Cranium: The Game For Your Whole Brain
Last night, H and I had some of my new friends over for dinner and some games. I have owned the game "Cranium" for some time now and have never gotten a chance to play it until last night. Let me just say that it's my new favorite party game. Well, okay, it ties with "Apples to Apples". Wait, wasn't my favorite "Settlers of Catan"? Jeez, I can't keep track! Oh yeah, back to Cranium...
So, this game is good for a laugh because different people have different ideas on how to convey a certain message. For instance, how in the hell do you act out "hormone" using only gestures and actions with no words. So, I start making kissy motions and then point to my ovaries - H should be able to figure it out, right? Wrong! I can't even remember all the guesses he gave, but none of them were even close. I love the "star performer" category, but acting things out is not my forte. I did do fairly well on the "humdingers" in which you have to hum a tune and your partner has to guess the title of the song. I was able to hum a Beach Boys tune and get H to guess "Hound Dog". My difficulties were answering the "data head" and the "creative cat" questions. Data head questions are simply trivia questions that are in three formats - either open-ended, multiple choice, or true/false. For creative cat, I was able to guess fairly well when H was the artist/sculptor, but I can't draw worth beans. The "word worms" were so-so, but mostly consisted of either spelling a semi-difficult word or spelling certain words backwards. I found that if I closed my eyes, I did much better at spelling words backwards.
The shocking moment of the evening was when Mike and I had to act out "Mae West" and all he did was say "howdy y'all" in a very girly voice and sit on his wife's lap and she guessed it correctly after about two tries! H and I sat there dumbfounded. However, we were able to surprise them with our Cranial abilities when H had to sculpt "Stonehenge" and I guessed it just from the letter "t" modeled in clay.
The slogan on the box is fairly accurate - it is a game for your whole brain. Every person has their own "thing" and this game is pretty good about catering to different abilities that people have. So, next time you have friends over for dinner, consider a rousing game of Cranium for some after dinner entertainment.
posted by Notta Wallflower at 9:33 PM
17 Comments:
Sounds like this game is fun. I am visiting the in-laws this week and I bought them cat bingo. It's bingo but instead of numbers they use cat breeds and pictures. I know it's dorky but these people are serious cat lovers and they put me to shame.
Angelique - That sounds interesting. I didn't think anyone could be a bigger cat lover than you. :-P Have a happy holiday break!
I have had much in common with pussies in the past, but the bird in the family will not allow it now.
Vest - :-O
I can't blame your current bird. :-P
Sounds like fun. We have Balderdash and Battle of the Sexes. Both trivia type games. Loads of fun.
Kari - I've never played either, but sometimes they play "Battle of the Sexes" on the radio. Some of those questions are really hard!
For instance, how in the hell do you act out "hormone" using only gestures and actions with no words.
Very simple. Act out "don't pay her." My family members and wife would get that. One of my all time fav jokes.
Games are fun. We mostly played card games though like Pinoccle (w/o Meld), Spades, and Hearts. Not a poker player though.
notta you cant play the game properly if they are not hard, have you ever had the soft question put to you?
ZS - Growing up, we played more card games, especially in the summer. More like Rummy and I tried to learn Tripoly by watching my grandparents, but I never caught on. As for my next game of Cranium, I'm going to have to think "outside the box".
Vest - I'm not sure what the "soft question" is, but I agree with the premise that a game is not fun unless it's challenging. :-P
We used to get together with friends to play games all the time. Unfortunately, all of our game playing friends have left town for more lucrative jobs. :(
I thought you were going to Tasmania, Vest? Don't try to shock Notta with your dirty old man act. We all know better!
TSHS - That is my most enjoyable time - when friends come to dinner and we play games. Don't worry about Vest - it takes a lot to shock me. :-P
notta wallflower and tshsmom.
Misinterpretation is the privilege of the reader.
More effort is used to solve a hard question, whereas the soft question of lower order so simple in its presentation will defeat the brightest of academics who rely entirely on their higher plane of thought.
In the study of languages one can safely assume nothing.
The use of my native language, so irreproachable does not consequently put me at fault.
A personal search may more than likely reveal you would not be afforded the privilege of, 'Heaving The First Rock'
Do you know as a simple example of the new form of grammars associated with constituent analysis, consider the following:
(1) Sentence -> NP + VP (noun phrase + verb phrase)Can you explain this.
You must beware of Humpty Dumpty syndrome. We should never take language apart without the intention and ability to put it back together again.
My four grand children have left for their respective disfunctional homes ( Divorces Galore) We have spent alco free days playing board games and U N O. WE cannot find the PUSSY Cat bingo game in the stores. Tomorrow I shall be feeding the displaced people of our area and then paying for their xmas purchases at the local Sally army op shop, my wife is sitting at her desk wondering how she can justify spending even more and will we have enough for our free loading relo's who will descend upon us on Christmas morn, I Find it painful trying to be polite to some of my relatives, we do have a few nice friends with whom we are able to have an amicable discourse.(without having it morally dissected. Now it is wait and see time, hope all goes well and of course meaning you too, Have a wonderful Christmas.
TASMANIA : ETD 1630 26 Jan 06,
Return 11 Feb 06.
How wonderful! Better then watching a movie. But I have to confess, I have never heard of this game before. I wrote the name down so I can get it. I have eleven grandchildren and I love finding things that will help them wake up their sleeping minds.
Thank you for dropping in ... I really appreciated the honesty in which you shared your story.
Happy Holiday or Merry Christmas ... Aside from all of that Notta, be blessed.
Nice putdown Vest! You sucked us right into that one, didn't you?
That's why I LOVE you!!
You and Rose give each other a hug from me.
Vest- Sorry for the misinterpretation - must be my dirty mind. :-P
Liquidplastic - I work with kiddos and there are a ton of good games that are challenging and build skills. It sort of depends on what ages they are, but Cranium is good. Also, Apples to Apples is good for vocabulary and general knowledge. For younger ones, I don't have too many, but I get some that are not mainstream (that help with categories and vocabulary).
On a side note, I enjoy your blogspot - I'm glad I visited. :-) Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
TSHS - I guess we should be careful about giving Vest a hard time. :-P
Vest is a wily old bear that thoroughly enjoyed setting us up! I KNOW he's giggling as we speak.
Enjoy your time with K and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
TSHS - Thank you for the well-wishes. Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas! :-)
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