This board game won't make you bored!!! (Cranium Family Fun Edition)

Member Name: jd001

Product:	Cranium Family Fun Edition
Date:	16/06/09 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun for with family and friends

Disadvantages: None

My daughter got this board game for Christmas about 3 years ago and it is one that has come to the caravan with us every single time since, where we seem to do most of our 'board gaming'.

GAME INFORMATION
Cranium is designed for players aged 8 to Adult and to play you must have 4 or more players (you play in two teams of two or more). Inside the box you get four different coloured boxes each containing a hundred cards. The aim of the game like most board games is to reach the end of the board, but unlike most board games you roll the dice at the end of your turn and only if your team successfully complete an activity first. Basically you follow a path around the board and the path is made up of coloured spaces, a colour to match each of the boxes of cards plus some purple squares. You start on a purple square and the game starts when the first team chose an colour card to start off with, each pack of coloured cards has a different name and represents a different kind of activity as listed below;

Red - Data head - Contains multiple choice questions, true or false statements and things to memorise etc.
Yellow - Word worm - Contains anagrams and other word games etc.
Green - Star performer - contains charades type activities, name that tune type humming games etc.
Blue - Creative Cat - Contains, activities involving sculpting or drawing with a twist etc.

If your team fail to complete their activity successfully they don't get to roll the dice so remain on the first purple square, if they pass then they get to roll the dice and head off round the board, the colour they land on determines which colour activity they will have to take part in on their next turn to decide whether they get to roll the dice and if they land on purple they get to chose again.

Also in the box you will find a tub of cranium clay, 4 flipper frogs, 6 cranium cubes with letters on, a pad and a pencil which are needed to complete some of the challenges and also a dice and an egg timer as all challenges have a set time limit.

MY OPINION
This really is a great game for all the family to play together or even to add a bit of fun to a night in with friends, it seems quite similar to pictionary but with many more activities making it much more interesting, we always end up having fun when we play this and never fail to all end up laughing at ourselves as well as each other. There is something so funny about watching a team run round in a state of giddy panic, when the instructions have told them to find three objects, as listed on the card, in a set time limit, looking for something twisted or something green and missing lots of perfect examples in their excitement.

There is a lower age limit of eight on this game and a lot of the tasks would be too difficult for somebody any younger than that age, but we always manage to include the younger ones by splitting them between the teams and letting them take part in the easier challenges or with older players as part of a group task, although this does only really work well if there are a few in each team, we played once with two adults, an 8 year old and a 5 year old and lets just say it was a disaster, although I was with the 5 year old the challenges which required 2 players were just too difficult and the other team had a definite unfair advantage.

This game has cheered us up after many a rainy day in Anglesey and can even stop the arguments between my two eldest daughters who are just 'at that age where they would argue over a banana skin!!!' and definitely encourages them to work as a team, I've found its also a good confidence boost or good to break the ice between friends who haven't met before or don't know each other very well, once you've raced to flip plastic frogs into a bowl made out of clay together any shyness of awkwardness just melts away. Each game takes around 45 minutes to play right through which is long enough to have a decent game which satisfies the kids or great for refreshing the drinks and starting again.

All in all this definitely one I would recommend to cheer up a rainy day, to play with family or with friends over a few drinks, simply an all round fun experience.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
I have just searched for this game on the internet and it is available from Amazon for £14.98, you can also buy Cranium booster boxes containing 800 card with brand new activities and questions on and these are available for around £9.98 on Amazon new and less for used and also appear frequently on e-bay.

Summary: Great for all different social activites