The New Cranium - Quelf!

Quelf is a game that's great to play with friends or family.  This board game is a party game full of randomness and good times.  

There are five categories of cards that you must play through as you make your way from finish to start on the game board.  There are eight random, unique characters that you can play as, and depending on who you pick, your piece may influence the cards you draw as you play the game.

The five categories of cards are Roolz, Stuntz, Showbiz, Quizzle, and Scatterbrainz.  For the Roolz cards, each card you draw from that stack will either contain a talking rule, an action rule, or a global rule.  Global rules effect all players.  An example of a global rule would be:  Everytime the phone rings, everyone must stand up and yell "pizza party".  Last one to do so has to move back one space.

Quizzle is basically a trivia category.  A question is given, as well as an extra credit question.  If you get the question right, you don't have to move back (the penalty), but if you get the extra credit question, you move forward!

Stuntz is basically what is says.  It's a stunt.  You can be asked to have a staring contest with the person to your left, or make yourself into a human pretzel while touching your hand to the knee of the player on your left and your head to the foot of the player on your right.

Showbiz involves acting, dancing, singing, and other things. One card might have you act out a scene from a cowboy movie, only you're riding an ostrich and herding cattle.  Another might have you telling scary stories around a campfire.  And another might have you write an opera song about the person next to you!

Last category is Scatterbrainz.  You're given two categories to choose from, then you go around the group, one by one, naming something that fits in that category.  If the category is "fruit", you'll go around naming fruit until someone forgets one, repeats one, or takes more than 10 seconds.  The one who fails moves back the penalty spaces.

On each card there is a Quelf effect.  Some cards just give you extra credit questions.  Others tell you that if you have a certain character, you have to do something extra, or do it a certain way.  Other cards, however, say that if you're the second person to look at it, you have to move back two spaces - and other penalties like that.  It's especially fun on cards that are listed as "confidential" because the player who drew it doesn't have to read the card out loud.  Other players may want to read the card, but do so at their own risk.

The game is really easy to pick up.  The Scatterbrainz might be hard for younger players, but I found that almost anyone can play the game.  It's pretty PG rated.  And it doesn't have to be a family-only game either.  I'm a college-graduate, and I love it best when I'm playing with other college kids.

Board games might not be the most exciting thing out there nowadays.  But despite all the new toys and video games and computer programs, this board game is definitely something you'll want to check out.  It's worth the time spent playing it, it's great for creating new memories, and hey, it's cheaper than that new video game you've been eyeing.