Cranium is a lovely game which is similar to Balderdash in many ways but is more of a game for the hands and minds. So as you progress around the board you have little challenges for making plasticine models, draw shapes etc. That is the classic Cranium and this is Cranium for the younger generation without the plasticine but with plenty of fun and frolics to keep yout energetic 6 year olds entertained.

Cranium Hullabaloo and is that the most appropriate name ever for a game? The game leads to a lot of noise, a lot of shouting and a lot of excitement and occassionally a few tears but you know children!!

The basics

Hullaballoo is a classic party game for children, the game comes with a plastic container which takes three batteries and a set of colourful pads of differing colours and different activities.

The start of the game.

Place the plastic controller in the centre of the room and place the coloured squares around the room with one colour in each corner of the room. Then turn on the machine and let the madness descend, basically the controller plays music at a relatively slow pace at first and instructs your child in what to do, when they land on a coloured square they have to do the activity on that square. These area all fun, take a lot of exercise and lots of noise and have the tendency to tire the child out without them noticing. The music per rounds speeds up but the instructions from the machine are always clear and each game last about 10 minutes until the machine cries freeze and the child on the winning square is announced.

There are rules and guides but as with most games involving children these rules last about 5 minutes before being binned and they start making up their own rules. The only one that is ever agreed is the end winning square and who is the winner, the winner then gets to do a dance, jump up and down or whatever the instructions say, with that the game takes a pause then instructs everyone to find a square and begins again.

As with all the best games, the possibilities are endless so the children are told to get to the next square, crawling backwards is my favourite becuase it always leads to collisions. The children I've seen playing the game love it and if you can play it in a big room then the mayhem is something to see but as a game for children to laugh, love and stimulate them then this is the best there is.

This is the perfect game for children and for adults when their loved ones want an early night after running around all day.