Cranium (board game)

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Cranium
A Cranium game in progress
Players	4 +
Age range	12 years and up
Setup time	approx. 2 minutes
Playing time	> 65 minutes
Rules complexity	Low
Strategy depth	Low
Random chance	Medium
Skills required	Creativity, General knowledge, Dice rolling

Cranium™ is a party board game, invented by Whit Alexander and Richard Tait in 1998 and manufactured by Cranium, Inc. Cranium is billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain." Unlike many other party games, Cranium includes a wide variety of activities.

Dave Edelstein of Foundation Design created the packaging and brand identity for the game, and Gary Baseman, creator of the animated series Teacher's Pet, did the art.

1 Overview
2 Rules
3 Expansions and spinoffs
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Cranium involves teams advancing around the board toward "Cranium Central" in the center, by doing activities on the Cranium cards. The cards are divided into four decks, and each deck involves a skill that players will need to use to complete the activity. Each deck is divided into several specific activities.

Creative Cat - involves artistic skill

Cloodle - A player must sketch a clue for his teammates to guess, just like Pictionary. (No gestures)
Sensosketch - Just like Cloodle, but the artist's eyes must be closed while sketching.
Sculptorades - A player must sculpt a clue with clay for his teammates to guess. (The game includes "Cranium Clay" for this activity.) (No gestures or acting of any kind is permitted)

Data Head - involves knowledge of trivia

Factoid - The team must confer to answer a trivia question, just like in Trivial Pursuit.
Selectaquest - Just like Factoid, except the team will choose their answer from four different choices.
Polygraph - The team must decide whether the statement given on the card is true or false.

Word Worm - involves language skills

Spellbound - The team must choose one person to spell the word given on the card (on the first try, the team is not allowed to confer the word).
Gnilleps - Gnilleps, which is "spelling" backwards is just like Spellbound, except the word must be spelled backwards (without writing it down).
Lexicon - The team must choose, from four different choices, the definition to an obscure word.
Zelpuz - The team is given an anagram puzzle and must unscramble the letters to find the answer. A clue is given with the puzzle to make it easier.
Blankout - Written on the card is a word, phrase, or title with some letters left out. The team must fill in the blanks to find the answer. A clue is given with the puzzle to make it easier.

Star Performer - involves performance skills

Cameo - A player must act out silent clues to get his teammates to guess the word, just like in Charades. (No gestures are allowed as in how many words there are, nor giving signs that your team is on the right track.)
Copycat - The clue on the card is a famous person or character, which the performer must get his teammates to guess by imitating the person's actions and speech. (teammates may not ask questions, nor is the performer allowed to answer them. The performer is not allowed to say proper names.)
Humdinger - The clue on the card is a famous tune, which the performer must get his teammates to guess by humming or whistling it. (The performer must know the tune, he/she is not permitted to pronounce each word for his/her teammates to guess.)

[edit] Rules

Players are divided into two, three, or four teams; each team picks a mover and puts it on the "Planet Cranium" Start space.

The rules of Cranium state that the team with the player whose birthday is coming up next starts the game. Play then continues clockwise to the next team.

[edit] On a Team's Turn

On each turn, a team has a chance to complete an activity on one card and advance along the board. Whether the activity is completed successfully or not, turn always ends after one card.

When the team's mover is on the start space or any other "Planet Cranium" space, they may decide which deck they want to do an activity from. Otherwise, they must do an activity from the deck that corresponds to the color space they are on (Blue = Creative Cat, Red = Data Head, Yellow = Word Worm, Green = Star Performer).

If the team completes an activity successfully before time runs out, they roll the color-faced die and move to the next space of the color they roll, or to the next Planet Cranium space, whichever is closer. If they roll purple, they go to the next Planet Cranium space.

[edit] Scenic Path and Fast Track

A team's first activity on a Planet Cranium space, including the start space, determines whether they will take the "scenic path" or the "fast track" to the next Planet Cranium space. If they complete their first activity on a Planet Cranium space successfully before time runs out, they will take the inside fast track to the next Planet Cranium space. If they do not complete their first activity successfully, or if time runs out, they will not be able to take the fast track, and, when they do complete an activity successfully to get off the Planet Cranium space, they will have to take the longer scenic path to the next Planet Cranium space.

[edit] Club Cranium

On some of the Creative Cat and Star Performer cards, there is a "Club Cranium" symbol. When one of these cards is drawn, every team competes and has one of its members do the activity for them. Acting is to be performed in front of all the teams. Each team may guess the answer by looking at anyone performing. Same goes for sensosketches and cloodles. Whichever team gets it first gets to roll the die and move, and play continues with the team who the Club Cranium card was originally for. If no one guesses the answer before time runs out, no one moves and play continues with the team whose turn it was. If your team gets a Club Caranium card correct they move on the scenic route, even if the team moving has been on the Planet Cranium for at least one turn. The only penalty for not getting a Club Cranium right is not being able to take an extra move.

[edit] Cranium Central

Around the "Cranium Central" space in the center of the board are four black spaces, each with the name of one of the decks on it. Before a team can go into Cranium Central, they must collect one card from each deck by moving around these spaces.

When a team reaches the end of the path, they must place their mover on the black space that with the deck name that corresponds to the color of their roll. If they roll purple, they may decide which black space to start on. They continue play in the normal fashion, except that when they complete an activity successfully, they keep the card, and instead of rolling the die, they move clockwise to the next black space.

Once the team has a card from each deck, they may move into Cranium Central. Once they are in Cranium Central, on their turn, they will receive an activity from the deck that the other teams decide on. If they do not complete the activity successfully, they must wait until their next turn, when the other teams will pick another activity for them, either from the same deck or another deck. Once the team successfully completes an activity while in Cranium Central, they have won the game.

[edit] Expansions and spinoffs

Refresher Boxes: boxes sold separately from the game that contain four brand new decks of cards. Booster Boxes 1 and 2 are currently available, along with a special New York edition pack that is for sale on their website.
Cadoo: a kids' version of the game
Hullabaloo: a children's movement game
Cariboo: a treasure hunt game for young children
Balloon Lagoon: a carnival-themed children's game
Turbo Edition: a version of Cranium designed for a faster game
Conga: a version of charades played with multiple media. Available in a metal tin.
Hoopla: a card game loosely based on Cranium. Available in a metal tin.
Zigity: a card game similar to Rummy printed on clear plastic cards
Bumparena: a game where players design the board. Similarly to Mouse Trap, each player takes a turn putting a new piece on the board. After that, they release the balls and try to get them in their spot.
The Family Fun Game': a game extremely similar to the original Cranium with some minor tweaks.
The Big Book of Outrageous Fun!: a large book with 40 pages of activities for children aged 7 and up. This also sparked four other books based upon each of the Cranium characters.
Whoonu: a game in which players must guess the other players' favorite objects.