Cranium is a party game created by Whit Alexander and Richard Tait in 1998.[1] Initially, Cranium was sold through Amazon.com and the Starbucks coffee chain, then-novel methods of distribution.[1] After selling 44 million copies of Cranium and its sister titles,[1] the game's manufacturer Cranium, Inc. was bought by Hasbro, Inc. for $77.5 million in 2008.[2] Billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain", Cranium includes a wide variety of activities, unlike many other party games. Giorgio Davanzo handles packaging and branding for the game, and the artwork is by cartoonist Gary Baseman.
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To play Cranium, players form teams and start on the beginning spot of a long track that goes around the game board. At the start of a team's turn, the team to their right selects a card and reads the task to them. If the task is completed successfully, the team rolls a colored die, and moves to the next spot that matches the color rolled.
There are four equally-dispersed colors of spaces along the track. Each color corresponds to a question card category that players must pull from on their turn. Red cards are "Data Head" tasks, where the team needs to answer questions. Yellow cards are "Word Worm", where the team has to solve word problems, spell words, or solve anagrams. Blue cards are "Creative Cat" cards that require one player on the team to draw or sculpt answers that the other player must guess. Green cards are "Star Performer" cards, which requires one player to use charades, acting, or whistling so the rest of the team can guess the answer.
Along the track are four "Planet Cranium" spots, marked as purple. Teams have to stop on these spots, even if their roll would take them further. On their next turn, they select a category of their choosing to complete a task. If they are successful on their first attempt of a "Planet Cranium" task, they move to a "fast track", which has fewer spaces to traverse. If they are unsuccessful, they continue on the "scenic route", which will take longer.
Some cards in the decks are marked with "Club Cranium" symbols. If one of these cards is drawn, every team has to attempt the activity, and the winning team gets a bonus move.
Once a team reaches the center of the board, they are in "Cranium Central." The teams have to go around a circular section and collect one card from each category. Once that is accomplished, they are allowed into the final spot. At this point, on their turn the opposing teams choose a category for the team to complete. Completing the task wins the game, otherwise they have to try again on their next turn.
