Apples to Apples a fruitful Jewish game

BY: ARLENE FINE Senior Staff Reporter Cleveland Jewish News

Looking for an afikomen gift that the whole family can enjoy? Check out the Jewish version of the popular card game Apples to Apples.

The clever game is the brainchild of Alice Langholt, the co-curriculum coordinator at Park Synagogue’s Wolf Religious School.

Always looking for creative ways to engage her students, Langholt developed the initial Jewish version of the party game as an interactive teaching tool.

The educator never thought the game would go beyond her classroom use. But when she played it with other Jewish educators, they thought it was “a hoot” and immediately saw the possibilities of taking it out of the classroom and into the retail market.

Langholt contacted Abe Blumberger, owner of Jewish Education Toys (JET) and explained her version of the game to him. The toymaker immediately saw the possibilities.

Since there was already an English Isles, German, Yiddish and Bible version of Apples to Apples, Blumberger knew there could be a market for the Jewish version as well.

Blumberger contacted Al Waller, the owner of Out of the Box (maker of Apples to Apples), and discussed licensing rights for a Jewish version. After Waller saw the Jewish prototype, he agreed to award the licensing rights to JET.

But as much as she was elated about this project she calls her “baby,” Langholt had quite a juggling act at home. As a part-time educator and the mother of four young children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 5 months, she only had the evening hours from 9-11 p.m. to devote to developing the game.

Langholt went through each card of the original game and chose only those that could be transferred to the Jewish version. With help from her students, friends and fellow teachers, Langholt began writing cards unique to the Jewish experience.

To fuel her imagination, Langholt pored over The Jewish Book of Why and Leo Rosten’sThe Joy of Yiddish. She also went on the Internet and searched for famous Jews in sports and in pop culture. Whenever she could, she inserted a bit a Cleveland.

Her Superman card alludes to two Jewish boys from Cleveland. and the Religious School card contains the logo from Agnon, her children’s day school, that reads, “Private education, Jewish values.”

Blumberger, who is Orthodox, had veto power over the cards and told Langholt when something needed a rewrite.

She had to convince him that a card with Sammy Davis Jr.’s name was okay, but she had to discard the Madonna card. On the King David card, Langholt had written “Biblical King popular with the ladies.” Blumberger made her change it to “Well-liked biblical king in ancient Jerusalem.”

Although the game has been out for a few months, the initial run of 5,000 games has sold out, and another 5,000 are on the way. Langholt gets royalties on each game sold and is “very proud” of the game’s success, she says.

The University Heights resident is currently working on a junior version of the game. “Kids 12 and under don’t understand grown-up references to “Bette Midler,” “Hank Greenberg,” “Woody Allen,” and “Zen,” she says. “But there will be lots of lively Jewish content in the kids’ game as well.”

Apples to Apples Jewish version sells for $24.99 and is available online at Amazon.com., locally at Judaica stores, and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.