then reads each one. After some thought, the judge picks "Bonbons".

The fun comes in when you "play to the judge". You are trying to win the Green Apple, so you want to pick something that will impress the judge, or amuse the judge. Some games turn into pure laugh-a-thons early on. Some judges are sticklers who decide that "best" means "closest". Some judges will just pick whatever makes them laugh hardest. Because the judge is always right, winning the game means being able to read the judge as well as reading your cards. This one is a must for parties.