| Publisher(s) | Hasbro |
|---|---|
| Players | 4+ |
| Setup time | approx. 2 minutes |
| Playing time | > 35 minutes |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skill(s) required | Creativity, General knowledge |
Cranium is a party game created by Whit Alexander and Richard Tait in 1998, after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. Richard left his job at Microsoft.
Cranium is a party game created by Whit Alexander and Richard Tait in 1998, after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. Richard left his job at Microsoft, convincing his friend and co-worker Whit Alexander to join him in the creation of Cranium. Cranium, manufactured by Hasbro subsidiary Cranium, Inc., is billed as 'The Game for Your Whole Brain'. Unlike many other party games, Cranium includes a wide variety of activities. Giorgio Davanzo handles packaging and branding for the game, and the artwork is by cartoonist Gary Baseman.
Board[edit]
The board is laid out as a circuit, consisting of different color spaces. Each color corresponds to a question card category. Purple 'Planet Cranium' spaces give the team their choice of category.
- Cranium rules have the option of adjusting the board for longer or shorter play time. For a quick game fold the board so only four sections are showing. For a game lasting approximately one hour fold the board in a rectangle allowing eight sections to show.
- Cranium is a team game, so you'll need at least four people to play. Each team puts their game piece at start, which is a Planet Cranium (marked by the purple brain). This means that the team gets to pick their category, and it happens four times in a game. Using the timer to determine when guesses.
- The game was created by two former Microsoft employees, Richard Tait and Whit Alexander. It is presently marketed and manufactured by Hasbro under the Cranium Inc. Plentifun explains the several rules and instructions to play this board game.
- Cranium bills itself as the 'whole-brain' game. It's a party game that borrows from a host of other popular party games of recent times. Players have to successfully complete activities in each of four sections to win: In - Creative Cat: A player must clue a word to his or her teammates by drawing it, sculpting it in clay, or drawing it with his or her eyes closed.
Expansions and spinoffs[edit]
- Booster Boxes: boxes of cards (and clay) sold separately from the game that contain a new deck of each type of card. As of 2007, Booster Boxes 1 and 2 are available, along with a special New York edition pack.
- Cadoo: a children's 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 of Cranium, designed for two or more players to play cooperatively.
- Cranium Hullabaloo
- 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 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.
- Cranium The Family Fun Game: a game similar to the original Cranium with some minor changes.
- Cranium Turbo Edition: a version of Cranium designed for a faster game.
- Cranium Wow: a similar game to the original with new cards and activities from Cranium Turbo.
- Cranium Pop 5: a pop-culture focused version released in 2006 where one team assigns the point value (ranked from 1-5) the other team will earn depending on how the other team guesses the clue (through acting, drawing, humming, sculpting, or using letter cubes).
- Cranium Brain Breaks: 200 one-minute mini games.
- Cranium SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
- Cranium Partyland Park: Is a children's game by Vtech, and Vsmile
Cranium Dark Game Rules
External links[edit]
Cranium Dark Game Rules
- Cranium at BoardGameGeek
- Cranium. Boardgaming.com.
Cranium Card Game Rules
