Back in 2005 when I was at the peak of my managing career, I met this awesome board game. We had our team building in Subic Homes, Pampanga with a couple of my work colleagues. After dinner, when everybody was full and ready to relax, my boss open up a colorful box and said we are going to play a game. We got all excited peaking at that box with a brain logo. I searched high and low in different stores to find it and own it like some trophy. The boardgame is not available in the Philippines. I went to Rockwell, Glorieta, Powerbooks and National Bookstore searching for it. I really enjoyed it a lot and I thought that it's some game board you will never forget. Finally, I got hooked with internet shopping and selling after earning a couple of dollars from my product reviews in ciao. What better way to use paypal than shopping in ebay. I found the boardgame for sale from a balikbayan ( a filipino who spent some time outside of their own country) seller. And a big OMG, I had it in my hands and it's mine.

The Game

Cranium is a party board game based on Ludo. The Game for Your Whole Brain. I pick a card to get my instructions on what to do. I remember humming the tune, "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," my team mates will have to guess it right so we can roll the die and move to the next color indicated on the die. At first, it was kind of uncomfortable because my boss was right there listening and trying to guess what song I'm humming. Eventually, I didn't mind his presence because I got hooked with the charade. The game includes, spelling a word backwards, answer a multiple-choice question, draw with your eyes closed and clay molding. I love the charades. Cranium brings out the best in you.

HOW TO PLAY

Rules:

The group is divided into two, three or four teams. Pick out a mover, yellow, red, green or blue. The rule of the game is the team with the player whose birthday is coming up starts the game. Cranium involves teams advancing around the board toward "Cranium Central" in the center, by doing activities on the Cranium cards. This activities has a timer.

Creative Cat - artistic skill

• Cloodle - sketch a clue
• Sensosketch - artist's eyes must be closed while sketching.
  
• Sculptorades - sculpt a clue with clay

Data Head - trivia

• Factoid - answer a trivia question.
• Selectaquest - answer from four different choices.
• Polygraph - true or false.

Word Worm - language skills

• Zelpuz - unscramble the letters to find the answer
• Blankout - fill in the blanks to find the answer.
• Spellbound - spell the word
• Gnilleps - spelling the word backward.
• Lexicon - definition to a word.

Star Performer - performance skills

• Copycat - imitating the name of a person's actions and speech
• Cameo - act out silent clues. Like Charades.
• Humdinger - hum thr tume for team mates to guess.

ROLL THE DIE

If you’re successful...Roll the die and move to the next color indicated on the die. You must stop on every purple Planet Cranium even if your roll would otherwise take you past it. If you roll purple, zoom ahead to the next Planet Cranium.

Each time you successfully complete an activity in the Cranium Circle, keep the card, move clockwise to the next character name, and wait until your next turn to do an activity from that box.

(instructions from the box)

PRIZE:

The Cranium Family Edition Baoardgame which can also be used as a team building tool is $54. I bought mine for $16...big smile :)

So...would you like to play cranium? The package felt heavy in my arms. I opened it and there I saw the purple brain, my favorite board game.