| Spelinfo
October 2002
Frank Wils
The Netherlands
In a sturdy long box we find 432 cards
in handy compartments. These cards (normal card size)
are divided into 324 red and 108 green cards. On the
red cards are names of places, people, animals, plants
etc. For example: Titanic, Bill Clinton, Diamond, High
school bathroom. On the green cards we see descriptive
words, like sexy, fun, sweet, creepy, etc. The cards
are decorated with a single drawing of a laughing apple
(art by cartoonist John Kovalic) and a fitting humoristic
or light ironic description as well as some synonyms.
To be complete, there are also 3 red and
1 green card left empty. You can make these however
you want. Of course, there are rules in the box too.
These rules are very clear and very short.
To read them one time is sufficient to play the game.
So, you can start within 10 minutes. There is also room
for some variants in the rules. The most up-to-date
information can be found on the company's website.
Then to the game itself. Compare apples
with apples, not with pears. That is the intention behind
this game. The game follows a few short steps every
turn:
-Decide who will be the judge for the first
round. Every other player gets 7 red cards.
-The judge draws a green card. The other
players now have to play a red card(s) (face down) they
think the judge will associate with the descriptive
on the green card. They will have to do this as quick
as they can, because the last card(s) to hit the table
is out of play.
-The judge shuffles the cards and looks
at them. He chooses the red card with the name/object
he thinks most fitting to the red card. The player who
played this red card gets the green card as reward.
Depending on the number of players, 4 to 8 cards are
needed to win.
-The red cards played are discarded and
the role of judge moves one place left. All players
draw cards to fill there hand up to 7.
| Summary |
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Plusses |
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Easy to learn
Lots of interaction and discussion
Great with more players
Simple but effective layout |
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Minuses |
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Play with at least 4, better with
more |
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Conclusion |
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Apples
to Apples is one of the more ideal party games.
It is excellent with more players, it is easy
to learn and highly interactive. The combinations
between red and green cards are bound to get a
lot of discussion and laughs. Because last played
card(s) don't count, people play with speed and
don't think to long. This also makes for fun combo's.
Of course, not every judge will judge
as thought and some players will know each other
better, but the changing roles and the large number
of cards minimize these points. This is one of
those games where playing really is more fun than
winning. This makes it ideal too to play with
non-gamers.
Only to bad you need so many people
to play... |
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