Cranium (board game)
Encyclopedia
Cranium is a party
board game
based on Ludo
. Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998 after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. He left his job at Microsoft, convincing friend and co-worker Whit Alexander to join him in the creation of Cranium. Cranium is manufactured by Hasbro
subsidiary Cranium, Inc.
Cranium is billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain." Unlike many other party games, Cranium includes a wide variety of activities.
Giorgio Davanzo created the packaging and brand identity for the game, and Gary Baseman
, creator of the animated series Teacher's Pet
, did the art.
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.
These blue cards are, as the name suggests, creative activities. Cloodle cards require a team member to draw on a piece of paper while the other team member(s) attempt to guess the word or phrase, much like Pictionary
. Sensosketch cards are the same but the drawer must have their eyes closed. Sculpturades requires one player to mold the included putty into shapes for the other player(s) to guess the word or phrase being sculpted. All of the blue cards have vague hints.
Data Head
These red cards revolve around, as the name suggests, knowledge of data and facts. Selectaquest cards ask a question and present four possible multiple choice answers, of which your team must choose the correct answer. Factoid cards present a question that your team must answer outright, and a third type of card requires your team to evaluate a statement to determine whether it is true or false.
Word Worm
These yellow cards are themed around words, spelling, and anagrams. There are two types of spelling involved in this category; one type involves one team member spelling a moderately difficult word (such as vacuum) correctly on the first try without writing down the word. Another type of spelling challenge in Word Worm is Gnilleps; again, a moderately difficult word (such as achieved) must be spelled correctly on the first attempt by one team member with the caveat that they must spell it backwards. Lexicon cards require teams to correctly identify the definition of a word out of four possibilities, usually a relatively unused word such as syzygy or bedizen. Blankout requires the team to use a vague hint to fill in the blank words with only some letters filled in. Finally, Zelpuz requires your team to use a vague hint to re-arrange the letters in an anagram to form the correct word or phrase.
Star Performer
These green cards are themed around acting out clues with a vague hint such as in charades
, acting and speaking like a famous person or fictional character but without using proper names, or humming or whistling a popular tune to get your group to guess the song, such as with Hummdingers.
If the team completes an activity successfully before timer 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.
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.
Cadoo: A kids' version of the game that has some elements of tic-tac-toe
.
Conga: A version with a slightly older target audience than Cadoo. Incorporates a musical timer and magnetic drawing pad.
Cranium Turbo Edition: A version of Cranium designed for a faster game.
Cranium The Family Fun Game': A game similar to the original Cranium with some minor changes.
Cranium Wow: A similar game to the original with new cards and activities from Cranium Turbo.
Cranium Kabookii: A video game version available on the Wii
platform. Activities comprise a mixture of some from the original game and new games better suited for a video game environment.
Cranium Hoopla: A timed version of Cranium, designed for two or more players to play cooperatively.
Cranium Scribblish: Played very much like the game of telephone
. Players start by drawing a caption card from the deck and must draw the caption, then pass to another player who captions what they believe the other person has drawn, then draw said caption. Winners correctly guess which drawing started as their own.
Party game
Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...
board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
based on Ludo
Ludo (board game)
Ludo is a simple board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to dice rolls. Like other cross and circle games, it is similar to the Indian Pachisi, but simpler...
. Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998 after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. He left his job at Microsoft, convincing friend and co-worker Whit Alexander to join him in the creation of Cranium. Cranium is manufactured by Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
subsidiary Cranium, Inc.
Cranium, Inc.
Cranium, Inc. was a company founded in 1998 by two former Microsoft executives who created the Cranium . Richard Tait and Whit Alexander are the “brains” behind the board-game Cranium. After realizing that he always won at the game Pictionary, but lost more than frequently at the game Scrabble,...
Cranium is billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain." Unlike many other party games, Cranium includes a wide variety of activities.
Giorgio Davanzo created the packaging and brand identity for the game, and Gary Baseman
Gary Baseman
Gary Baseman is a contemporary artist who works in various creative fields, including illustration, fine art, toy design, and animation. He is the creator of the Emmy-winning ABC/Disney cartoon series, Teacher’s Pet, and the artistic designer of Cranium, a popular board game...
, creator of the animated series Teacher's Pet
Teacher's Pet (TV series)
Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...
, did the art.
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 board is laid out as a circuit, consisting of different coloured spaces. Each colour corresponds to a question card category. Purple "Planet Cranium" spaces gives the team their choice of category.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.
Card Categories
Creative CatThese blue cards are, as the name suggests, creative activities. Cloodle cards require a team member to draw on a piece of paper while the other team member(s) attempt to guess the word or phrase, much like Pictionary
Pictionary
Pictionary is a guessing word game designed by Robert Angel and first published in 1985 by Seattle Games Inc. The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates' drawings.-Objective:...
. Sensosketch cards are the same but the drawer must have their eyes closed. Sculpturades requires one player to mold the included putty into shapes for the other player(s) to guess the word or phrase being sculpted. All of the blue cards have vague hints.
Data Head
These red cards revolve around, as the name suggests, knowledge of data and facts. Selectaquest cards ask a question and present four possible multiple choice answers, of which your team must choose the correct answer. Factoid cards present a question that your team must answer outright, and a third type of card requires your team to evaluate a statement to determine whether it is true or false.
Word Worm
These yellow cards are themed around words, spelling, and anagrams. There are two types of spelling involved in this category; one type involves one team member spelling a moderately difficult word (such as vacuum) correctly on the first try without writing down the word. Another type of spelling challenge in Word Worm is Gnilleps; again, a moderately difficult word (such as achieved) must be spelled correctly on the first attempt by one team member with the caveat that they must spell it backwards. Lexicon cards require teams to correctly identify the definition of a word out of four possibilities, usually a relatively unused word such as syzygy or bedizen. Blankout requires the team to use a vague hint to fill in the blank words with only some letters filled in. Finally, Zelpuz requires your team to use a vague hint to re-arrange the letters in an anagram to form the correct word or phrase.
Star Performer
These green cards are themed around acting out clues with a vague hint such as in charades
Charades
Charades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to...
, acting and speaking like a famous person or fictional character but without using proper names, or humming or whistling a popular tune to get your group to guess the song, such as with Hummdingers.
Gameplay
On each turn, a team has a chance to complete an activity on one card and advance along the board. If the team is on a purple space (as all teams are on the start space), they can choose the first card from any of the four categories. If they are on a coloured space, the first card from the corresponding category is selected. If the team successfully completes the card they have chosen, the die is then rolled to determine what space the team moves to.Whether the activity is completed successfully or not, the turn always ends after one card.If the team completes an activity successfully before timer 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.
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.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. The same applies to 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 a team gets a Club Cranium card correct while on a Planet Cranium, they may move on the fast track if it was their first activity while on the Planet Cranium; if their first activity on a Planet Cranium is a Club Cranium and they do not win it, they still try for the fast track on their next turn. The only penalty for not getting a Club Cranium right is not being able to take an extra move.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.
Expansions and spinoffs
Booster Boxes: Boxes of cards (and clay) sold separately from the game that contain a new deck of each type of card. , Booster Boxes 1 and 2 are available, along with a special New York edition pack.Cadoo: A kids' version of the game that has some elements of tic-tac-toe
Tic-tac-toe
Tic-tac-toe, also called wick wack woe and noughts and crosses , is a pencil-and-paper game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The X player usually goes first...
.
Conga: A version with a slightly older target audience than Cadoo. Incorporates a musical timer and magnetic drawing pad.
Cranium Turbo Edition: A version of Cranium designed for a faster game.
Cranium The Family Fun Game': A game similar to the original Cranium with some minor changes.
Cranium Wow: A similar game to the original with new cards and activities from Cranium Turbo.
Cranium Kabookii: A video game version available on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
platform. Activities comprise a mixture of some from the original game and new games better suited for a video game environment.
Cranium Hoopla: A timed version of Cranium, designed for two or more players to play cooperatively.
Cranium Scribblish: Played very much like the game of telephone
Chinese whispers
Chinese whispers is one name for a game played around the world, in which one person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group...
. Players start by drawing a caption card from the deck and must draw the caption, then pass to another player who captions what they believe the other person has drawn, then draw said caption. Winners correctly guess which drawing started as their own.