Cranium (board game)
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| Cranium | |
|---|---|
 A Cranium game in progress |
|
| Players | 4 + |
| Age range | 12 years and up |
| Setup time | approx. 2 minutes |
| Playing time | > 65 minutes |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skills required | Creativity, General knowledge, Dice rolling |
Cranium is a party board game. Based on Ludo (board game), Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998. Trade marked Cranium is manufactured by Hasbro subsidiary Cranium, Inc. Cranium is billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain." Unlike many other party games, Cranium includes a wide variety of activities.
Dave Edelstein of Foundation Design created the packaging and brand identity for the game, and Gary Baseman, creator of the animated series Teacher's Pet, did the art.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Cranium involves teams advancing around the board toward "Cranium Central" in the center, by doing activities on the Cranium cards. The cards are divided into four decks, and each deck involves a skill that players will need to use to complete the activity. Each deck is divided into several specific activities.
Creative Cat - involves artistic skill
- Cloodle - A player must sketch a clue for their teammates to guess, just like Pictionary. (No gestures)
- Sensosketch - Just like Cloodle, but the artist's eyes must be closed while sketching.
- Sculptorades - A player must sculpt a clue with clay for their teammates to guess. (The game includes "Cranium Clay" for this activity.) (No gestures or acting of any kind is permitted)
Data Head - involves knowledge of trivia
- Factoid - The team must confer to answer a trivia question, just like in Trivial Pursuit.
- Selectaquest - Just like Factoid, except the team will choose their answer from four different choices.
- Polygraph - The team must decide whether the statement given on the card is true or false.
Word Worm - involves language skills
- Spellbound - The team must choose one person to spell the word given on the card (on the first try, the team is not allowed to confer the word).
- Gnilleps - Gnilleps, which is "spelling" backwards, is just like Spellbound, except the word must be spelled backwards (without writing it down).
- Lexicon - The team must choose, from four different choices, the definition to an obscure word.
- Zelpuz - In Zelpuz, which is an anagram for "Puzzle," the team is given an anagram puzzle and must unscramble the letters to find the answer. A clue is given with the puzzle to make it easier.
- Blankout - Written on the card is a word, phrase, or title with some letters left out. The team must fill in the blanks to find the answer. A clue is given with the puzzle to make it easier.
Star Performer - involves performance skills
- Cameo - A player must act out silent clues to get his teammates to guess the word, just like in Charades. (No gestures are allowed as in how many words there are, nor giving signs that your team is on the right track.)
- Copycat - The clue on the card is a famous person or character, which the performer must get their teammates to guess by imitating the person's actions and speech. (teammates may not ask questions, nor is the performer allowed to answer them. The performer is not allowed to say proper names.) Teammates can say anything but not use proper names or places.
- Humdinger - The clue on the card is a famous tune, which the performer must get their teammates to guess by humming or whistling it. (The performer must know the tune, s/he is not permitted to pronounce each word for his/her teammates to guess.)
[edit] Rules
Players are divided into two, three, or four teams; each team picks a mover and puts it on the "Planet Cranium" Start space.
The rules of Cranium state that the team with the player whose birthday is coming up next starts the game. Play then continues clockwise to the next team.
[edit] On a Team's Turn
On each turn, a team has a chance to complete an activity on one card and advance along the board. The dice is rolled to determine what space is moved to if the team successfully completes a color card they have chosen. Whether the activity is completed successfully or not, turn always ends after one card.
If the team completes an activity successfully before time runs out, they roll the color-faced dice and move to the next space of the color they roll, or to the next Planet Cranium space, whichever is closer. If they roll purple, they go to the next Planet Cranium space.
[edit] Scenic Path and Fast Track
A team's first activity on a Planet Cranium space, including the start space, determines whether they will take the "scenic path" or the "fast track" to the next Planet Cranium space. If they complete their first activity on a Planet Cranium space successfully before time runs out, they will take the inside fast track to the next Planet Cranium space. If they do not complete their first activity successfully, or if time runs out, they will not be able to take the fast track, and, when they do complete an activity successfully to get off the Planet Cranium space, they will have to take the longer scenic path to the next Planet Cranium space.
[edit] Club Cranium
On some of the Creative Cat and Star Performer cards, there is a "Club Cranium" symbol. When one of these cards is drawn, every team competes and has one of its members do the activity for them. Acting is to be performed in front of all the teams. Each team may guess the answer by looking at anyone performing. Same goes for sensosketches and cloodles. Whichever team gets it first gets to roll the die and move, and play continues with the team who the Club Cranium card was originally for. If no one guesses the answer before time runs out, no one moves and play continues with the team whose turn it was. If your team gets a Club Cranium card correct while on a Planet Cranium, you may move on the fast track if it was your first activity while on the Planet Cranium; if your first activity on a Planet Cranium is a Club Cranium and you do not win it, you still try for the fast track on your next turn. The only penalty for not getting a Club Cranium right is not being able to take an extra move.
[edit] Cranium Central
Around the "Cranium Central" space in the center of the board are four black spaces, each with the name of one of the decks on it. Before a team can go into Cranium Central, they must collect one card from each deck by moving around these spaces.
When a team reaches the end of the path, they must place their mover on the black space that with the deck name that corresponds to the color of their roll. If they roll purple, they may decide which black space to start on. They continue play in the normal fashion, except that when they complete an activity successfully, they keep the card, and instead of rolling the die, they move clockwise to the next black space.
Once the team has a card from each deck, they may move into Cranium Central. Once they are in Cranium Central, on their turn, they will receive an activity from the deck that the other teams decide on. If they do not complete the activity successfully, they must wait until their next turn, when the other teams will pick another activity for them, either from the same deck or another deck. Once the team successfully completes an activity while in Cranium Central, they have won the game.
[edit] Expansions and spinoffs
- Booster Boxes
- Boxes of cards (and clay) sold separately from the game that contain a new deck of each type of card. As of 2007, Booster Boxes 1 and 2 are available, along with a special New York edition pack.
- Cadoo
- A kids' version of the game that has some elements of tic-tac-toe.
- Cranium Turbo Edition
- A version of Cranium designed for a faster game.
- Cranium
- The Family Fun Game': A game similar to the original Cranium with some minor changes.
- Cranium Wow
- A similar game to the original with new cards and activities from Cranium Turbo.
- Cranium Kabookii
- A video game version available on the Wii platform. Activities comprise a mixture of some from the original game and new games better suited for a video game environment.
