Josh M
United States
Minneapolis
Minnesota
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I heard about this game and had to try it out. We've played the ubiquitous Apples to Apples a number of times and while it was kind of fun, there were always some stickler folks who judged when the words matched rather than the humorous response. This game would seem to not be a welcome inclusion to those types of players.
Starting off, I tried to purchase this game off of Amazon.com, it was sold out (end of January 2012) and there was a note that a reprinting would be available in February (Amazon has been since updated to say March).
The next option is to go directly to the game's website and use their PDFs to print them out at your own leisure, or toil as the case was. I downloaded the two main PDFs which included the black questions and the white answer cards. I sent them over to my local FedEx Store (FKA Kinko's) and had them printed on a B&W printer on 110# card stock for less than $7 with tax and including the printing instruction sheet because I was dumb.
The next step is getting a handy dandy slicing machine and cutting 3 sheets at once. Anything more and you'll have issues with thickness. Once that is done, about an hour and a half later if you have a medium interest in perfection like me. If you care less, maybe 30 minutes, if you really care about perfection, then give it a year or so. The printing instructions that I printed out came in handy as I took that sheet with me to the local Container Store and got the listed container. Not in clear as they suggested, but in a purdy emerald green. Well worth the $1.69 bringing the total of this game to be less than $10. With the weight of paper, the cards fit over the top of the main part of the container and into the cap. I put all the white cards in the main part and the black cards into the cap and snap em together. Be forewarned that this solution is not elegant and I've mishandled the box & had cards fly out and about without warning. Which is a second game, 52 pickup.
The nice part of printing the game one's self is that the rules aren't included. You can chose your own parameters based on your audience and group size. Here were our "house rules".
1) First judge is picked at random or volunteers.
2) That person deals out 7 cards to every player, including themself.
3) If a player does not know what a card means (Adderall for instance) or if they feel it's just too offensive (Picking up girls at the abortion clinic) then they can trade it in for a new card with no penalty. If there were a penalty, like skipping a turn, it can detract from the fun for the already-stuck-in-the-mud, so why make it worse?
4) Players get a minute to pick a card and play it. No take-backsies. And they are responsible for replenishing their card back to 7.
5) The judge reads the answers outloud and picks the winner with the winner getting the black card.
6) The first person to get 5 black cards is the winner.
Those were the rules we used for 4-8 players. For 9-12 players, the first person to 3 black cards was the winner.
We first brought this out on a work reward vacation. A 4 night cruise from Miami to Key West to Cozumel and back. The second day at sea we brought this out after lunch and played as a foursome in the ship's game room. This location turned out to be the best and worst of places to try out the game. Here we were, loaded with one of the most offensive games, in a room full of people properly playing Bridge and Cribbage. Nice people who probably don't want to hear some of the cards. That type of underlying tension brought about what would be best described as the most rambunctious case of the church giggles. The kind where faces are ready, palms are sweaty and glances dart away from each other to keep the tide of laughter from rolling up to the surface.
After the 2 rounds of that game and playing a couple others, we went on our separate ways. By dinner time, rumors and stories of the game had reached everyone's ears and we had requests to bring it out again for all to enjoy. Now we knew several of the co-workers were very conservative and that they wouldn't enjoy the game. We warned them straight off that while they're welcome to join in, this might not be their cup of tea. They politely said that they were interested and after watching the first round, they disappeared from the room. There were 9 of us playing then with 6 onlookers who had almost as much fun helping pick out cards with the players and laughing along with the answers.
We found several things while playing:
1) Shorter games are nice as it allows a free reset off all one's cards.
2) Some cards are duds in comparison to others. Then again, these cards would be huge hoots in a game of Apples to Apples.
3) Hearing one's boss say "the fleshy funbridge" is something worth recording.
4) The beginning of the game will be more funny because the best cards get played then.
5) As has been said about this game, it's neither for the faint of heart nor the young'uns. Dark sense of humor is a must.
This is a great ice-breaker game for a group of friends before starting a night of gaming. This is something that can warm up a crowd and while winning is nice, the journey is what everyone will remember.
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Ryan James
United States
Garden City
Michigan
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stpauler wrote: 4) The beginning of the game will be more funny because the best cards get played then.
I feel like there is a large enough pile of cards to choose from, that often times the real best of the best don't find their way out until mid-game to late-game. We had a group of 8 or so playing one time, and went through every single card, and the very last card was hilarious!! I guess it's all opinion based, but I don't think there is a problem with the "funny" cards coming out at the beginning.
Great review!
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Ted Magdzinski
United States
Kalamazoo
Michigan
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Played it with my fiance, her brother and parents.
It was hilariously awkward. This game is what adults wanted Apples to Apples to be.
Top combo of the evening:
"I never fully understood letting yourself go until I encountered women in yogurt commercials."
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