word game

Anomia was awarded Major Fun early in 2012. You can check out that review here or keep reading for a brief recap. Anomia’s new Party Edition is the same game but with the addition of more decks of cards so you can play multiple rounds without repeating the same cue cards. Same Major Fun simplicity. Same Major Fun turmoil. Same Major Fun yelling and grabbing and laughing.

The game consists of cards that contain a clue and a symbol. In turn, each player turns over a card from a personal pile. If there are no matching symbols then nothing happens, and the next player turns over a card. If two cards have the same symbol then those two players race to shout an example of the other person’s clue. Winner gets the other card.

The wonder and joy of this game comes from the dysfunction of the human brain under surprising, stressful conditions. Some of the most ridiculous things will tumble out of your mouth when you have to name a kind of chewing gum under pressure. Or your brain will freeze when asked to give but one example of a soup.

Although only one player turns a card at any one time, any of the other players might have to leap into action at any moment. Once one face-off is resolved, another might appear when the top card of a pile is moved. The players are always engaged. Even when there are no matches there is never any down-time.

The addition of more decks allows for greater replay. Otherwise, Anomia has wisely left a good thing to be a good thing. It’s Major Fun no matter how tongue tied and brain dead it makes you look.

3 – 6 Players. Ages 10+

As promised in our review of PAIRSinPEARS, we review APPLETTERS, the second of the two new games introduced by the makers of the Major Fun award-winning Bananagrams.

We are once again presented with a fruit-like cloth bag, this one, true to its name, looking not like a banana, not like a pear, but everso clearly apple-like. Inside the bag: 110 letter tiles of similar quality to the Banagram tiles (ivory-like, pleasing to the touch and to the smushing around) but thick enough to stand on end, and a comparatively long two-sided rule sheetlet.

The first game described is APPLETTERS itself. It’s designed for 2-6 players, ages 5 and up. The tiles are placed face-down on the table, and then, in a process we have named “smush,” mixed around and around. Players each get 9 tiles.

The first player makes a word out of her tiles (as many as she can use) and places them in the center of the table. The next player then attaches another word, connecting the first or last letter of his word to either the first or last letter of the first player’s word so as to make two words, Scrabble-style. The next player adds yet another word. Note, however, that the words must create a chain, no tile touching more than two other letters. This results in an intriguingly different, and easier to play Scrabble-type game.

If a player can’t make a word, he picks three more tiles from the CORE (the smushed letters). And on and on until someone uses all her tiles, winning the game.

Apple Turnover is a bit more challenging, and designed for 2-4 players who are at least seven years old. There are two significant differences: each player gets 21 tiles, and, if a player can make a longer word, he can replace one of the opponent’s words and give him back his letters – causing a most satisfying moment of chagrin.

The third game is played for score. It’s called Apple Core. There are two mentally exacerbating differences. First, there are the 5-point bonus score possibilities: if your word is eight or more letters, or if your word is a palindrome (it can read backwards and forwards). Next, you can add your tiles anywhere – not just to the first or last letters of someone’s word, but also so the letters touch on multiple sides.

The APPLETTERS play experience is significantly different than the other Bananagram games. Here, you have to take turns. So the games tend to be longer, and more contemplative, and more challenging for the patience-impaired. But for those who like Scrabble, APPLETTERS is far more rewarding, and arguably more fun.