Ron Olivier, Sr.
United States
North Smithfield
Rhode Island
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Let's get this straight, right now. The game of Cranium will most likely never reach my list of favorites. But this game CAN be a very fun play in the right setting. This is a party game (a genre which I am not overly fond of) that blatantly 'borrows' ideas from many other games. But because the categories are so diverse, this game can actually succeed in ways that some of the games that it imitates could not.
The components are nothing to write home about, though the retro-modern look of the game is pretty cool. The game board's outer track is reminiscent of an old Pictionary game I used to have, while the little boxes of cards look more like Trivial Pursuit leftovers. The other 'active' component is a glob of purple Play-Doh for 'sculpting'. The control mechanisms are an 8-sided multi-colored die controls the movement of your little plastic person tokens, and a one-minute sand timer.
The board is laid out with two tracks that meet in four separate places. When on the spaces where the tracks meet, if you answer your FIRST question correctly, you may take the fast track (fewer spaces) to the next one. If not, you take the slower track. When you reach the end of the track you graduate to the center of the board where you must correctly answer one challenge in each of the four areas, followed by a final category that is picked by your opponents (another mechanic cloned from Trivial Pursuit).
This game is made to be played by teams, not individuals. Through the course of the game each team will be called on to draw, sculpt, hum, imitate, play charades, and think through a variety of brain teasers. Most of the challenges are pretty easy, with a couple of tricky ones thrown in for good measure. Because the challenges vary so widely, most team players will have a chance to shine in some areas. For this reason, the game is engaging to more people than games like Trivial Pursuit or Win, Lose, or Draw, which concentrate on one activity only.
But like so many games of it's ilk, I find that the 'board game' portion of this is the weakest link. In my opinion, this would be more fun sitting around with a group of people, picking random cards and doing what it says. To move around a board and have to pick this or that kind of card and getting bonus turns, short and long tracks, etc. all just get in the way of the fun.
Indeed, I must say that we had a fairly good time trying to whistle oldies tunes that the younger generation had never heard of, sculpt a purple play-doh banana, hum Elvis Presley's songs..etc. But it began to get old by the time we reached the inner track.
Be forewarned: If you have a group of gamers that regularly convene to tax their minds on games of strategy or conquest, this game will not see the light of day too often. It's a bit long to use as a 'filler', and a bit too lightweight to be used as a main game. We had a special night where we took out a bunch of games, and this was one of four that we played (along with Lost Cities, Carcassonne, and a single hand of Uno). We all enjoyed Cranium that night, but no one was suggesting it for our next meeting.
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