Party board gameCraniumhas been a favorite since the original launched in the 1990s, and like any other successful board game, it’s enjoyed a number of different versions over the years.Cranium 25th Anniversary Editionfrom Funko Gamesis launching June 1 to celebrate 25 years of the popular board game, bringing a freshly updated take to the masses.
Anyone that’s familiar withCraniumwill know exactly what to expect fromCranium 25th Anniversary Edition. The premise is that two teams are competing to get around a circular board as fast as possible by completing tasks or correctly answering trivia questions. One round may play more like agame ofTrivial Pursuit, while the next may involve sculpting a figure out of clay. The game also comes with two whiteboards and dry-erase markers, so there’s a bit ofPictionarythrown into the mix as well, not to mention charades.Craniumis essentially multiple popular party games rolled into one.
Variety has always been one ofCranium’s strong suits, and that’s no different withCranium 25th Anniversary Edition. But between the clay, the trivia cards, and the white boards, some may be concerned that playingCraniumcan be messy or disorganized, but the board doubles as convenient storage for all the pieces and parts. Everything fits nicely inside theCraniumboard, making it easy to set up and play or put everything away when a game has been completed.
As players move around their board, they will be met with four different color-coded challenge categories. There are Fact & Picture Challenges, which include trivia, ordering things correctly, deciding which items in a list don’t belong, answering multiple-choice questions, and identifying objects. Then there are Word & Letter Puzzles, which include filling in the blank, figuring out the missing rhyming world, choosing the word that most closely matches a definition, and rearranging letters to solve a puzzle. The Drawing & Sculpting category has players drawing on the white boards under various conditions and sculpting objects out of clay, while Acting & Sound Effects features various takes on charades. So not only do the categories themselves provide variety, but the different tasks within those categories are also plenty varied.
For example, Drawing & Sculpting has the basicPictionarytask of drawing on a white board and having teammates correctly guess whatever’s being drawn, but it also has twists on the concept where one player holds the marker and another moves the whiteboard around to create the picture, and there’s another variant where the drawer has to draw the picture with their eyes closed. It’s unlikely that one will experience all the different types of challenges inCraniumin an initial 45-minute playthrough, so the game definitely hasa lot of replay valueand should be an easy pick for board game nights.
The sheer amount of variety is one ofCranium’s greatest strengths, but it can sometimes have a negative impact on the flow and pacing of the game. VeteranCraniumplayers who have the rules memorized will be able to breeze through, but newer players will have to keep referring to theinstruction manualsto know what to do. The game conveniently comes with two instruction manuals, so both teams can at least have their own to refer to, but it is still something to consider.
Craniumis otherwise simple to play and easy to understand.Players roll a dieto determine what kind of challenge they’ll have to complete, and if they are successful, they can move their piece to the next available tile with that color. There’s an hourglass to time players for each turn, and there are also tokens that players can use to get an advantage. Each team has four tokens - two re-rolls, one +1 move, and one +2 move. The tokens are deposited into a coin slot on theCraniumboard when used and add a layer of strategy to the proceedings, though they can potentially make games end a little too quickly.
It’s a testament to how funCraniumis that players won’t want it to end too fast. Set-up is easy, there’s plenty of variety in the challenge types, and it’s something that can be genuinely fun for both kids and adults, making it one of the more versatileparty board gameson the market. This 25th anniversary edition is worth it for those who haven’t upgraded their version ofCraniumfor a while or brand-new fans who have never played it before.
Cranium 25th Anniversary Editionis available now. Game Rant was provided with a copy of the board game for review.
