So I believe that I will start my regular game reviews on Tuesday. This is due to a variety of reasons, but I think Tuesdays work for the best. This week I am going to review two games that are family friendly and have been around for a while. At least long enough that they have several spin offs.
The first is “Apples to Apples”. The specific version I am reviewing is “Apples to Apples Jr”. There are a multitude of spin offs ranging from the original to specific versions for specific audiences. I have only played the original and Jr. “Apples to Apples” is easy to learn, easy to play, and a great social game. This game is elegant in its simplicity and an overall good time. The number of players allowed to play is only limited by the space at the table and how long you want to spend playing. The game play is very subjective and house rules are a must. The idea of the game is to collect a certain number of green apple cards based on the number of players. The fewer players the fewer green apple cards needed. You obtain these cards by having one of your red apple cards chosen by the judge. I am getting ahead of myself though. To start the game, 7 red apple cards are dealt to each player. Then, one player is chosen as the first judge. Don’t worry; everyone gets a chance to be a judge. The judge then draws one green card and reads the adjective on it. The rest of the players then pick a red apple card from their hand that best matches the adjective read by the judge (the judge doesn’t get to give in a red apple card). These cards are submitted face down so the judge doesn’t know who submitted which card. The players then draw new red cards so that their hands have seven cards. The red apple cards contain people, places, things, events, etc. So the answers you get may be outrageous, which is half the fun. You may also find yourself in the position where none of the seven cards in your hand match the adjective. That is when I go for the laugh and just toss in the card I think is the worst card in my hand. The Judge then reads aloud all of the red apple cards and chooses the one he/she thinks best matches the green apple card. This is where house rules may be appropriate. If you have a very argumentative group, you may want a house rule that you cannot lobby for your card. Or you may want to encourage the interesting explanation of how concrete is fluffy (it happens). After the judge chooses the card he/she thinks is best, the player that submitted the card is revealed and that player gets the green card. The person to the left is the new judge and draws a green card and play continues until one player has the required amount of green cards.
“Apples to Apples” is extremely social and can be a hilarious addition to your game nights. It can get loud and boisterous, but it definitely makes for a lot of good conversations. I recommend this game to any family or group of friends. The only downside is that this game is not much fun with less than 5 players. You can play with four people, but it loses a little of its social dynamic. Over all, it is a great game.
The next game I am reviewing simply because I have never personally reviewed it and it has been around so long that people assume that everyone has heard of it, played it, and, at some point, owned it. The game is “Uno”. Once again there are a ton of versions of this game. “Uno”, “Uno H2O” (a water proof version), “Uno Attack” (a motorized version), and the list goes on. I own the first three. For this review, I will assume that you have played “Uno” at some point in your life and thus know the basic rules and game mechanics. Thus I will concentrate on the nontraditional versions and what makes them different and special when compared to the original. The first is “Uno H20”. This version was made for outdoor play. The cards are a waterproof plastic as is the case. My family uses it for our camping expeditions so we don’t have to worry about spills or rain ruining our game. As with every “Uno” variation there are some added cards. All the standard cards are there, but there are 2 new cards. Wild splash +1 and wild splash +2. These wild cards have the same rule for play as a wild draw 4. However, instead of the next player drawing the 1 or 2, everyone except the person who played the card draws the one or two cards. In other words, you splash the deck. It is an interesting mechanic that makes it a lot of fun.
The next version is “Uno Attack”. This version comes with a motorized deck holder. The deck is contained inside of it and the deck itself has changed greatly. There are no more draw two cards or draw four cards because of the motorization. Instead, you have hit 2, wild hit 1, and wild hit X. When one of these is played, you hit the button on the machine as prescribed by the card. Hitting the button is as random as the game itself. It may just beep at you and give you no cards or it may suddenly spew six or seven cards at you, you just don’t know until you hit the button. There have been times when we went ten hits with no cards coming out and there have been times when ten times in a row cards were given. This makes for some large hands. Thankfully, there are ways of dealing with this. The first is a new card called swap hands. There is one of these cards for each color and they allow the person who plays it to swap hands with any other player at the table they choose. This means that you could have said “Uno” and suddenly Bob across the table swaps hands with you and you now have a dozen cards. This can be combated with yet another card. This is the play all card. Once again, there is one per color. These cards allow you to discard all cards of that color from your hand in one play. This is really great when you have seven cards all of the same color and you get to drop all of them at once to win the game. These new mechanics mean that the game could last less than one round or (in our worst case scenario) over three hours. The great part is that it never stopped being fun. People would yell “Uno”, not be able to play, hit the button and suddenly have eight cards they had to get rid of. It really is random, but oh so fun.
In summary, “Apples to Apples” is a great social game. “Uno” keeps expanding and does a good job of keeping it new and fresh. Try them and enjoy.
Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.
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