Board Game Review: Apples to Apples

I won't do reviews of board games that often but I'm nothing if not random.  Every Christmas we get a new game for the kids and us to play.  This year was the game is Apples to Apples.  What has compelled me to write about this game is the simplicity and fun factor. 

It is simple as in you can be playing it in a few minutes and never look back or continue to refer back to instructions. 

The fun is in it's play.  The basics are their is one "judge" per round and pulls a green card which contains an adjective or descriptive phrase.  Everyone else has 7 red cards in their hand which contain a noun - person, place or thing.  The judge tells everyone the word.  Each player then puts a card down that will be read by the judge who will then decide which card goes best with the adjective or phrase.  The fun part is that the judge can use any criteria they want to make that decision.  So the players putting down their noun cards learn to do so depending on what they think the judge will pick.  This means it might be the most outrageous combination.  Maybe the adjective is cuddly and a player puts down the noun card Typhoid Mary.  Sometimes the best choice is completely appropriate - stuffy and republicans.  Again it just depends.  Whoever had the winning card for that round keeps the green card and the overall winner is whoever ends up with the number of green cards set as the target number needed to win.  That can be set as the game states or adjusted to work with the group playing.  

If it at all sounds interesting pick it up.  We had a good mix of adults to kids (youngest 13) and it was great fun.  Again just a little Christmas randomness.  Enjoy!