Best Board Games of 2012

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Cranium
Cranium has made it to the Best Board Game of 2012 and is an amazing party game that brings friends and family together through 14 fun and riotous activities. You won't believe what your friends and family can do as your team hums, whistles, sketches, sculpts, acts, puzzles and even spells backwards to win.

Comment from a recent player: "I love cranium because it is so interactive. It takes the best elements from a bunch of different games and puts them together so it's unpredictable and fun and there is so many things you can do. It's great for a group because it keeps everyone interested. Fun for massive amounts of people or just 4"

Cranium's
outrageous activities are organized into four card decks: Creative Cat will have you sketching, sculpting with clay and even drawing with your eyes closed. Star Performer asks you to hum or whistle a tune, impersonate a celebrity or act out a clue. Word Worm requests you unscramble words, spell challenging ones, guess definitions, fill in the blanks and even spell backwards. Data Head stimulates your gray matter by testing your knowledge of trivia with provocative true/false queries and challenging multiple choice questions.

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Comment from Player: "It's fun to see that people come up with the same stuff or even better when people come up with some crazy stuff. Lots of laughs. The made up words are the best, becomes outrageously funny!"

The Game of SCATTERGORIES
has made the list of Best Board Games of 2012 and is a fast-paced word game that's a real crowd pleaser. Each player takes a category list with 12 categories--such as vegetable, state, president, things you throw away--and must write down the name of one item that fits into each category. Sounds easy enough, but each item has to begin with a specific letter that is determined when the 20-sided die is rolled. For instance, you roll the letter "R." Your answer list for the above categories might look something like this: rutabaga, Rhode Island, Roosevelt, rubbish, etc. You have to think fast, because a round lasts only 3 minutes! Players score points for each unique answer. --Alison Golder

Best Board Games says: Sure, this real estate trading game has been the world's most popular board game for more than six decades, but what makes this edition "deluxe"? For one thing, it brings back the sturdy wooden (not plastic) houses and hotels of years gone by. It also features an extra gold-colored train token, a handy holder for the Title Deed cards, and a banker's tray to keep your cash on hand. The cash, Community Chest, and Chance cards are all newly redesigned. And the 19-inch-by-19-inch board is stamped with a golden "Deluxe" arch. Featuring the original Atlantic City landmarks like Boardwalk and Park Place, this version is for the serious Monopoly lovers on your gift list. For further perspective on Monopoly, you can read about it in The Greatest Games of All Time and New Rules for Classic Games. --Rebecca Hughes

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Just how good are you at fooling your friends and family? Test your powers of deception with Malarky An Imponderables Bluffing Game
, the game in which players try to bluff answers to such questions as "What is the 'cottage' in cottage cheese?" and opponents try to determine the real answers from the ones that are simply Malarky An Imponderables Bluffing Game
. It's based on David Feldman's Imponderables series, which includes the books Imponderables: The Solution to the Mysteries of Everyday Life, Do Penguins Have Knees? An Imponderables Book, and How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch: An Imponderables Book. The game asks the questions that everyone wonders about from time to time. After a question is read aloud, one player (unbeknownst to the others) reads the correct answer, while the other players present bluff answers--as convincingly as they can--and then each player votes for the answer they think is correct. Points are awarded when your bluff answer receives votes or if you vote for the correct answer. --Lisa Whipple

Editorial Review
Voted a Best Party Game of the Year by Games magazine, Wise and Otherwise belongs next to Pictionary and Scrabble in your arsenal of fun. This creative, interactive game (read: everybody shouting, flailing, laughing) revolves around 500 cards, each emblazoned with five obscure and long-forgotten sayings from around the world. For example, one old Chinese saying is, "Don't add salt to a boatload of salt fish." One side of the card states, "Don't add salt to..." and it is the job of the players to devise probable endings. "Don't add salt to salty soup," for example. Or, "Don't add salt to the open wound." (The actual endings are listed on the flip sides of the cards.) A player wins points when other players vote for his or her special ending, or when the player guesses the actual ending, so the goal is to finish the proverb as convincingly as possible given the geographic region in question. Each elegant box contains one game board, 500 cards, six writing pads, six pencils, one die, and six player pawns. People who love language, oddly hilarious translations, offbeat proverbs, or just making people look foolish by guessing their very clever answers will adore this game. We predict: The one who plays this game ... will hear the laughter.

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Comment from Player: " Showing peoples artistic ability or lack of is so much fun. Than of course it doesn't matter if people are in tune with each other. My dad and brother and my uncle are terrible drawers, but they will start drawing something that no one can figure out and they know each other so well they get it. Hilarious!

Can you draw a cat? How about sketching something that conveys the word area or The English Patient? Can you do it in less than 60 seconds while your team yells the wrong answers at you and the other team is close to getting it right? Welcome to the game of Pictionary, in which players attempt to guess words from sketches made by other members of their team. The words can be objects, people, actions, places, animals, or the dreaded "difficult," although in the heat of an exciting game, even house can be difficult. Word cards are randomly selected, the timer is activated, and players begin scribbling franticly as they race to beat the clock. Correct answers are rewarded with a toss of the die and progression around the board toward victory. Pictionary veterans should note that this is an updated edition of the game, including more than 1,000 new words to challenge even the most experienced quick-draw artist. Pencils, sketchpads, and a 60-second timer are included. Pictionary is for four or more players. --Simon Leake

Editorial Review
One card. Five words. One minute's worth of sand trickling through the hourglass. In 25 Words or Less, can you describe the words on the card so that your teammates are able to guess them correctly? Selected as a Games magazine Game of the Year, 25 Words or Less is both fun and challenging. Will your teammates correctly shout out "squirrel!" in answer to your three-word clue "fluffy-tailed rodent"? On the same card, you'll have to provide clues for: wafer, Ethel Mertz, heater, and cord. If your teammates get all the answers within the word and time limits, your team wins the card. If not, the opposing team gets it. First team to win 10 cards wins the game. Next card. In 25 Words or Less: telegram, wheelchair, scarf, Pluto, and pave. Ready? --Wendy Slotboom

In an elegant, two-color format, punctuated with intriguing drawings, If . . . poses hundreds of questions ranging from practical to maddening, moral to hilarious--which, if read alone, inspire self-exploration; if shared, spark fascinating discussions at gatherings, dinner parties, or meetings.

Loaded Questions is a multiplayer game that tests your knowledge of other people's opinions as you race your opponents. By correctly guessing your fellow player's answers to probing, opinion-oriented questions, you advance around the board. Over 500 questions are included along with six pencils, one die, six game pieces, a score pad, and board.

Editorial Review
Don't Be A Dork uses your intelligence and talent for improvised gimmicks--separating the great from the goofy. No one is safe. It's interactive and participatory, so it's great for parties and social icebreakers. But beware: Your own smarts and innovation could work against you. Dorks will be exposed--and if you're not a dork, this game may change your status if you're not careful. You'll end up doing things in front of other people you never thought you would. The game can accommodate four individuals or teams, and is challenging for anyone over the age of 13. A roll of the die determines who will get the shakedown first. After that, it's dork against dork. The person who emerges least shamed is deemed the winner. --Diane Beall

Comment from Player: "Players that love cranium will love this game. It's so silly. You have to do silly stuff in this game. Rules and stunts keep it interesting and crazy. LOVE IT !!!

I got this board game for a family vacation with guests. We gave it a test run before packing it and found ourselves laughing and having fun but I'm not sure it would work for our vacation of adults with small kids. The game is rated for 12+ but I'd recommend even older (15+). I think this game would appeal best to the college crowd. Also, more people playing equals more fun.

There are 8 characters to choose from (super ninja monkey, Mr. Lugnut, Queen Spatula, etc.) and although it has colored coded categories like Cranium, they have a different spin. Each card has instructions with a Quelf Effect. Blue is Roolz (speak like a charismatic preacher every time you read a card aloud), purple is Showbiz (using interpretive dance as language, perform the following sentence), yellow is Stuntz (lick your elbow and then an opponent's elbow), red is Scatter Brainz (gives 2 topics to choose from to talk about - reasons you loved or had a crush on someone or reasons you have broken up with someone) and green is Quizzle (name the 3 ingredients of Tabasco Sauce). The instructions warn that if you do not think you can complete a card's instructions safely (?!) to just pick another one. This made us curious but have not found anything we considered dangerous so far.

TOTALLY AWESOME AND FUN GAME!


Comment from Player: "Love this game ! You think you know what someone would say and then they throw you off. Very fun to try to trick your friends and set them up into believing you said something"

Laughter is what it's all about in The Game of Things. In each round, players write an answer to a topic such as "Things you would like to ask a psychic" or "Things you shouldn't do with glue." Answers can be as outrageous and hilarious or as straight-forward and precise as you like. Everybody then takes turns trying to eliminate each other by guessing which player wrote which answer. The last person left wins the round. The Game of Things comes packaged in a wooden box with a sliding lid. Contents of The Game of Things: 300 Topic Cards, 1 Answer Pad, 1 Score Pad and Instructions.
Product Description
Laughter is what it's all about in The Game of Things. In each round, players write an answer to a topic such as "Things you would like to ask a psychic" or "Things you shouldn't do with glue." Answers can be as outrageous and hilarious or as straight-forward and precise as you like. Everybody then takes turns trying to eliminate each other by guessing which player wrote which answer. The last person left wins the round. The Game of Things comes packaged in a wooden box with a sliding lid. Contents of The Game of Things: 300 Topic Cards 1 Answer Pad 1 Score Pad Instructions.

WOW!! Played this game for this first time on Halloween! This game is HILARIOUS!! Each player takes turns reading a card...then ALL players write down their answer without showing anyone...the "reader" then reads the answers aloud and each person must try to guess whom might have wrote that particular answer. Questions like "What you might find in a library" gets a whole new meaning when you are with a group of great, funny, close friends! This game is great for any get together...the more the merrier with this outrageous game!!

Comment from Player: " I think it's really fun just because it reveals artistic ability and lack there of. Not great for large groups, but great for small groups"

The hilarious scribbling game of "How did this become that?" Grab your pencils and get ready to giggle. Everyone chooses a caption and draws a picture. You all then take turns adding drawings or captions. At the end can you guess which picture was yours when you started? Which one is funniest? Vote for your favorite to win! Cranium Scribblish includes six scrolls, 60 cards, timer, pad, die, tokens and instructions. It also includes 2 cell batteries. It's for 4 to 6 players.